Greg Plotkin

Recent Activity

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  Greg signed the petition | 8 months ago

  Investigate Harassment of LGBTQ youth at Sequoyah High School & Allow a GSA
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  Greg signed the petition | 9 months ago

  Stop my brother Troy Davis' Execution on Sep. 21.
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  Greg signed the petition | 9 months ago

  The Master's School: Stop kicking out gay and lesbian students!
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  Greg signed the petition | 9 months ago

  Turn a 30-year-old Organic Farm in Maryland into a Food Education Hub, Not Soccer Fields
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  Greg signed the petition | about 1 year ago

  Tell HarperCollins: Limited Checkouts on eBooks is Wrong for Libraries
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  Greg commented on the article | over 1 year ago

  Will Banning Soda for Poor Families Reduce Obesity?

  I guess I just have a standard set of responses at this point to the arguments for why this ban is a bad idea; and they are....

  
  

  1) Q. Isn't a ban on soda ineffective in improving the health of food stamp recipients? A. Maybe. But that's why a pilot program such as Mayor Bloomberg is proposing is so necessary. Shouldn't we have at least some research to back up the claims of inefficiency or effectiveness? Either way, I think it's worth finding out just what effects such a ban would have.

  
  

  2) Q. Why ban soda when you allow the purchase of other nutrition-less food products like potato chips and candy? A. Well, soda isn't food. Check. Mate. It's amazing to me that hunger advocates are so against a ban on soda. Shouldn't they be pleased since recipients will now be more likely to spend their benefits on, you know, food? 

  
  

  3) Ok, this really isn't a question and answer one. Now, I hate to be the one to bring this up, but I think that it needs to be addressed. The reason I see allowing the purchase of soda w/ food stamps is wrong b/c it's a double whammy against taxpayers. Not only are we subsidizing the purchase of a product with no nutritional value (and, lets not forget, isn't food) but we are very likely then footing the bill for the health care costs that recipients incur when they over-indulge in "liquid candy." i would think that a lot of people eligible for food stamp benefits also are most likely eligible for medicaid. Would actually like to hear your thoughts on this, Kathryn. 

  
  

  I totally agree that incentives are better, but at a time when budgets across the country are so tight, where would the money come from?

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  Greg commented on the article | over 1 year ago

  Will Banning Soda for Poor Families Reduce Obesity?

  You could argue that it would be oppression to not allow people receiving food stamps to purchase soda at all, but that's not what this ban does. It simply doesn't allow the purchase with taxpayer dollars.

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  Greg commented on the article | over 1 year ago

  How Buying Local Can Pull States (and the Country) Out of Debt

  So let me get this straight. You're saying that you'd prefer for people to buy their food from companies incorporated in other states, that buy their produce from farmers in other states, rather than have consumers directly supporting farmers in the state that they reside?

  
  

  You're logic doesn't make sense. In your scenario, people let their hard earned food dollars fly across state borders so they're not reinvested in the community. Is your point that the states that are providing all this "imported" food will suffer from a re-localization of our food consumption?

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  Greg commented on the article | over 1 year ago

  How Buying Local Can Pull States (and the Country) Out of Debt

  Calling this protectionism is a little dramatic, I think.

  
  

  Most states cannont produce all the food consumed within its borders, so there will always be cross-state food trading. However, if residents in states that produce a lot of a certain product (i.e. apples in New York) purchased more locally, it would be a huge boon for the economy without setting off an all out price war as you contend it would. This is about many people making small changes to their food choices in order to make a huge (and positive) economic impact on the communities where they live.

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  Greg commented on the article | almost 2 years ago

  Trader Joe's: The Masked Grocery Giant

  I don't mind the fact that TJ's in foreign. There's no closet ethnocentrism in this post at all.

  
  

  What's it's really about is transparency. TJ's not only doesn't publicize where it's products come from, it straight up refuses to tell us (even when we ask).

  
  

  As for Whole Foods, they're not perfect, but they certainly do a much better job of labeling the origin of their products (especially produce).