Issues arose between Chick-fil-A and the LGBT community in June 2012, after Dan T. Cathy, the fast food restaurant's chief executive officer, made a series of public comments opposing same-sex marriage. This followed reports that Chick-fil-A's charitable endeavor, the S. Truett Cathy-operated WinShape Foundation, had donated millions of dollars to organizations seen by LGBT activists as hostile to LGBT rights. Activists called for protests and boycotts, while supporters of the restaurant chain and opponents of same-sex marriage ate there in support of the restaurant. National political figures both for and against the actions spoke out and some business partners severed ties with the chain.

The outcome of the initial controversy was mixed, as Chick-fil-A's sales rose twelve percent to $4.6 billion in the period immediately following the controversy; this was largely attributed to former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee's counter-boycott launched in support of the restaurant. However, the company's public image and standing with the LGBT community was damaged, with the chain facing criticism and condemnation from politicians and gay rights activists, as well as efforts by activists and political officials to ban the restaurant from college campuses, airports, and elsewhere. Chick-fil-A released a statement in July 2012 stating, "Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena." In March 2014, tax filings for 2012 showed the group stopped funding all but one organization which had been previously criticized, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

In 2017, tax filings showed that the groups supported by Chick-fil-A expanded to include The Salvation Army, which has been seen as counter to LGBTQ rights. In November 2019, Chick-fil-A announced that it would not make contributions in 2020 to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and The Salvation Army. They did not establish any criteria for corporate donations that would rule out future contributions to groups criticized as anti-LGBTQ.

History

Group contributions from opponents of LGBT causes
The WinShape Foundation, a charitable endeavor of Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy and his family, stated that it would not allow same-sex couples to participate in its marriage retreats. Chick-fil-A gave over $8 million to the WinShape Foundation in 2010. Equality Matters, an LGBT watchdog group, published reports of donations by WinShape to organizations that Equality Matters considers anti-gay, including $2 million in 2009, $1.9 million in 2010 and a total of $5 million since 2003, including grants to the Family Research Council and Georgia Family Council. WinShape contributed grants to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Exodus International, an organization noted for supporting ex-gay conversion therapy.The Marriage and Family Foundation received $994,199 in 2009 and $1,188,380 in 2010. The Family Research Council, an organization listed as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center in winter 2010, received $1000.

In January 2011, the media reported that the American fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A was co-sponsoring a marriage conference along with the Pennsylvania Family Institute (PFI), an organization that had filed an amicus brief against striking down Proposition 8 in California (see Perry v. Brown). The PFI lobbied against a state effort to ban discrimination in Pennsylvania on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Responding on its official company Facebook page, Chick-fil-A said that support of the PFI retreat had come from a local franchisee, stating "We have determined that one of our independent restaurant operators in Pennsylvania was asked to provide sandwiches to two Art of Marriage video seminars."

Tax filings for 2012 showed that Chick-fil-A created a new foundation, the Chick-fil-A Foundation, to provide grants to outside groups. It funded only one previously funded group, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Other filings for WinShape Foundation showed no funding for groups opposed to LGBT causes.

Statements by Dan Cathy
On June 16, 2012, while on the syndicated radio talk show, The Ken Coleman Show, Chick-fil-A president and chief operating officer (COO) Dan Cathy stated:

The following month, on July 2, Biblical Recorder published an interview with Dan Cathy, who was asked about opposition to his company's "support of the traditional family." He replied: "Well, guilty as charged." Cathy continued:

The day after the Supreme Court of the United States struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, Cathy tweeted, "Sad day for our nation; founding fathers would be ashamed of our gen. to abandon wisdom of the ages re: cornerstone of strong societies." The tweet was subsequently deleted, but was archived by Topsy.

In March 2014, Cathy said he regretted drawing his company into the controversy. He told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he has been working with Shane Windmeyer of Campus Pride since 2012. The article noted that WinShape and the Chick-fil-A Foundation had "dramatically" cut donations to groups opposed by same-sex marriage supporters.

Policy changes
In September 2012, The Civil Rights Agenda (TCRA) announced that Chick-fil-A had "ceased donating to organizations that promote discrimination, specifically against LGBT civil rights". This change in policy was not confirmed by Chick-fil-A officials. Chick-fil-A officials did state in an internal document that they "will treat every person equally, regardless of sexual orientation". In a letter from Chick-fil-A's Senior Director of Real Estate, the company states, "The WinShape Foundation is now taking a much closer look at the organizations it considers helping, and in that process will remain true to its stated philosophy of not supporting organizations with political agendas."

According to Focus on the Family website, CitizenLink.com: "Contrary to reports first made by the gay-activist group The Civil Rights Agenda (TCRA) on Tuesday and later picked up by mainstream media outlets, Chick-fil-A and its charitable-giving arm, the WinShape Foundation, did not agree to stop making donations to groups that support the biblical definition of marriage in exchange for being allowed to open a franchise in Chicago."

Former Arkansas Governor and FOX News commentator Mike Huckabee claimed on September 21, 2012, that he had "talked earlier today personally with Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick-fil-A about the new reports that Chick-fil-A had capitulated to demands of the supporters of same sex marriage. This is not true. The company continues to focus on the fair treatment of all of its customers and employees, but to end confusion gave me this statement." The statement provided by Chick-fil-A was posted on Huckabee's website but the company did not respond to requests for comment. In March 2014, new tax filings from 2012 showed that the company had stopped funding all but one organization which had been previously criticized by LGBT activists and supporters, and that group received just $25,390. The company created a new foundation, the Chick-fil-A Foundation, to fund outside groups. WinShape Foundation's 2012 tax filings showed funding only for its own programs, a Berry College scholarship fund, and Lars WinShape, a home for needy children in Brazil.

