Participants will be introduced to the changing world of food diversity. Taste and vote with your fork as we take a journey through traditional and modern food systems searching out foods that are the best tasting, healthiest, most ethical, and most sustainable. Each session touches on: Flavor, pleasure, culture, and connecting through food. Human health and nutrition. Ethics toward humans & other sentient creatures and mother earth, & environmental sustainability: depletion, loads, or fertility and enrichment. We’ll look at how the food systems on which we depend are connected with broader social and environmental concerns and how our behavior maintains the status quo or challenges it in exciting new directions for ourselves, our families and communities, and our biosphere.

Tuesday, November 29--Botany of Desire Michael Pollan's TV segment tells the story of our relationship with apples--from the plants' point of view! We will explore what this means for our food choices and try diverse varieties of fruit and vegetables. Guest appearance by local food guru, Jonathan Krausert.

Tuesday, December 13--King Corn In this entertaining film, two wide-eyed college buddies discover the grain that conquered America. How did we come to depend on a single plant for so much of our food supply? Is this a good idea? If not, how do we make a different choice? First UU’s Jim French will demonstrate bread making with diverse grains.

Questions:  Joan M. Gregory, Coordinator, Environmental Ministry, green@slcuu.org, 801-582-7783.

How this works: * bring what you don't need (working items only) & put them on a table – no furniture please; * take what you need from what others have brought; * no money is exchanged; * bring only what you don't need, take only what you do need; * what is not taken will be donated to the International Rescue Committee (IRC) & others in need; * the church does not have space to store donations before the swap, if you are not able to bring items on the day of the swap, consider asking a member, a friend, or a neighbor to drop items off during the swap hours. * ALL are welcome; * we especially encourage you to start your holiday “shopping” here - reuse what others no longer need before you buy new for the holidays – maybe you’ll find everything you need!

First Unitarian Church Environmental Ministry [http://slcuu.org/environmental-ministry] seeks to affirm, promote, and act in congruence with our 7th principle: respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.” We focus on providing information, education and opportunities for action that will reduce the ecological footprint and CO2 emissions of First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City, its members and friends, and the community around us. We seek environmental justice and ecological sustainability.

Environmentally Focused LifeSpan Religious Education Classes