We don't hire people to make brownies, we make brownies to hire people.

It's the Sunday before Christmas, and it's the first night of Chanukah, and I have to say just the idea of giving gifts out of necessity is something that has always made me queasy. In our relatively gluttonous society, and in this particular economic uncertainty, the very last thing we all need to be doing is spending money we don't have on things we definitely don't need and very possibly don't even want. Luckily, though, creative capitalism has meant that it is easier than ever for an altruistic company to do good while also doing well (as said by many more famous and prolific than I). The RED campaign is one example, where the Gap and other well-known retailers create a single red product whose profits partially go towards fighting AIDS in Africa. Or Tom's shoes, where for every pair of shoes we buy here, another pair is donated to a needy child. This strategy directly ties profits with philanthropy, making the process cyclical and interdependent. The greater the business's economic success, the greater its ability to do good; the more good it does, the more good it can do.

For some companies, though, they have not just adopted this premise but are founded on it. In other words, they were invented to do good, not the other way around. Greyston Bakery is probably my favorite of those, and it's partially because they make all of the brownies for all the Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Their founding motto is, "We don't hire people to make brownies, we make brownies to hire people." In particular, people who other companies might consider too risky, Greyston hires, mentors, promotes, and supports. Much of their profits go into the Greyston Mandala Foundation, which also goes back into the community through contributions to local needs like low income housing or providing public space for positive social interaction. In addition, they promote their business as a model to be emulated, therefore contributing exponentially to the landscape of good deed capitalism. All that, and you get good brownies, too. At their website you can order 12 or 48 at a time. Click here. Or, buy them locally at these locations (Park Slope Co-op, anyone?)

In a recent email from KCRW, my local NPR station, they mentioned the yellow bird project. Another cool altruism meets consumerism effort, where famous musicians design unique t-shirts sold for $25 each. The profits from each shirt are then donated to the musician's charity of choice, from Bon Iver's selection of a women's shelter in Toronto to The Shins' selection of the Nature Conservancy. Yellow Bird gets to give money to good causes while promoting musical artists they think are both creative and conscientious. All that, and you get a t-shirt too. Click here.


So, don't give people crap they don't want this year. Make something together, give thoughtful deeds, or buy brownies and t-shirts and get a great two for one. Choose well, and choose good, skip the relegation to the attic, and let your gift count twice, and maybe then some.

REPLATE

First of all, if you missed last week's post, please scroll down and take a look. Coming up on December 20th (this Saturday!), 27th, and 28th, the Los Angles Poverty Department (LAPD) will be presenting a fascinating and free piece of theater written by Ron Allen. I had a brief preview of one of the monologues over some very tasty Chinese food last week, and I can tell you it looks like it will be quite entertaining. I'm planning on going to the show on the 20th if anyone else wants to join me.

What I have learned in the first few months of this adventure in spreading change is that a lot of causes need a lot of money, and particularly right now, forking over our own limited cash is harder than it was even a year ago. In addition, to be honest, it starts to seem like giving money is somehow a substitute for action. Don't get me wrong - sometimes money is the best answer, or the one most appropriate and generous for you or the cause at hand, but what I'm hoping to put into the public eye here are ways we can ACT that will make a difference. Some efforts really are clear actions, some are variations on current actions, and some might be considered 'awarenesses'. I'm still figuring this all out.

This week I heard a story on KCRW's Good Food program about food waste, which we all know, particularly post-Thanksgiving, is rampant in this simultaneously ambitious and generally lazy society (oh, I'll buy greens and squash and fish and make soup and grill and... zzzzzzzzzz). A movement called REPLATE is emerging out of San Francisco. The gist is this: rather than taking home our own leftovers to quite possibly squander them in an already abundant fridge, or dumping them in the trash when you realize you're too lazy to carry them, why not leave them - fully wrapped and ready to be eaten - on TOP of the street table we often call a trash can so someone else might reap the benefits of your much appreciated fullness. REPLATE's catch phrase - you might already be an activist - takes an easy action and makes it matter. So, give it a try yourself (we actually DID pass on a selection of leftovers from that LAPD meeting) and then spread the word.

The Frequently Asked Questions on the REPLATE site contribute also to the conversation about activism (is the bar too low?) as well as health and humanity. I would add, of course this kind of system works best when there are people on both sides who participate. And, please, if you have the flu, stay home in the first place. Here are their FAQs (see you on the corner):

We started this project because we noticed that people in West Coast cities and beyond were leaving their leftovers on top of (or next to) garbage cans when they couldn't find someone to give them to. We thought this behavior was worth talking about, so we gave it a name.

Now that it has a name, there's been a lot of good conversation.

Here are the issues that keep coming up:

Won't the food go bad and make people sick?
People are eating food out of the trash. They are digging into public trash cans, pulling out old, dirty food, and eating it. Surely food that's on top of the trash, and not mixed in with the muck, is less likely to make a person ill. Surely food that's in plain sight and easily accessible will be picked up sooner (and thus in a fresher state) than food that's hidden in the trash.

The idea of food left outdoors feels messy.
Some have worried that food will rot or that rats will get to it before hungry people do. This is a legitimate concern in small towns or sparsely populated areas, but certainly not in a town like San Francisco where, at any given moment, there are many people without enough to eat. [However, I have to add, this is not a mass excuse for litter or laziness. The heart of generosity is giving away something of value, something that you yourself might still want or use. In other words, your discarded pizza crusts are not equivalent to dinner. Keep in mind - litter is evil. More on that another time.]