In 2017, Chick-fil-A said it was warning all its franchisees against speaking out publicly or getting involved in anything that could blur the line between their private beliefs and their public roles as extensions of the Chick-fil-A brand. In 2017, that message extended to politics, in part to keep the brand from being exploited by candidates. The company turned down several candidates who tried to use Chick-fil-A to bolster their campaigns, according to David Farmer, Chick-fil-A's vice president of menu strategy and development. "There are several candidates who would like to use us as a platform," Farmer told Business Insider. "We are not engaging. Chick-fil-A is about food, and that's it. "The company still encourages its franchisees to get 'entrenched' in their communities..." Traditionally, that has meant getting involved in local churches. Chick-fil-A says its focus now—both for local and corporate involvement and philanthropy—is on youth and education causes.

In an interview with Bisnow in 2019, Chick-fil-A President Tim Tassopoulos said the company will stop donating to charities with anti-LGBT views. The company will instead donate to charities focused on education, homelessness and hunger. These new organizations could include both faith-based and non-faith-based charities, but the company said none of the organizations have anti-LGBT positions.

Controversy

United States government
On May 29, 2019, the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Civil Rights opened investigations into two airports (Buffalo Niagara International Airport and San Antonio International Airport) for excluding Chick-fil-A from opening restaurants due to the company's long history of supporting and funding anti-LGBTQ organizations. Federal requirements prohibit airport operators from excluding persons, on the basis of religious creed, from participating in airport activities that receive or benefit from FAA grant funding."

Local government
After the publication of Cathy's interviews, Democrat Thomas Menino, the Mayor of Boston, stated that he would not allow the company to open franchises in the city "unless they open up their policies." Menino subsequently wrote a letter to Dan Cathy, citing Cathy's earlier statement on The Ken Coleman Show, and responded: "We are indeed full of pride for our support of same sex marriage and our work to expand freedom for all people."

In Chicago, Democratic alderman Proco Joe Moreno announced his determination to block Chick-fil-A's bid to build a second store in the city: "They'd have to do a complete 180", Moreno said in outlining conditions under which he would retract the block. "They'd have to work with LGBT groups in terms of hiring, and there would have to be a public apology from [Cathy]." Moreno received backing from Chicago's Mayor, Rahm Emanuel: "Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values", Emanuel said in a statement. "They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents. This would be a bad investment, since it would be empty." Also according to Moreno, Chick-fil-A included a statement of respect for all people regardless of sexual orientation in an internal document called Chick-fil-A: Who We Are. A document released by Chick-fil-A on September 20, 2012, did not mention any organizations opposed to same-sex marriage as being part of Chick-fil-A's donation base. WinShape Marriage will continue to be supported financially, with a stated focus on couple retreats to strengthen marriages.

San Francisco soon followed suit on July 26, 2012, when mayor Democrat Edwin M. Lee, the city's first Asian American mayor, tweeted, "Very disappointed #ChickFilA doesn't share San Francisco's values & strong commitment to equality for everyone." Lee followed that tweet with "Closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer."

Later the same month, Washington D.C. mayor Democrat Vincent C. Gray continued the trend by announcing Chick-fil-A is not welcome in his city, and proceeded to call it "hate chicken".

The proposed bans in Boston and Chicago drew criticism from some liberal pundits, legal experts, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Kevin Drum of Mother Jones magazine said "[T]here's really no excuse for Emanuel's and Menino's actions... you don't hand out business licenses based on whether you agree with the political views of the executives. Not in America, anyway ... what makes this whole situation so weird is that Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy has always opposed gay marriage. He's a devout Southern Baptist, just like his father, who founded the company. The place is closed on Sundays, for crying out loud. There's just nothing new here." UCLA law professor and blogger Eugene Volokh observed, "[D]enying a private business permits because of such speech by its owner is a blatant First Amendment violation."

Echoing those views were Glenn Greenwald of Salon, professor John Turley of The George Washington University Law School, Adam Schwartz, a senior attorney with the ACLU,  and Michael C. Dorf, the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell University Law School.

In March 2019, Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, opened an investigation after the city of San Antonio decided to reject the application for Chick-fil-A to open a store at San Antonio International Airport because of the company's stand on LGBT issues. This stand was publicly taken by 2 out of the 10 city council members. The city's mayor, Ron Nirenberg, stated his concern was that Chick-fil-A wasn't open on Sunday. It was not until mid-August 2019 that city officials agreed to release documents about its decision to exclude the company from the airport "based on the restaurant chain's donations to religious ministries". On June 10, 2019, Texas governor Greg Abbott signed into law Senate Bill 1978, colloquially known as the "Save Chick-fil-A Bill", which forbids local governments from taking adverse steps against companies or individuals based on their religious beliefs. On September 5, a group of five individuals filed suit against the City of San Antonio citing this new law.

Backlash
Students at several colleges and universities launched efforts to ban or remove the company's restaurants from their campuses. On November 3, 2011, New York University's Student Senators Council voted 19 to 4 to retain the Chick-fil-A franchise on campus. This vote came before a petition with over 11,000 signatures opposing its presence on campus was sent to the student council. Christine Quinn, a lesbian politician and then-Speaker of the City Council who was seeking the nomination as Democratic candidate for the mayoralty in the next election, was outspoken in her opposition to keeping the Chick-fil-A franchise or allowing others, and wrote a letter to this effect to NYU President John Sexton on official letterhead, opening with the words, "I write as the Speaker of the NYC Council", urging NYU to evict a Chick-fil-A due to Cathy's opposition to same-sex marriage.

