Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Organic Food and cohousing

[Chris ScottHanson (chris]

Has anyone noticed the link to the little flash movie about Store  
Wars, promoting organic food?  The movie is REALLY good.  And great  
to watch with the kids (of any age) in your community.  It is also  
available as an MPEG download from their web site.

Chris

On Jun 3, 2005, at 12:55 PM, Fred H Olson wrote:

> On Fri, 3 Jun 2005, Chris ScottHanson wrote:
>
> >   http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html
>
> Is this really related to cohousing?
> If so why not a few words of explanation?
>
> Fred

On Jun 5, 2005, at 6:20 PM, John Beutler wrote:

> Hi Racheli,
>
> No, sustainability is not a fad, it's a pretty reasonable goal, but  
> only one facet of organic foods, probably one of the better reasons  
> for favoring organics.  And sustainability is only one facet of  
> cohousing, though a major facet for the eco-village wing of the  
> movement.  I think the core value in cohousing is community and  
> connection between people (and of course there are a lot of other  
> communities that go after this in a different way  - communal  
> groups, for one).  Anyway, if we favor the "fad" at the expense of  
> community, we lose in the long run.  Food, and eating together, is  
> a key way for people to interact within cohousing, and if food  
> politics is a wedge driving people apart it's not good for  
> community.  I submit that one measure of a cohousing community's  
> success (but only one of many) might be the frequency of and  
> attendance at community meals. Every community has to tackle the  
> barriers to making meals work in its own way, since every bunch of  
> folks is different.  I like a lot of the responses to this thread  
> and agree with some of what TR said.
>
> Cheers
>
> John Beutler (aka JAB)
>
>
> At 07:36 AM 6/5/2005 -0700, you wrote:
>
> > Hi JAB,
> > It's interesting to me that you put "organic" and "low trans" in  
> > the same basket...
> > They are, of course, comparable in a certain way, since they're  
> > both seen as connected to the wish
> > (on the part of some) to eat healthy food.  However, the issue of  
> > buying organic has a lot to do
> > with a viewpoint which places high priority on creating a  
> > sustainable way of life.  Is that a "fad"?
> > And isn't deciding what's "reasonable", as opposed to what is  
> > merely a "fad" as politically motivated
> > as the decision to support organic/local/etc.?
> >
> > On a more general level, I'm finding (after nearly 5 years in my  
> > cohousing community), that the
> > idea that people of all ideologies can live side by side happily  
> > is truly NOT a viable one, partly because
> > of the close proximity in which we reside:  Someone who wants an  
> > "organic" neighborhood, finds it hard
> > to live in close proximity to someone who thinks that using  
> > pesticides is a viable option (and vice
> > versa);  If I want to put solar panels on my roof, and some of my  
> > community members object because
> > the panels are not aesthetically pleasing to them, how exactly do  
> > we come to a mutually satisfactory
> > resoltion? (There aren't many options regarding how the panels  
> > will look on the roof);  and yes, someone
> > who would like to eat organic common meals is, in fact, being left  
> > out by a community who doesn't
> > choose to pursue that route (because I can choose to participate  
> > in the system and cook organically for everyone
> > else.  But if most other people don't choose to cook organic,  
> > what's in it for me?)
> > I could give many other examples, but perhaps these are sufficient  
> > to establish
> > my point that insisting on keeping things "mainstream" isn't often  
> > workable for those of us who
> > aren't, and the other way around.  And it's a type of  
> > pigeonholing, too, - just a different one...
> > My opinion is that it's truly important for communities to  
> > establish in unambiguous way what they believe
> > in.  The less ambiguity, the better chance to avoid some types of  
> > problems in the future.
> > The ambiguity serves the initial and paramount need of selling  
> > units, but really sets things up for trouble in
> > the long run, because it creates a great likelihood that people  
> > with potentially incompatible sets of values end
> > up living next to each other.
> >
> > Best,
> > Racheli.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Jun 5, 2005, at 6:34 AM, John Beutler wrote:
> >
> >
> > > I have a philosophical point I want to make about the drift of  
> > > the discussion, and that is, I think we want to be careful to not  
> > > make the cohousing movement an incubator for every [nutritional]  
> > > fad that comes down the pike.  I have no particular bone to pick  
