gardening
GRITtv: Mar. 17 2010
Are we possibly going to see an end to the endless health care debate this weekend? With recent reports saying Dennis Kucinich has decided to vote for the bill, signs are pointing to yes. But without a public option, is this really health care reform we can believe in? Here to discuss--and make us laugh at--the fate of the bill, financial reform, and who the members of Congress are that we can count on to keep fighting for better reform is Stephanie Miller, host of The Stephanie Miller Show. Kate Clinton is back with a serious call: to fill out your census form and show America that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are diverse, live all over the country, and have families. Check out our Take Action link for more! Recently, we featured the documentary American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein, a documentary about scholar and professor Norman Finkelstein's struggles with the larger intellectual community--and the U.S.'s Israel policy. Finkelstein joins us to talk about the film, the current state of U.S./Israel relations, and his new book. Published by Or Books, This Time We Went Too Far explores the possibility that the December 2008 invasion of Gaza has caused a significant shift in the international community--including the American Jewish community--opinion of Israel. Finally, Laura discusses the real "femivore's dilemma."
Email this pageGRITtv: The F Word: The Femivore's Real Dilemma
The latest women's movement story from the New York Times Magazine has a farming theme. "The Femivore's Dilemma" by Peggy Orenstein describes how somewhere between the workforce and the housework some women are raising chickens, growing vegetables, and tending gardens. Sounds lovely? Maybe. but As Orenstein unpacks the story, it's clear that the only women who are actually happy in this picture have husbands who pay the bills...The backyard garden's nice, but it's mostly a status symbol. Those women who actually try to live off their farming find the whole enterprise frustrated by lack of credit and cash. In other hands that would have been the perfect segue to talk about most of the world's farmers - also women. You know, the ones who produce half the world's food with near to no access to credit...or power...Those women, in the Magazine's story, are inexplicably invisible. If the Times really wanted to talk dilemmas, there is no shortage. But the one we need to be talking about isn't what will it take to make status symbol farming satisfying, it's how do we empower the world's women farmers. Raising chickens isn't the key to feminist liberation. But women's security just might be key to ending hunger.
The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Follow GRITtv or GRITlaura on Twitter.com.
SourceCode: Sustainable Environmental Programs
Explore various sustainable environmental programs across the country and how people are succeeding and fighting to keep these programs going.