On February 28, 2012, Northeastern University's Student Senate passed a resolution to cancel plans for a Chick-fil-A franchise on its campus, stating "the student body does not support bringing CFA [Chick-fil-A] to campus", and "Student concerns reflected CFA's history of donating to anti-gay organizations." The vote was 31 to 5, with 8 abstaining. The restaurant chain was finalizing a contract to bring it to NU when students protested. Davidson College in North Carolina announced on August 13, 2012, that, in response to a petition which received 500 signatures, the school would stop serving Chick-fil-A on campus at the monthly "After Midnight" events.

Other forms of protest occurred. Gay rights activists organized a "Kiss Off" to occur on August 3, an event where LGBT individuals would show affection in public.

On August 15, 2012, Floyd Lee Corkins II of Virginia entered the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Family Research Council carrying 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches, a 9 mm handgun, and a box of ammunition. After being asked for identification, he shot a security guard in the left arm and was wrestled to the ground by that same guard. Prosecutors said he told FBI agents that he wanted to use the sandwiches to "make a statement against the people who work in that building ... and with their stance against gay rights and Chick-fil-A", and that he planned "to kill as many people as I could ... then smear a Chicken-fil-A [sic] sandwich on their face".

In 2018, Chick-fil-A announced their expansion to Canada in the city of Toronto. This caused a number of boycotts and backlash from Canadians due to widespread support for LGBT rights in Canada.

In August 2019, the Toronto Star ran an opinion piece, written by its National Columnist (staff), with the headline "Chick-fil-A is about to open in Toronto. I hope it fails". She said that comment was made because the company was operated by "someone who dislikes 'my lifestyle' as Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy would probably refer to my lesbianism". The store opened on September 6, 2019, on Yonge St. at Bloor St. in Toronto, with LGBTQ2S protesters in attendance, complaining about the company's "history of supporting anti-LGBTQ causes", according to the Toronto Star. At that time, the company confirmed its plan to open 14 others in the Greater Toronto Area over the subsequent five years.

On November 18, 2019, it was reported that Chick-fil-A would stop donating to the Salvation Army and Fellowship of Christian Athletes, two Christian organizations that oppose same-sex marriage.

Corporate partners
In response to the July 2, 2012, interview, the Jim Henson Company, which had entered its Pajanimals in a kids' meal toy licensing arrangement in 2011, said that it would cease its business relationship with Chick-fil-A, and donate payment for the brand to Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Citing safety concerns, Chick-fil-A stopped distributing the toys. A spokeswoman stated the decision had been made on July 19 and was unrelated to the controversy.

In August 2012, petitions with over 80,000 signatures were delivered to publisher HarperCollins demanding the publisher cut plans to include Berenstain Bears titles as part of a kids' meal promotion. Upon being presented with petitions demanding that Berenstain Bears be pulled from a Chick-fil-A promotion, HarperCollins issued a statement saying "We have a long history of diversity and inclusiveness and work tirelessly to protect the freedom of expression. It is not our practice to cancel a contract with an author, or any other party, for exercising their first amendment rights."

Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day
In response to the controversy, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee initiated a Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day movement to counter a boycott of Chick-fil-A launched by same-sex marriage activists. More than 600,000 people RSVPed on Facebook for Huckabee's appreciation event.

On August 1, 2012, Chick-fil-A restaurants experienced a large show of public support across the nation with the company reporting record-breaking sales. A consulting firm projected that the average Chick-fil-A restaurant increased sales by 29.9 percent and had 367 more customers than a typical Wednesday.

Public polling
In August 2012, conservative-leaning polling group Rasmussen Reports published the results of a telephone survey indicating that 61 percent of likely voters held a favorable view of Chick-fil-A, while 13 percent indicated they would participate in a boycott.

Others
Other notable public figures came to Chick-fil-A's defense, including former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, former US Senator Rick Santorum, and Ann Coulter; while New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg publicly disagreed with Cathy's positions but defended his right to express them under the First Amendment.

Financial effect
Sales increased after the controversy. According to news coverage:

In addition Chick-fil-A was able to expand throughout the rest of the 2010s and into the 2020s despite the controversy and growing acceptance of LGBT people in the United States.

October 2019 closure of UK location
On October 18, 2019, it was announced that Chick-fil-A's location at the Oracle, Reading, in Reading, Berkshire, the first location in the United Kingdom, would close due to the Oracle not renewing their lease. The announcement happened only eight days after the location first opened, and had been preceded by severe criticism from LGBT rights activists in Reading and elsewhere in the UK.

References

2012 controversies in the United States
2012 in LGBT history
Same-sex marriage controversy
Opposition to same-sex marriage
Political controversies in the United States
Same-sex marriage in the United States
LGBT-related controversies in the United States
LGBT-related controversies

Chick-fil-A and LGBT people


The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, first published in 1989, is a business and self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey.

Covey defines effectiveness as the balance of obtaining desirable results with caring for that which produces those results. He illustrates this by referring to the fable of the goose that laid the golden eggs. He claims that effectiveness can be expressed in terms of the P/PC ratio, where P refers to getting desired results and PC is caring for that which produces the results.

Covey argues against what he calls the personality ethic, that he sees as prevalent in many modern self-help books. He promotes what he labels the character ethic: aligning one's values with what he claims to be universal and timeless principles. In doing this, Covey distinguishes principles and values. He sees principles as external natural laws, while values remain internal and subjective. He says that values govern people's behavior, while principles ultimately determine the consequences. Covey presents his teachings in a series of seven habits, organized as a progression from dependence through independence on to interdependence.

The 7 habits
Covey uses the concept of paradigm shift and says that different perspectives exist, i.e. that two people can see the same thing and yet differ from each other.