Why not just eat your own leftovers?
Of course. Many of us do. But sometimes you just don't, for any number of reasons. Rather than toss 'em out, or go traipsing through the city looking for a hungry person, maybe the next best thing is to replate them.

Incompatible trash cans.
Apparently, New York City trash cans don't have hoods or ledges, so there's no horizontal surface on which to replate. This isn't as big a problem as some have suggested. If you want to give someone the food you're not going to eat, simply put it next to the trash can, or on a newspaper dispenser.

Evil people.
There's a strange paranoia in the conversation about evil people poisoning the food. Sure, it could happen. But you could also get pushed in front of the subway train. Or someone could put razor blades in your Halloween candy. People could betray your trust in any number of ways, but if you ride the subway, or eat Halloween candy, you know that the fear far outweighs the actual risk.

The City should officially get involved.
Some have suggested formalizing a leftovers drop-off point like a food bank, free dining room, or some city-sponsored receptacle. We think that's a great idea. Make it happen.

If replating your leftovers counts as activism, then the bar for activism is set way too low.
Maybe that's true, but though the first steps of activism (however you define it) are small ones, they form the foundation for the giant leaps to come. And replate is just the beginning of a conversation that we hope will inspire greater action.

And don't forget that this is an open-source movement. It's yours as much as anybody's, and you can build on it however you want. [I personally LOVE this sentiment, and feel it is the central and overriding cause of 'cause of the week']

So if you don't think it's activism yet. And if you want to make replate bigger and badder and more hardcore, we've got a hunch you'll get all the support you'll need.

If you have more questions or want to expand the conversation, email us at:

leftovers [at] replate [dot] org



To hear the whole show on Good Food, go here.

LOS ANGELES POVERTY DEPARTMENT PRESENTS
"MY EYES ARE THE CAGE IN MY HEAD"
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY RON ALLEN

"My Eyes Are The Cage In My Head" depicts the reality of a tethered humanity in search of itself through desire and self-destructive relationships. Ron Allen subverts language to teach and deconstruct social models and create visions of new worlds.

'Ron Allen's raw, ultra-poetic examination of the African American experience rips into its targets to locate the true nature of freedom within one archetypal black man's mind.' - LA WEEKLY



Three Performances at three locations
All performances are free!

Saturday Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. at The Box Gallery, 977 Chung King Road in Chinatown
Saturday Dec. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Church of the Nazarene, entrance on the corner of San Pedro and 6th Street, on Skid Row
Sunday Dec. 28, at 6:30 p.m. at the Industry Cafe & Jazz, 6039 Washington Blvd. in Culver City

Ron Allen is a poet, playwright and teacher who lives and works in Los Angeles. This project continues LAPD's relationship with Allen, building on the 2006 production of "Fried Poetry", presented at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center and Skid Row's James Wood Community Center. Allen also taught in LAPD 's 2007 summer changeXchange workshop.

LOS ANGELES POVERTY DEPARTMENT creates performance work that connects lived experience to the social forces that shape the lives and communities of people living in poverty. For more information, www.lapovertydept.org

LAPD's production of "my eyes are the cage in my head" is funded in part by the City of LA Cultural Affairs Department with the National Endowment for the Arts.

My Economic Plan (a cause of a different sort)

So, my plan is this, and it is two-fold. First, I have always been a fan of the Ben & Jerry's model, and they seemed to make plenty of money. They had a pay ratio where the highest paid employee could only make a factor of what the lowest paid employee made. At one point I think it was a factor of 10. So, obviously, if the lowest paid employee made $30,000 then the top earner would make $300,000. Seems like an empathetic way to run a company.

Second, I'm taking the model of NPR fund raising. Regularly you hear someone call in to offer a matching incentive for donor donations. When you look at Forbes' list of the top 400 US billionaires, nearly all of them are related to the banking/fund management industry. This is but one example of those on the top making extraordinary gains off the hard work of those on the bottom. I propose (and include a retroactive application to the bank bailouts) that those seeking financial assistance from US (tax payers, our government) be required to first put up a matching donation, be it on a one to one basis or as a factor of the overall contribution - before we are willing to take the risk with our own finances. This makes the risk one that is mutually shared, mutually gained and mutually lost. So, again maybe an obvious example (and I will reduce the numbers here for the sake of all of our sanity) if GM asks us to take $1 million away from our other investments that need it (schools, roads, crime prevention, social services) at the very least the individuals responsible for the gains and losses of the company - those who have made so much for so long - will be required to contribute from their personal finances, say, a 50% match, or $500,000. Not only does this make them more invested in the process and makes their risk somewhat equivalent, it also reinvests the process with real VALUES, that the cost of success is sometimes sacrifice, and that you have to work hard and contribute, not ask for hand outs when the storm arrives.

And, finally. Bonuses? I'm a teacher. And a taxpayer. And a student. And an artist. I work very hard, and I work very hard advocating for others and preparing our next generation to be American visionaries. I've never gotten a bonus doing this work. The fact that AIG had to say explicitly that they will not be giving bonuses this year is scandalous. The fact that any of these bloated - and FAILING - companies are giving bonues this year is scandalous. I challenge every executive who has reaped the benefits of high living over the last decades to make this a time of real altruism, to set up a financial services non-profit to help those on the verge of losing their homes, to develop creative loan solutions or find ways to give grants or match funds for those who need it most. If our universities can do it, can't the guys who know even more about money? or supposedly know so much about business?

It's time to end the old ways, and seek change in the way business is done. No more rich getting richer, lets get back to a rising tide and lift all boats. Let's use the expertise at the top not to fly to DC in a private plane panhandling our government, but on the streets, where some people have to live in their cars because it's all they have.