Protecting Our Foods and Food Security—the Need for Chemicals Policy as Well As Healthy Growing - "Access to safe, non-toxic food that supports a healthy life is an essential piece of a food system and a cornerstone of how to measure food security. Yet, Alaska’s food system has and continues to be contaminated by chemicals known to harm human health, as well as the health of plants and animals and entire ecosystems. The chemical contaminants are as varied as the mechanisms that transport them into Alaska (e.g. industrial chemicals such as PCBs, PFAS, and flame retardants; combustion products such as dioxins and furans; and pesticides such as DDT, chlorpyrifos etc.). Alaska’s geography, climate, history and cultures all play a role in our current state of contamination and trajectory for future risk, however many of the chemicals contaminating our food originate beyond our states' borders, highlighting a need for chemical policies that span from local to international with a priority of limiting the production and release of these chemicals at their source, and by doing so, protecting Alaskan's access to and ability to grow, harvest, and purchase healthy, toxic free food.

An active example of this are Alaska House Bill 121 and Senate Bill 171, scheduled for hearings during the current legislative session. These bills would create enforceable drinking water standards for PFAS, which has been found to contaminate dozens of Alaskan community’s water supplies. Contact your state legislators directly and reach out to ACAT for resources and support.

In addition to policy work, Alaska Community Action on Toxics runs an organic gardening program called Yarducopia. The program and its many volunteers work directly with residents to teach healthy gardening methods and support community gardening in yards, schools, churches, and more. Reach out if you’d like to volunteer, have a project idea, or garden space available. "

When the Lights Go Out, What About the Food? - With extreme weather events, power outages even on the road system are unpredictable in duration and coverage. Typically in the winter thee may be concern of how safe are the water pipes- and, what about the food in the refrigerator? How long do certain foods last before one should be concerned of spoilage? These topics will be looked at with tables of information which will provide interaction time with the audience. This is a successful class generally taught in public community classes!