Covey also introduces the maturity continuum. These are three successive stages of increasing maturity: dependence, independence, and interdependence. At birth, everybody is dependent, and characteristics of dependence may linger; this is the first and lowest stage of maturity.

Covey says that each of the first three habits is intended to help achieve independence, the next three habits are intended to help achieve interdependence, and the seventh habit is intended to help maintain these achievements. Each of the seven habits has a section of the book devoted to it:

Independence
The first three habits aim at developing from dependence to independence (i.e., self-mastery):

Habit 1: "Be proactive"
Proactivity is about taking responsibility for one's reaction to one's own experiences, taking the initiative to respond positively and improve the situation. Covey postulates that "between stimulus and response lies your ability to choose" how to react, and that nothing can hurt a person without the person's consent. Covey discusses recognizing one's circle of influence and circle of concern. Covey discusses focusing one's responses and focusing on the center of one's influence.

Habit 2: "Begin with the end in mind"
Covey discusses envisioning what one wants in the future (a personal mission statement) so one can work and plan towards it, and understanding how people make important life decisions. To be effective one needs to act based on principles and constantly review one's mission statements, says Covey. He asks: Are you—right now—who you want to be? What do you have to say about yourself? How do you want to be remembered? If habit 1 advises changing one's life to act and be proactive, habit 2 advises that "you are the programmer". Grow and stay humble, Covey says.

Covey says that all things are created twice: Before one acts, one should act in one's mind first. Before creating something, measure twice. Do not just act; think first: Is this how I want it to go, and are these the correct consequences?

Habit 3: "Put first things first"

Covey talks about what is important versus what is urgent. Priority should be given in the following order:
 Quadrant I. Urgent and important (Do) – important deadlines and crises
 Quadrant II. Not urgent but important (Plan) – long-term development
 Quadrant III. Urgent but not important (Delegate) – distractions with deadlines
 Quadrant IV. Not urgent and not important (Eliminate) – frivolous distractions

The order is important, says Covey: after completing items in quadrant I, people should spend the majority of their time on II, but many people spend too much time in III and IV. The calls to delegate and eliminate are reminders of their relative priority.

If habit 2 advises that "you are the programmer", habit 3 advises: "write the program, become a leader". Keep personal integrity by minimizing the difference between what you say versus what you do, says Covey.

Interdependence
The next three habits talk about interdependence (i.e., working with others):

Habit 4: "Think win–win"
Seek mutually beneficial win–win solutions or agreements in your relationships, says Covey. Valuing and respecting people by seeking a "win" for all is ultimately a better long-term resolution than if only one person in the situation had gotten their way. Thinking win–win isn't about being nice, nor is it a quick-fix technique; it is a character-based code for human interaction and collaboration, says Covey.

Habit 5: "Seek first to understand, then to be understood"

Use empathetic listening to genuinely understand a person, which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to be influenced. This creates an atmosphere of caring, and positive problem-solving.

Habit 5 is expressed in the ancient Greek philosophy of three modes of persuasion:
 Ethos is one's personal credibility. It's the trust that one inspires, one's "emotional bank account".
 Pathos is the empathetic side, the alignment with the emotional trust of another person's communication.
 Logos is the logic, the reasoning part of the presentation.
The order of the concepts indicates their relative importance, says Covey.

Habit 6: "Synergize"
Combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork, so as to achieve goals that no one could have done alone, Covey exhorts.

Continual improvement
The final habit is that of continuous improvement in both the personal and interpersonal spheres of influence.

Habit 7: "Sharpen the saw"

Covey says that one should balance and renew one's resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable, long-term, effective lifestyle. He primarily emphasizes exercise for physical renewal, good prayer, and good reading for mental renewal. He also mentions service to society for spiritual renewal.

Covey explains the "upward spiral" model. Through conscience, along with meaningful and consistent progress, an upward spiral will result in growth, change, and constant improvement. In essence, one is always attempting to integrate and master the principles outlined in The 7 Habits at progressively higher levels at each iteration. Subsequent development on any habit will render a different experience and one will learn the principles with a deeper understanding. The upward spiral model consists of three parts: learn, commit, do. According to Covey, one must be increasingly educating the conscience in order to grow and develop on the upward spiral. The idea of renewal by education will propel one along the path of personal freedom, security, wisdom, and power, says Covey.

Abundance mentality
Covey coined the term abundance mentality, or abundance mindset, a way of thinking in which a person believes there are enough resources and successes to share with others. He contrasts it with the scarcity mindset (i.e., destructive and unnecessary competition), which is founded on the idea that if someone else wins or is successful in a situation, it means "you lose", because you are not considering the possibility of all parties "winning" in some way or another in a given situation. Individuals having an abundance mentality reject the notion of zero-sum games and are able to celebrate the success of others, rather than feel threatened by them. The author contends that the abundance mentality arises from having a high self-worth and security (see habits 1, 2, and 3), and leads to the sharing of profits, recognition and responsibility. Similarly, organizations may also apply an abundance mentality when doing business.

Reception
At the end of 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton invited Covey, along with other authors, to Camp David to counsel him on how to integrate the book's ideas into his presidency.

In August 2011, Time listed 7 Habits as one of "The 25 Most Influential Business Management Books".

Upon Covey's death in 2012, the book had sold more than 20 million copies.

Formats and adaptations
In addition to the book and audiobook versions, a VHS version also exists.

