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Food Declaration
Petition Launch for the Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture
Civic Center/Rotunda at City Hall | Thursday, August 28 | 5 – 6pm | Free
Initiated by Roots of Change and developed by a national team of noted thinkers, producers, activists, the Food Declaration is a call to action for policymakers to ensure that future food and agricultural policies benefit all Americans. Harkening back to the signing of the Constitution and other historic civil acts, this Declaration and Petition was launched at Slow Food Nation in the rotunda of San Francisco City Hall. The petition was read for all to hear, and afterwards, all attending the ceremony were invited to sign it. It was publically posted throughout Slow Food Nation and, over the course of the event, gathered thousands more signatures. The comment period for additional feedback on the Declaration ended on November 31, 2008 and the drafting team is currently reviewing the comments in order to create the final document.
The final document is scheduled for completion in January 2009. At that point, Roots of Change (ROC), Slow Food, Food and Water Watch, Edible Communities, Watershed Media, and other interested NGOs and individuals will then turn to three tasks:
- a team of Web 2.0 experts will run a Web-based viral campaign to collect hundreds of thousands of endorsements;
- a team of policy experts will develop a specific policy agenda on food and agriculture that will emerge from the principles contained in the declaration;
- a team of organizers representing a broad set of constituents will plan an event in Washington DC for fall 2009, where the Declaration and the policy agenda will be delivered to policy makers. The event is proposed to be the official launch of the next effort to improve federal food and agriculture policy.
Food Declaration Launch Ceremony Curator: Roots of Change
Roots of Change (ROC) is a collaborative of diverse leaders and institutions unified in common pursuit of achieving a sustainable food system in California by 2030.
Project Coordinators:
- Dan Imhoff, the President and co-Founder of Watershed Media, is a researcher, author, and independent publisher who has focused on issues related to farming, the environment, and design. He is the author of numerous articles, essays, and books including Food Fight: The Citizen’s Guide to a Food and Farm Bill.
Dan is also the president and a co-founder of the Wild Farm Alliance, a national organization promoting agriculture systems to support and accommodate wild nature. He has appeared frequently in national and regional press on the issue, testified before Congress and spoken at numerous conferences and other venues. - Patty Lovera is the assistant director of Food & Water Watch and works on food policy issues including meat inspection and food safety, country of origin labeling, and dairy issues. Before Food & Water Watch, Patty worked on food issues at Public Citizen and was the researcher/editor at the Center for Health, Environment and Justice. Patty has a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Lehigh University and a master’s degree in environmental policy from the University of Michigan.
- Wendy Wasserman, Publisher of Edible Iowa River Valley, has an extensive background in public policy, educational programming, small business management and food/cultural marketing both domestically and abroad. Currently living in Iowa City, Iowa, Wendy spent 15 years in Washington, DC working in both local community development, as well as the Federal government. In addition to publishing Edible Iowa River Valley, Wendy is currently a consultant on various projects involving food marketing, culinary tourism, and agriculture policy. Wendy holds a BA and a MA in American Studies from Vassar College and the George Washington University respectively.
- Michael Dimock is President of Roots of Change (ROC), a nongovernmental organization. ROC’s purpose is to create a sustainable food system in California by the year 2030. ROC involves eleven foundations, over 900 leaders from NGOs and businesses, state and local government. ROC makes available funds and other resources for leaders who are collaboratively implementing a multi-sector strategy known as California’s Campaign for a New Mainstream in Food, Farms, and Fisheries. From 2002 to 2006, Michael served as the first Chairman of Slow Food USA and as a member of Slow Food’s International Presidents Committee.
Food Declaration Launch Ceremony Designer: John Peterson, Public Architecture
John Peterson is the principal of Peterson Architects as well as the founder and chair of Public Architecture. Established in 1993, Peterson Architects is a design-intensive practice whose projects include mixed-use development, institutional projects, and private residences. In 2002, the firm’s unorthodox pro bono work evolved into Public Architecture. He serves on several nonprofit boards, including Urban Solutions as well as the South of Market Business Association. He is a mayoral appointed member of the City of San Francisco’s Green Vision Council.