Who's feeding your kids at school?

From K through college, school cafeteria food has been the topic of see-sawing public policy for years, from Reagan's "ketchup as a vegetable" proclamation to Obama and McCain's competing platform soundbites.

For years parents and teachers have been seeing the disastrous effects of standard-issue cafeteria (or worse, canteen) food on kids...the sugar highs, the afternoon lethargy, not to mention the obesity and diabetes risks...made worse for those students who had little or no nutritious food at home.

What is relatively new, however, is the approach offered by nutritionist/educators such as Antonia Demas, Ph.D (foodstudies.org) and Tony Geraci (bcps.k12.md.us). Both advocate healthy, balanced lunches based on locally-grown foods, and teaching students the principles of good nutrition to enable them to make their own good decisions.

And together, Demas and Geraci will present a keynote discussion titled "School Food and Nutrition: Baltimore as a National Model for Local Farm to Cafeteria and Food Education" at the Baltimore Bioneeers Conference on Friday, 11/7.

Founder and Director of the Food Studies Institute, Dr. Demas has a Ph.D. in education, nutrition, and anthropology from Cornell University. For more than 35 years she has developed food-based curriculums and taught food studies in a variety of educational settings with people of diverse ages, ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds.

She is the founder and director of the Food Studies Institute, based in Trumansburg, New York, a nonprofit devoted to improving the long-term health and education of children. Her curriculum, “Food is Elementary,” has been successfully implemented in eight Baltimore City schools and extended across the U.S. to more than 1,500 schools in 30 states. A Visiting Scholar at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Demas consults throughout the U.S. and abroad, and trains and certifies teachers as food educators.

As the food and nutrition director for Baltimore City Public Schools, Tony Geraci received national recognition in the August 2008 issue of Gourmet magazine as “the new school chef of Baltimore City.”

A New Orleans native, he has held positions as a food broker, restaurateur, and specialty food manufacturer. Most recently, he served as food services director for the New Hampshire Schools where he overhauled the menus and implemented a culinary career training program for low-income and developmentally disabled adults.

Since taking his latest post in Baltimore, Geraci has inaugurated a similar overhaul for the Baltimore City Public School menus, meshing USDA guidelines and government-supplied foods with fresh produce from local farms to create healthy, appealing lunches.

If you are a parent, a student, an educator, or if you have an interest in nourishing and empowering a healthy generation of children, don't miss this keynote.

To register for the Bioneers conference, visit http://www.cultivatingchange.org.

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Baltimore Bioneers On the Airwaves

News of the Baltimore Bioneers Conference took to the airwaves on Monday, October 27 as WYPR's Maryland Morning hosted "Baltimore Bioneers Conference and the Sustainability Debate."

Featured speakers in the lively conversation were founding sponsor Tracy Ward, publisher of the Urbanite, and conference chair Julie Gabrielli, owner of Gabrielli Design Studio.

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Excitement is Building in Pre-Conference Events!

With the second annual Baltimore Bioneers Conference approaching quickly, the Cultivating Change team is ramping up activity with a lively schedule of seminars and salons.

And there's no better way to get a preview of what you'll see at the conference than by checking out these speakers in salons throughout the greater Baltimore area...

* How is global warming changing the face of American politics? George Orr is the sustainability expert who will be counseling the next president on climate change issues - and he is leading a discussion titled "Some Like It Hot, But Lots Don't: The Changing Climate of US Politics" at the Roland Park Country School on Oct. 1, from 7:30 to 9 p.m.

* What's in the water - and how is it bending your gender? Environmental health advocate Charlotte Brody, R.N., tells us "How Chemicals are Changing What it Means to Be a Woman (or a Man)" at Breathe Books, 810 West 36th Street in Hampden, Oct. 6, from 7 to 9 p.m.

* What is Biomimicry - and why is it the hottest new topic in industries ranging from building design to prosthetics? Get a taste of how evolution’s wisdom can help us design benign, life enhancing technologies while inspiring us to protect Earth’s biodiversity. Janine Benyus tells us “What Life Knows: New Ideas from Biology that Could Change the World” at Great Sage, 5809 Clarksville Square Drive, in
Clarksville.

And then there's the conference itself, slated for November 7-9 at the Maryland Institute, College of Art's Brown Center. It's shaping up to be a transformative event, designed to inspire you to new levels of insight and action while bringing you into connection with likeminded community activists from around the state.

In the conference forums and breakout sessions, global and local experts will apply their practical knowledge and experience to such Charm City issues as protecting the Chesapeake Bay, supporting local businesses, and reducing the impact of global warming on our harbor town.

The Baltimore conference features screenings of the best speakers from the national event, as well as leading local speakers such as:

* Judy Wicks, owner/founder of Philadelphia’s White Dog Café and a national leader in the local, living economies movement

* Wallace J. Nichols, Ph.D., senior scientist at the Ocean Conservancy and research associate at the California Academy of Sciences

* Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and author of The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America’s Coastal Cities.

Interested in more information about the Baltimore Bioneers and upcoming events? Be sure to check out our website - http://www.cultivatingchange.org or our FaceBook page: Baltimore Bioneers: Cultivating Change, Inspiring Solutions.




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Baltimore Bioneers Offer Hope, Connection, Solutions

Calling All Community Activists, Green Businesses, Students, Teachers, and Caring Thinking People!

FEELING DISCOURAGED
about problems in your neighborhood, the city, and the world?
COME TO BIONEERS
for a powerful dose of hope and inspiration!

FEELING ISOLATED
and uncertain how you can join forces with others?
COME TO BIONEERS
to meet others who share you desire to improve our city!

FEELING OVERWHELMED
by everything you are hearing about global warming and climate change?

COME TO BIONEERS
to hear about solutions from all over the world and right here in Baltimore!

WITNESS inspiring innovators finding practical, hands-on solutions for global and local environmental and social issues.

DISCOVER how collaboration between business, academia, and nonprofits can solve problems that were once called “impossible.”

REALIZE that we are the leaders we are looking for.

CREATE opportunities to manifest the vision of a restored Earth.

These are the goals of the evolving Baltimore Bioneers community and our annual satellite conferences. We seek to create an ongoing forum that promotes practical environmental solutions and innovative social strategies for restoring the Earth and healing our human communities.

Where can you find us? Visit our website - http://www.cultivatingchange.org or our FaceBook page: Baltimore Bioneers: Cultivating Change, Inspiring Solutions.

Come and be a part of the change...your voice is needed in this conversation!

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