Leigh Davis

Stories from Leigh Davis

Whole foods a rare sight on school lunch tray
Leigh Davis
Monday, June 21, 2010

Time was, school lunches featured “Salisbury steak” and mashed potatoes, with a side of corn as a vegetable. You could mash it all together into what comic Patton Oswalt calls a failure pile in a sadness bowl, washed down with strawberry milk and chased with a bright green mint chocolate chip ice cream cone. Yep, those were the days.

Gustatory greenies make good on garden goals
Leigh Davis
Friday, June 18, 2010

It may have seemed a long time coming to some, but the "Sprout Spot" at Irving Primary School, the "Lettuce Grow" garden at Bartle Elementary, and the Highland Park Middle & High School's "Garden of Eatin'" are in full swing. Teachers, students and the community are enjoying the fruits (or veggies!) of their labor.

At the middle school/high school garden, Dara Botvinick often holds class surrounded by the lettuce, spinach, peas, beans, nasturtium, and tomato and squash plants. "I really enjoy the impact of the garden on the students,” says Botvinick.

A not-so-Shaggy dog story
Leigh Davis
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
It’s a sure sign of spring when dog lovers begin to make their way to the dog run in Donaldson Park. This year small-dog owners had a happy discovery, a new section especially for small dogs.

While for many dog owners, the appearance of the small-dog park might seem sudden, there are those for whom it couldn’t arrive soon enough. Case in point: Taffee, the Jack Russell Terrier.

'Amistad' effort keeps the story of struggle alive
Leigh Davis
Monday, February 22, 2010

Nine months out of the school year, students learn “history.” During February, students get to learn about the accomplishments of certain “notable” Black Americans, read speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Frederick Douglass, and learn a little something about slavery in America.

 

With February — Black History Month — now past and Women’s History Month upon us, the expectation might be that the lessons particular to Black History Month will give way to lessons about “notable women,” and in April, schools return to “normal” studies. No more having to include African-American or women’s perspectives or historical participation in any significant way for another year.

 

Interfaith panel takes to the 'net to discuss justice, jobs, and climate change
Leigh Davis
Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Religious groups have always provided guidance on a range of issues, but historically, the environment hasn’t been one of them. Global warming seems to have changed all that, as leaders and followers of faith traditions contemplate our impact on the planet and on ourselves, and how we might change it.

While the Reverend Billy and the Church of LIfe after Shopping have been taking their environmental campaigns to the streets, with guerrilla theater protesting consumer culture, Reverend Fletcher Harper, executive director of Green Faith, has taken it to the Internet. Early this winter, as Congress considered the American Clean Energy and Security Act and the world geared up for the Copenhagen summit, the national faith-based organization hosted a webcast on "Green Jobs, Climate Justice."

And you know where your next meal is coming from . . . . Really?
Leigh Davis
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Food has arrived. In particular, concern about both global and local food security, a “nice” term for hunger. With a popular cable channel featuring more than 80 programs dedicated to food and cooking; with America anxiously awaiting Gordon Ramsey’s next kitchen nightmare; it’s still just like your mother used to say when you wouldn’t eat your peas: People are starving.
Oceanic carbon interment plan draws local objections
Leigh Davis
Thursday, October 15, 2009

October 24 has been announced by the climate change web site 350.com as a “climate action day,” encouraging people to act locally to stop global warming. Some local environmental activists have already begun their climate action with a canvassing campaign in nearby Linden, where opposition is growing to a planned 750-megawatt power plant.

Farmstead fever spreading to public schools
Leigh Davis
Friday, July 31, 2009

With a Sustainable Jersey Small Grant, the Highland Park public schools have joined the wave of interest in community gardening that has taken root from Highland Park to the White House.

The concept of a network of “edible gardens” was initiated by the People’s Organization for Progress, Central Jersey Chapter (POP-CJ) in December 2008. Since then, individuals and organizations have signed on, including three local houses of worship, the Farmers Solidarity Project, Highland Park Community Food Pantry, the public library’s Green Teens group, and now the public school district.