Sean Covey, Stephen's son, has written a version of the book for teens, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, which simplifies the 7 Habits for younger readers to make them easier to understand. In September 2006, Sean Covey published The 6 Most Important Decisions You Will Ever Make: A Guide for Teens, which highlights key times in the life of a teen and gives advice on how to deal with them. In September 2008, Covey published The 7 Habits of Happy Kids, a children's book illustrated by Stacy Curtis which further simplifies the 7 habits for children and teaches them through stories with anthropomorphic animal characters.

References

External links
 Official Stephen Covey homepage

1989 non-fiction books
Business books
Self-help books
Personal development
Free Press (publisher) books
Time management

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People


The Millerites were the followers of the teachings of William Miller, who in 1831 first shared publicly his belief that the Second Advent of Jesus Christ would occur in roughly the year 1843–1844. Coming during the Second Great Awakening, his teachings were spread widely and grew in popularity, which led to the event known as the Great Disappointment.

Origins
Miller was a prosperous farmer, a Baptist lay preacher, and student of the Bible living in northeastern New York. He spent years of intensive study of symbolic meaning of the prophecies of Daniel, especially Daniel 8:14 (Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed), the 2,300-day prophecy.

Miller believed that the cleansing of the sanctuary represented the Earth's destruction by fire at Christ's Second Coming. Using the year-day method of prophetic interpretation, Miller became convinced that the 2,300-day period started in 457 BC with the decree to rebuild Jerusalem by Artaxerxes I of Persia. Simple calculation then indicated that this period would end about 1843. In September 1822, Miller formally stated his conclusions in a twenty-point document, including article 15, "I believe that the second coming of Jesus Christ is near, even at the door, even within twenty-one years,—on or before 1843." This document remained private for many years.

Miller did eventually share his views, first to a few friends privately and later to some ministerial acquaintances. Initially he was disappointed at the lack of response from those he spoke to. "To my astonishment, I found very few who listened with any interest. Occasionally, one would see the force of the evidence, but the great majority passed it by as an idle tale."

Miller states that he began his public lecturing in the village of Dresden, Washington County, New York, some 16 miles from his home, on "the first Sabbath in August 1833." However, as Sylvester Bliss points out, "The printed article from which this is copied was written in 1845. By an examination of his correspondence, it appears that he must have begun to lecture in August 1831. So that this date is a mistake of the printer or an error in Mr. Miller's memory."

In 1832, Miller submitted a series of sixteen articles to the Vermont Telegraph—a Baptist paper. The first of these was published on May 15, and Miller writes of the public's response, "I began to be flooded with letters of inquiry respecting my views, and visitors flocked to converse with me on the subject." In 1834, unable to personally comply with many of the urgent requests for information and the invitations to travel and preach that he received, Miller published a synopsis of his teachings in a "little tract of 64 pages." These he "...scattered, the most of them gratuitously, sending them in reply to letters of inquiry and to places which I could not visit."

A national movement

From 1840 onward, Millerism was transformed from an "obscure, regional movement into a national campaign." The key figure in this transformation was Joshua Vaughan Himes—the pastor of Chardon Street Chapel in Boston, and a publisher. Though Himes did not fully accept Miller's ideas until 1842, he established the fortnightly paper Signs of the Times to publicize them. The first edition was published on February 28, 1840, with Himes as editor. It continues to be published by the Seventh-day Adventist Church as a monthly evangelistic magazine under the same name.

Periodical literature played a part in the rapid and widespread dissemination of Millerite beliefs. "From first to last the power of the press, in this particular form, was one of the foremost factors in the success of this now vigorous, expanding movement." In addition to the Signs of the Times based in Boston, Millerite papers were published in numerous cities including New York City, Philadelphia, Rochester, Cleveland, and Montreal, Quebec. There were at least 48 Millerite periodicals that circulated in the period leading up to the Great Disappointment. The majority of these, however, were quite short-lived—often a new paper was started whenever a Millerite evangelistic campaign entered a new area.

As well as publications based on geography, the Millerites issued various papers targeting different groups. The Advent Message to the Daughters of Zion focused on female readers, and was first published in May 1844. The Advent Shield was a more academically orientated paper published in Boston and edited by Joshua Vaughan Himes, Sylvester Bliss, and Apollos Hale. Its announced purpose was to "defend the doctrine from the attacks of the enemies, to exhibit the unscriptural position of the opponents, and furnish the truth to those who were ready to receive it." While only three issues were produced: in May 1844, January 1845, and a final issue in April 1845; it was the largest of the Millerite papers, the first two issues each having 144 pages, and the final having 250.

As the various dates of Christ's predicted return approached, Millerite publishing increased. In May 1843, 21,000 copies of the various Millerite papers were published for distribution each week. In New York alone, in the five-month period ending April 1843, 600,000 copies of various publications were distributed. In December 1843, Himes proposed the publication of one million tracts, while in May 1844, he announced that five million copies of Millerite publications had been distributed up to that time.

A researcher examined the geographical distribution of correspondents to the Millerite periodical Signs of the Times from 1840 to 1847. Out of a total of 615 correspondents, she found that the 131 correspondents from New York state provided the largest group. Vermont provided another 107, with New England (excluding Vermont) accounting for a further 279. Outside of these areas, representation was sparse: 23 in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland combined; just 65 from the west—including 20 from Ohio; and only 10 from the Southern states.

While it seems then, that the vast majority of Miller's followers were of local origin, his message was not limited to his local area—nor even to the United States. Miller preached across the border in Canada's Eastern Townships on at least three occasions: in 1835, 1838 and 1840. He made a number of converts there and gained the support of some of the local clergy. At least five Millerite papers were published in Canada: the Faithful Watchman—published in Sherbrooke from January 1843; the influential Voice of Elijah, published in Montreal from June 1843; the short-lived Hope of the Church in St. Thomas in 1844; Behold, He Cometh in Hamilton, and the Bridegroom's Herald in Toronto, both from mid-1844.