> > > with organic veggies, or trans fats or seafood contamination, but  
> > > I think institutionalizing such points of view will marginalize  
> > > the cohoousing movement.
> > >
> > > At Liberty Village, we try to respect vegetarians by providing a  
> > > reasonable alternative at community meals.  With a larger  
> > > community, this is not so hard to do.  We recently had a  
> > > wonderful person move in who has difficulty with both gluten and  
> > > dairy - this is going to be much more difficult to deal with in  
> > > group cooking.  But these are actual demonstrable needs, as  
> > > opposed to opinions of what people ought to eat.  I say that if  
> > > you are the cook, show us how wholesome and tasty your particular  
> > > type of food is, and we'll all happily eat it, but don't ask  
> > > someone else who's cooking to hew to your perspective of how it  
> > > should be done, whether that's organic or low trans or whatever.   
> > > And label the food so people know what you've made.
> > >
> > > My point extends to other areas of community life.  We don't want  
> > > to be pigeonholed as lefties, though many of us are.  We don't  
> > > want to be viewed as retirement communities unless that's the  
> > > goal.  The appearance of normalcy is important for cohousing to  
> > > grow and thrive.
> > >
> > > Cheers
> > >
> > > JAB
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > At 12:24 PM 6/4/2005 -0700, Deborah Mensch wrote:
> > >
> > > > At communities where there is not an agreement from the get-go to
> > > > purchase organic when possible, have there been any evolutionary
> > > > changes toward organic? If so, how have these occurred?
> > > >
> > > > I could ask the same question about other current changes in
> > > > nutritional awareness, such as avoiding trans fats or avoiding  
> > > > seafood
> > > > that is commonly contaminated or environmentally damaging.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks,
> > > > Deborah Mensch
> > > > Pleasant Hill Cohousing
> > > >
> > > > On 6/4/05, Mary Ruthsdotter <maryru [at] sonic.net> wrote:
> > > > > Two Acre Wood makes a point of buying organic whenever possible.
> > > > The
> > > > > incremental cost increase seems small in life's long run.
> > > > >
> > > > > Mary Ruthsdotter
> > > > > 660 Robinson Road
> > > > > Sebastopol, CA  95472
> > > > > (707) 824-6844
> > > > >
> > > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > > From: Chris ScottHanson [mailto:chris [at] cohousingresources.com]
> > > > > Sent: Saturday, June 04, 2005 7:45 AM
> > > > > To: Cohousing-l
> > > > > Subject: [C-L]_ Organic Food and cohousing
> > > > >
> > > > > Would I be correct in assuming that virtually ALL cohousers  
> > > > support,
> > > > > and even possibly promote the organic food movement?  That  
> > > > some of us
> > > > > can't afford to always eat organic, but that most if not all  
> > > > of us
> > > > > try to do so?
> > > > >
> > > > > Just wondering, because I thought the recent Store Wars movie  
> > > > was a
> > > > > great educational and fun piece promoting the use off organic  
> > > > foods.
> > > > >
> > > > > What are your thoughts, cohousers?  Oh!  And please let me  
> > > > knot if
> > > > > you think this is off topic.  A cohouser sent me this link,  
> > > > below and
> > > > > we agreed it would be good to circulate widely, especially to
> > > > > cohousers with kids.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Chris ScottHanson
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > On Jun 3, 2005, at 12:55 PM, Fred H Olson wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > On Fri, 3 Jun 2005, Chris ScottHanson wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >>   http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Is this really related to cohousing?
> > > > > > If so why not a few words of explanation?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Fred
> > > > > _________________________________________________________________
> > > > > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other  
> > > > info at:
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> > > > >
> > >
> > > John Beutler
> > > Liberty Village, MD
> > > jbeutler [at] adelphia.net
> > > http://www.libertyvillage.com/
> > > _________________________________________________________________
> > > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info  
> > > at: http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info  
> > at: http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
>
> John Beutler
> Liberty Village, MD
> jbeutler [at] adelphia.net
> http://www.libertyvillage.com/
> _________________________________________________________________
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