Attended the Annual Meeting of the MPHA today in Marlborough. A nicely run affair, with its awards for service, voting for new leaders, and a couple of interesting guests (John Auerbach, MA DPH Commissioner, and food activist Mark Winne, author of Closing The Food Gap).

I traveled there and paid to attend because although I think I know how to solve the healthcare, violence and environmental crises we find ourselves sinking into, I can’t find enough people interested in learning about it. Some of the work and the ideas they have are great, among them:

1) Get more funding to stop smoking and bring organic/local produce to more people, especially those lacking in money and education

2) Work towards better labeling of foods which contribute to health problems

3) Improve programs such as school lunch, food stamps, and community supported agriculture

MA has been a leader. For instance, in the 1970s, the first Farmer’s Market started in Massachusetts. Now, there are 5,000 nationwide. We were told about a new grant to do something good with food education that will benefit nine areas nationally, and everyone was excited that Boston and Holyoke were among the nine.

But there are also reasons to be depressed. For one thing, they brought me a lunch with pesticide-laded salad greens, confined chicken, and horribly-salty soup, as well as enriched white flour rolls with non-organic butter with countless bacteria and puss and blood, and guess what? I was the only one at the table (of 10) to speak up! There we were, talking about making improved food choices for better health, and spreading the wisdom and awareness we all share, and the meal was total junk!

Also, Mr. Auerbach was saying funding has been cut for his programs by about $80 million this year. That means we are sliding back, not moving forward, and problems such as H1N1 will soon be commonplace.

Sorry for the bad news. But here I will be, waiting for the phone to ring…