Many travelers or emigrants to the United States who had heard the Second Advent message there returned to their home districts to preach. From 1841, Millerite evangelists appeared in Great Britain, also, though he never travelled there himself. In addition to the nearly $1,000 that Miller and Himes spent supplying literature to enquirers and evangelists in Great Britain, "there is evidence that [in Liverpool, Bristol, and other ports] local Millerite pioneers borrowed copies of Miller's works and Adventist magazines from visiting American sea captains and merchants."

As well as using imported American literature, two Millerite papers were published locally in Great Britain: the Second Advent Harbinger in Bristol, and the British Midnight Cry in Liverpool.

The Millerite message entered Australia through the Canadian paper Voice of Elijah. Thomas Playford, living in Adelaide, was converted thus. Playford spread the Millerite message in Australia, even publishing a book of his sermons: Discourses on the Second Advent of Jesus Christ. Playford's preaching apparently resulted in a number of converts.

An English Millerite, James William Bonham, apparently sent copies of The Midnight Cry to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), though no record remains of their effect.

In a similar manner, converts were made in Norway and Chile. A letter published in The Midnight Cry of October 12, 1843, from a Mrs. O. S. Burnham of Kaloa, The Sandwich Islands, (now Hawaii) stated that she and her husband had accepted the Millerite message and were worshipping with a small company of believers.

Despite the urging of his supporters, Miller never personally set an exact date for the expected Second Advent. However, in response to their urgings he did narrow the time-period to sometime in the year 1843, stating: "My principles in brief, are, that Jesus Christ will come again to this earth, cleanse, purify, and take possession of the same, with all the saints, sometime between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844" March 21, 1844 passed without incident, and the majority of Millerites maintained their faith. On March 25, Miller wrote to Himes, "I am still looking for the Dear Savior… . The time, as I have calculated it, is now filled up; and I expect every moment to see the Savior descend from heaven. I have now nothing to look for but this glorious hope."

As George R. Knight states, the movement's survival was a result of the fact that, "the Millerite leaders had been 'soft' on the time... . They allowed for the possibility of small errors in their calculations and even in some of their historic dates." In fact, on February 28, Miller himself had written, "If Christ comes, as we expect, we will sing the song of victory soon; if not, we will watch, and pray, and preach until he comes, for soon our time, and all prophetic days, will have been filled."

Further discussion and study resulted in the brief adoption of a new date—April 18, 1844, one based on the Karaite Jewish calendar (as opposed to the Rabbinic calendar). Like the previous date, April 18 passed without Christ's return. More study led the Millerites to believe that they had entered the "tarrying time"—a time of waiting after which Christ would finally return. This belief sustained the Millerites through the months of May to July 1844. As Knight notes however, this period represented a "flatness in Millerite evangelism," when even the Millerite preachers must have experienced diminished certainty.

In August 1844 at a camp-meeting in Exeter, New Hampshire, everything changed when Samuel S. Snow presented a message of earth-shattering proportions—what became known as the "seventh-month" message or the "true midnight cry." In a complex discussion based on scriptural typology, Snow presented his conclusion (still based on the 2,300-day prophecy in Daniel 8:14), that Christ would return on, "the tenth day of the seventh month of the present year, 1844."

Again using the calendar of the Karaite Jews, this date was determined to be October 22, 1844. This "seventh month message" "spread with a rapidity unparalleled in the Millerite experience" amongst the general population. The situation caught many of the established leaders—including Himes and Miller himself, by surprise. Knight reports that, "There is no evidence that any of the foremost Millerite preachers accepted this grass-roots development until late September. Most did not accept it until early October."

Great Disappointment

October 22, 1844, the day Jesus was expected to return, ended like any other day to the disappointment of the Millerites. Both Millerite leaders and followers were left generally bewildered and disillusioned. Responses varied: some Millerites continued to look daily for Christ's return, others predicted different dates—among them April, July, and October 1845. Some theorized that the world had entered the seventh millennium, the "Great Sabbath", and that, therefore, the saved should not work.

Others acted as children, basing their belief on Jesus' words in Mark 10:15, "Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." O. J. D. Pickands used Revelation 14:14–16 to teach that Christ was now sitting on a white cloud, and must be prayed down. Some simply gave up their beliefs and attempted to rebuild their lives.

Some members rejoined their previous denominations, while a substantial number became Shakers. Hundreds joined the Shakers, who believed that Christ had already appeared for the second time in the person of Mother Ann Lee. The "Advents'" impact was greatest on the Shaker villages at Union Village and Whitewater, Ohio, Harvard, Massachusetts, and Canterbury, New Hampshire. Some remained Shakers for the rest of their lives; others left after a short time.

Post-Great Disappointment Millerism

In the confusion that followed the Great Disappointment it seemed that almost every Millerite had an opinion—all of them different. Miller said that in one week he received sixteen different papers advocating different views, all claiming to be Advent papers. Much of the responsibility for this proliferation of viewpoints must be shouldered by Miller, whose Rules of Biblical Interpretation outlined a method of biblical study that encouraged each person to read the Bible and to "do theology" for themselves.

By mid-1845, doctrinal lines amongst the various Millerite groups began to solidify, emphasizing their differences—a process Knight terms "sect building." During this time three main Millerite groups formed, in addition to those who had simply given up their beliefs.

The first major division of the Millerite groups who had not completely given up their belief in Christ's Second Advent were those who accepted a shut-door theology. This belief was popularized by Joseph Turner and was based on that key Millerite passage: Matthew 25:1–13—the Parable of the Ten Virgins. The shut door mentioned in verses 11–12 was interpreted as the "close of probation". As Knight explains, "After the door was shut, there would be no additional salvation. The wise virgins (true believers) would be in the kingdom, while the foolish virgins and all others would be on the outside."

