I have a story for you. It's a tale of two heads of lettuce.

This one (hold up head of lettuce and maybe even move around the sanctuary as you speak) was grown in Salinas Valley, CA. It was grown according to conventional, industrial farming methods by a multi-national corporation. They used chemical fertilizers and pesticides to grow it, low wage migrant workers to quickly and efficiently harvest it and get it into trucks which drove 2,500 miles from Salinas, CA to Streetsboro, OH. I bought this lettuce in the Giant Eagle market in Streetsboro for $2.19 per pound. This lettuce required 4000 calories of fossil fuels to get to us today.

The second head of lettuce (repeat directions for moving around sanctuary) was grown according to sustainable, small scale farming methods in Holmes County, OH by an Amish farmer who used natural fertilizers and no pesticides to grow it. The Amish farmer or someone else in his family or community harvested the lettuce. It was put on a truck and driven 67 miles from Holmes County, OH to Cuyahoga Falls, OH. I bought it at Krieger’s market in Cuyahoga Falls for $2.39 per pound. This lettuce required fewer than 100 calories of fossil fuels to get to us today.

This morning while you are together in your classes the adults will remain here in the sanctuary to consider an important question. How do we decide which head of lettuce is the better deal?

Note: If you do this in your congregation, you'll have to do a little research!