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Many schools are benefiting from the natural learning environment provided by the introduction of a school garden. In a joint project involving Growing Communities, Brisbane’s Northey Street City Farm and Health Promotion Queensland, many of Queensland’s local State schools are being encouraged to foster learning environments emphasizing gardening, healthy food choices and outdoor activity. Critical to the success of these projects is the involvement of as many community participants as possible. Each school aims to involve staff, students, P&C, as well as numerous other groups from the broader community. Children participating in school gardening projects enjoy hands on learning, physical activity, fresh air and clean food...

One of the best ways for children to learn the importance of making positive food choices is to get them actively involved in growing their own food. That’s exactly what’s happening at Winchester School in Toronto Canada. In this video, Mary Ito reports on how Winchester’s inner city children are being provided with the opportunity to learn about growing their own fruits and vegetables. In doing so, the children learn about soil preparation, planting from seed, bugs, weeds, harvesting and the importance of consuming good foods. All of the food grown by the children is used in the school lunch program. This is a really worthwhile program in which the children benefit from eating fresh produce as well as learning about where...

Europe is not immune from Monsanto’s political and bureaucratic influence. Part 3 of this series explores the pressure exerted by U.S. GM companies in Europe. It also looks at claims made by these biotech companies that GM soy would require lower doses of herbicides and contrasts this claim with the Argentinean experience. Argentina’s soy farmers, who were among the first to adopt GM technology 10 years ago, are now faced with having to use increasingly large quantities of chemical herbicides to control herbicide resistant super weeds. Sphere: Related Content

What is Monsanto’s relationship with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration? How about Monsanto’s relationship with Washington’s power brokers? In Part 2 of this series, the links between former Monsanto Executives, senior U.S. Bureaucrats and Politicians is considered. Watch out for the interview with Andrew Kimbrell from the Center for Food Safety. Andrew raises some very serious concerns regarding the independence of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Sphere: Related Content

In today’s world, a thoughtfully designed organic garden is one of the safest and most productive environments for children to engage and develop the full range of their physical and mental abilities. Without question, this depends upon an adequate level of adult supervision and an awareness of each child’s tendency to absorb both safe and unsafe practices through their capacity for close observation and imitation. Like most learning situations, garden safety requires constant instruction and practical application from individuals who elicit the respect and trust of their charges. By consistently demonstrating a strong commitment to garden and outdoor safety, parents and supervising adults can gradually promote a similar response in...