The belief became a major issue upon the publication in January 1845, of an article by Apollos Hale and Turner in The Advent Mirror. This article tied the shut-door concept to October 22, 1844, teaching that the work of general salvation was finished at that date—Christ came spiritually as the Bridegroom, the wise virgins had entered into the wedding feast, and the door was then shut on all others. This first group is commonly known as either the "shut-door" or "spiritualizer" group.

The widespread acceptance of the "shut-door" belief lost ground as doubts were raised about the significance of the October 22, 1844, date—if nothing happened on that date, then there could be no shut door. The opposition to these "shut-door" beliefs was led by Joshua Vaughan Himes and make up the second post-'Great Disappointment' group. This faction soon gained the upper hand, even converting Miller to their point of view. On March 20, 1845, the Morning Watch published a call by Himes for a conference. The Albany Conference was to have three purposes:
 "to strengthen one another in the faith of the Advent at the door,"
 "to consult on the best mode of unitedly carrying forth our work, in comforting and preparing the Advent congregations among us for the speedy coming of the Lord," and
 "to unite our efforts, for the conversion and salvation of sinners."
Notably, the stated purpose of the conference was not to debate controversial doctrines. In fact the invitation was extended only to those Adventists who "still adhere to the original faith." The Shut-door Adventists and others who had developed new doctrines were therefore explicitly excluded. The biggest draw was to be the presence of Miller. In fact Himes wrote to Miller on March 27, 1845, saying, "all depends upon your being there."

The Albany Conference began on April 29, 1845, and was to be, "one of the most significant Adventist meetings in the history of post-October 1844 Adventism." The delegates to the Albany Conference – including prominent Millerite leaders such as Miller, Himes. Elon Galusha, Josiah Litch, and Sylvester Bliss; accomplished three main tasks:
 The production of a ten-point statement of belief.
 The development of a plan for evangelism that involved further organization, including the establishment of Sunday Schools and Bible classes; and the ordination of selected believers as ministers.
 The passing of a series of resolutions that rejected a number of beliefs and practices seen as extreme; including mixed foot-washing, compulsory salutation kissing, shaving one's head, and acting childlike.

The Albany Conference group of Millerites formed the Evangelical Adventists out of which rose the Advent Christian Church. The Albany Conference Statement with its narrowing of beliefs was unacceptable to many. Millerism had been founded on Miller's open, non-restrictive approach to Bible study—"It was the freedom to discover new truths that had drawn so many Christians and Freewill Baptists to the movement. The new restrictive definitions charted a course that was unacceptable to many who had joined the movement."

The third major post-disappointment Millerite group also claimed—like the Hale and Turner led group—that the October 22 date was correct. Rather than Christ returning invisibly however, they came to view the event that took place on October 22, 1844, as having been quite different. The theology of this third group appears to have had its beginnings as early as October 23, 1844—the day after the Great Disappointment. On that day, during a prayer session with a group of Advent believers, Hiram Edson became convinced that "light would be given" and their "disappointment explained."

Some years later, Edson reported on his experiences following that meeting: "While passing through a large field I was stopped about midway of the field. Heaven seemed open to my view, and I saw distinctly and clearly that instead of our High Priest coming out of the Most Holy of the heavenly sanctuary to come to this earth on the tenth day of the seventh month, at the end of the 2300 days, that He for the first time entered on that day the second apartment of that sanctuary; and that He had a work to perform in the Most Holy before coming to this earth in His Second Coming. That he came to the marriage at that time; in other words, to the Ancient of days to receive a kingdom, dominion, and glory; and we must wait for his return from the wedding."

Edson's experience led him into an extended study on the topic with O. R. L. Crosier and F. B. Hahn. They came to the conclusion that "the sanctuary to be cleansed in Daniel 8:14 was not the earth or the church, but the sanctuary in heaven." Therefore, the October 22 date marked not the Second Coming of Christ, but rather a heavenly event. This is the basis for the later Seventh-day Adventist doctrine of the Investigative Judgement. An article written by O. R. L. Crosier titled "To All Who Are waiting for Redemption, the Following is Addressed" summarising their insights, was published in the March 1845 edition of the Day-Dawn. A more comprehensive article—also by O. R. L. Crosier and titled "The Law of Moses" was published in the Day-Star of February 7, 1846. It is out of this third Millerite group that the Seventh-day Adventist Church arose.

Doctrine
The Millerites originally had adherents across denominational lines, especially from Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist and Campbellite churches, forming distinct denominations only after the Great Disappointment. They were united by a belief in the imminent return of Jesus Christ—the Second Advent. After the Great Disappointment of October 22, 1844, discussion of beliefs began to fragment the once united Millerites. Dunton points out that there were four main divisive doctrines being discussed by Millerites around the time of the Albany Conference:
Biblical prophecies relating to the Jews. The majority of Millerites believed that these prophecies would find a spiritual rather than a literal fulfilment; however the Age to Come Adventists led by Joseph Marsh believed in a literal, physical Jewish return to Palestine prior to the Christ's return.
Conditional immortality was not discussed at the Albany Conference, but was a source of controversy soon after.
The doctrine of the Sabbath was one of the schismatic issues debated at the Albany Conferences. The seventh-day Sabbath was rejected by delegates at the Albany Conference, who passed a resolution to have "no fellowship with Jewish fables and commandments of man, that turn from the truth." Sabbatarianism remained a minority position among the Millerites, but the doctrine received a significant boost when Thomas Preble published a tract on the topic. The tract, titled, A Tract, Showing that the Seventh Day Should Be Observed as the Sabbath, Instead of the First Day; "According to the Commandment", was widely read by Miller's followers.
Following the disappointment of October 22, there was considerable discussion regarding the continuing possibility of the conversion of sinners. The doctrine that excluded this possibility became known as the shut-door. Miller himself believed this for a short time, though he later changed and repudiated it.

