GMO
To GM or not to GM...
that is the question!
Teens Turning Green’s NonGMO Students
for the Right to Know Campaign
W
hen you order food at a restaurant, you expect it to be
served exactly as you read on the menu. If you order
salmon with a side of sweet corn, you’d be disappointed to see anything but a filet of pink fish and a mound of crisp
yellow grains on your plate. But what if your food wasn’t exactly
as you ordered it – and you didn’t even know? What if your food
was actually genetically engineered, or a GMO (genetically modified organism), though to you it looked, smelled and tasted like
nothing was amiss? Regardless of whether GMOs are good or bad,
shouldn’t you at least have a say in whether you eat them or not?
I think you should. In fact, I believe it’s your right to know!
At Teens Turning Green, we are constantly on the front line
developing interactive resources to help you become informed,
to engage youth in the transition from conventional to conscious
living, to empower the next generation and mobilize action to
sustain a healthy and just planet. From the student led global initiative Project Green Challenge each October, to our most recent
program, the Conscious Kitchen, a farm to school food program,
we have a knack for raising awareness about the importance of incorporating environmentally sustainable and socially responsible
products and practices into daily life.
With the growing consumer awareness of GMO’s in the United
States, and globally, we felt it was time for students to take action
into their own hands. As a longtime foodie, my life was immediately changed after watching two documentaries about the detrimental effects of GMO’s in the lives of people and environments
all over the world. From learning about struggling farmers in India
to sick children in the US, to a declining bee population and the
destruction of soil, I became empowered to speak up and take a
stand. As a result, I became the student lead on a TTG campaign
to address this issue, creating #NonGMO Students for the Right
to Know.
Believing firmly in the impact of individual and collective efforts for social and environmental change, this campaign is on a
mission to demonstrate to students globally that there exists a
more sustainable way to feed our nation and our world – one that
doesn’t involve the use (and misuse) of GMOs. Through an online
Non-GMO Toolkit and a variety of resources, including a robust
Pinterest board with links to organizations like the Non-GMO Project, videos, articles, experts, and websites, youth can become educated and inspired to take action around this issue.
Listen to Ashley’s podcast
22SwitchOn
By Ashley Ugarte
Students are invited to host documentary screenings on their
campuses, where they can feature non-GMO foods and products;
work with campus dinin