Friday, August 22, 2008

A new Ad from the ONE Campaign

From the ONE campaign, a new ad featuring Matt Damon and the voices of others coming together around an anti-poverty message...
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ABOUT THE VIDEO For more than a year, ONE members have been trailing the presidential candidates asking them to go on the record with their plans to combat global poverty. Now we're taking our message to the airways with this major new TV ad. The ad features Matt Damon with different Americans' voices - among them Michelle Obama, Cindy McCain and Mayor Bloomberg.

Watch for it on TV and across the Internet starting Sunday, August 24th, but add your voice and share the online video with your friends now.

Click here to see the ad

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

ONE campaign "Music Builds Tour" in Chicago 8/23

From the ONE campaign...
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Want to rock out and help fight poverty? The ONE "Music Builds" Tour is coming to Chicago this Saturday, featuring Third Day and Switchfoot, with Jars of Clay and Robert Randolph and the Family Band. These groups have a multitude of number one hits, platinum records and Grammy Awards between them, as well as a strong following amongst both faith and secular audiences.

Visit www.musicbuildstour.com to learn more about the event, get the list of dates and venues, and purchase tickets.

This won't be just a typical rock concert. ONE is going to be a big part of the show, as well. Videos featuring ONE will play between sets and focus on three of our most exciting initiatives: ONE Sabbath, the ONE Campus Challenge and ONE Vote ‘08. We'll also have booths where concert-goers can sign up for ONE. And part of concert proceeds go to our partner organization, Habitat for Humanity, to build homes for those in need.

So don't just come...support the cause by bringing your friends, family and coworkers!

The tour arrives at Charter One Pavilion in Chicago on Saturday, August 23rd. This will be a momentous opportunity for ONE members across the Chicago area to get together, have some fun, hear great music, recruit friends to ONE's fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease, and contribute to building homes for Habitat for Humanity.

NOTE: The Chicago performance is at 6PM

Sunday, August 17, 2008

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

I have often been conflicted about my feelings about affordable food in this country and my belief that we should all be eating organic, locally grown food. It's hard for me to make a case for "everyone" buying organic and local food when I know all too well that it's almost impossible for 35 million Americans to get enough food AT ALL. On the other hand...not only is cheap, processed food from industrial farms often harmful to the body and causing poor Americans to suffer health disasters like Type II Diabetes and obesity (particularly awful considering how many of those people are uninsured), but the use of pesticides is harmful to the health of farmers and everyone affected by the waste of these industrial farms. *sigh* How to sum up the feelings of an anti-poverty activist who also wishes to simultaneously be an environmental activist?

Finally, I found a paragraph that perfectly encapsulates my feelings. It was written by the ever eloquent and concise Michael Pollan in his book, "In Defense of Food" on page 184.

"Not everyone can afford to eat high-quality food in America, and that is shameful; however, those of us who can, should. Doing so benefits not only your health (by, among other things, reducing your exposure to pesticides and pharmaceuticals), but also the health of the people who grow the food as well as the people who live downstream and downwind of the farms where it is grown."

That's the part. Those of us who can should. We can protect ourselves, our land, our food producers and... if we buy our vegetables from farmers markets and CSA's (community supported agriculture orgs)... we can also help out the small family farmers who end up on food stamps because our messed up Farm Bill is not very helpful to the growers of healthy, delicious crops! But if you can't, then you should do simply do the best you can be as healthy as you can.