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Editorial: Sch'dy Greenmarket off to a great start
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Wow, it looks like there’s really a market for the new year-round Schenectady Greenmarket! Its debut Sunday, in Walter Robb Alley at Proctors, was a success by any measure, bringing big crowds for the entire 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. period — to look, taste and buy the variety of locally grown food and locally made products. The organizers (who did a great job planning, recruiting farmers and publicizing the event), the participants and shoppers themselves were surprised and delighted by the turnout and enthusiasm. A growing number of people in Schenectady and elsewhere are starting not only to appreciate the nutritional value and good taste of fresh food, but to make the connection between mass production agriculture and fuel use and environmental destruction. Running farm machinery, using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, processing and packing, and transporting foods over thousands of miles accounts for nearly 20 percent of the country’s fossil fuel use. And all that fuel burning, with the resultant carbon emissions, is the single biggest contributor to climate change. Says food industry expert and critic Michael Pollan, author of “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto” and “The Omnivore’s Dilemma, “We are eating oil and spewing greenhouse gases." ... "We’re creating a grim health future of cheap-calorie diets [processed food based on high-fructose corn syrup] and triggering fast-rising Type 2 diabetes and threatening millions with blindness, amputation and early death.” Mass-produced food may seem cheap, but we are paying for it in ways we are only now beginning to understood. In a piece in the Oct. 12 New York Times Magazine, “Farmer in Chief,” Pollan calls on whichever man we elect as president today to recognize the central importance of farming, and the reformation of our nation’s food system, to our society, economy and environment. Let the president turn a stretch of White House lawn into a small organic fruit and vegetable garden — and even to weed it now and then, Pollan says. Let him appoint a White House chef who believes in preparing locally grown meals. Let him inspire a movement back to greater local food self-sufficiency. It’s not all about symbolism, either. Pollan also suggests practical steps the federal government can take to encourage this movement, such as food stamp debit cards that give double credit at farmer’s markets, subsidies for local fresh food distribution networks, and grants for year-round green markets like Schenectady’s. The nation needs many more of them. Get ALL of our news...Click here to subscribe to our online edition, a complete replica of our print edition.
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July 2, 2009
3:15 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
High fructose corn syrup, sugar, and several fruit juices are all nutritionally the same.
High fructose corn syrup has the same number of calories as sugar and is handled similarly by the body.
The American Medical Association in June 2008 helped put to rest misunderstandings about this sweetener and obesity, stating that “high fructose corn syrup does not appear to contribute to obesity more than other caloric sweeteners.”
Consumers can see the latest research and learn more about high fructose corn syrup at www.HFCSfacts.com and www.SweetSurprise.com.
Audrae Erickson
President
Corn Refiners Association