Influence

The Bible Student movement had connections at the very beginning (in the early 2nd half of 19th century) with the Millerite movement. Charles Taze Russell later stated that "I confess indebtedness to Adventists as well as to other denominations". In light of this, the Bible Student Movement was influenced by Adventists roots, but did not emerge from the Millerism movement.

Followers of the Bahá'í Faith also credit Miller's analysis of the time of Christ's return. See also Day-year principle for a more complete review of how William Miller's analysis of the 2,300-day prophecy of Daniel 8 matches the Bahá'í understanding. Bahá'ís believe that, although William Miller's understanding of the location and method of Christ's return was not accurate, his calculation of the timing was entirely correct.

Many Adventist sects emerged from the movement, including Seventh Day Adventists.

See also
 :Category:Adventism
 Christian eschatology
 Christian revival
 Christianity in the 19th century
 Millennialism
 Unfulfilled Christian religious predictions

Notes

Further reading

 Barkun, Michael. Crucible of the millennium: The burned-over district of New York in the 1840s (Syracuse University Press, 1986) online.
 Billington, Louis. "The Millerite Adventists in Great Britain, 1840–1850." Journal of American Studies 1.2 (1967): 191–212.
 Bull, Malcolm, and Keith Lockhart. Seeking a Sanctuary: Seventh-day Adventism and the American Dream (Indiana U.P. 2007); online
 Butler, Jonathan. "From Millerism to Seventh-Day Adventism: 'Boundlessness to Consolidation'." Church History 55.1 (1986): 50–64. online
 Dopp, Terrie, et al. Ellen Harmon White: American Prophet (Oxford University Press, 2014)
 Morse, Donald E. "The End of the World in American History and Fantasy: The Trumpet of the Last Judgment." Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 13.1 (49 (2002): 33–46). online, also available online here
 Nichol, Francis D. The Midnight Cry: A Defense of the Character and Conduct of William Miller and the Millerites, Who Mistakenly Believed That the Second Coming of Christ Would Take Place in the Year 1844 (1944); a scholarly study by an Adventist. online
 Numbers, Ronald L., and Jonathan M. Butler, eds. The disappointed: Millerism and millenarianism in the nineteenth century (Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1993). online

 Pritchard, Linda K. "The Burned-over District Reconsidered: A Portent of Evolving Religious Pluralism in the United States." Social Science History 8#3 (1984), pp. 243–265. online
 Rowe, David L. God's strange work: William Miller and the end of the world (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2008) online.
 Rowe, David L. Thunder and Trumpets: Millerites and Dissenting Religion in Upstate New York, 1800–1850 (1985) online
 Rowe, David L. "A New Perspective on the Burned-over District: The Millerites in Upstate New York." Church History 47.4 (1978): 408–420. online
 Sandeen, Ernest R. The roots of fundamentalism: British and American millenarianism, 1800–1930 (1978) online

Historiography
 Butler, Jonathan M. "Seventh-Day Adventist Historiography: A Work in Progress." Church History 87.1 (2018): 149–166.

 McArthur, Benjamin. "Millennial fevers." Reviews in American History 24.3 (1996): 369–382. online

Primary sources

External links
"History of the Millerite Movement" from the Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia 10:892–898, 1976.
Coffman, Elesha (August 8, 2008). "The King is Coming, Eventually", ChristianityToday.com.
Graphical timeline of major Millerite groups from the Worldwide Church of God official website
Signs of the Times  scans of Millerite journal (1840–1841)
The Midnight Cry PDF scans of Millerite journal (1842–1843)
The Millerite Movement, a bibliography by Pacific Union College librarian Gary Shearer

Adventism
Apocalyptic groups
Christian new religious movements
History of Christianity in the United States
Premillennialism
Seventh-day Adventist theology

Millerism


William Gordon Atkinson (14 April 1941 – 4 August 1984) was an Australian farmer and politician who was a Liberal Party member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia from 1983 until his death.

Atkinson was born in Geraldton, to Jessie (née Peden) and Harry Leonard Atkinson. His family moved to Dalwallinu (a small Wheatbelt town) when he was a child, and he attended Northam Senior High School and Muresk Agricultural College. After leaving school, Atkinson farmed at Dalwallinu, becoming prominent in agricultural circles. He first stood for parliament at the 1980 state election, losing to Harry Gayfer (the sitting National Country member) in Central Province. Atkinson recontested the seat at the 1983 election, and was elected on just 26.1 percent of first preferences. However, he served in parliament for just 15 months before dying suddenly in August 1984, aged 43. He had married Olwen Margaret Dowie in 1963, with whom he had four children. In a Legislative Council condolence motion after Atkinson's death, Gordon Masters said that "[no] other person in Parliament typified the country people and the farming community better".

References

1941 births
1984 deaths
Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia
20th-century Australian farmers
20th-century Australian politicians
Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council
People from Geraldton

Gordon Atkinson (Australian politician)


Alek D. Epstein (; born April 18, 1975) is a Russian-Israeli sociologist of culture and politics. He divides his time between Jerusalem and Moscow, taking part in a number of academic, educational, social change and civil rights activism projects in both countries. He has published more than 200 manuscripts in various scientific journals and collections and authored more than 20 books on Israel and the Middle East.

Biography
Alek Davidovich Epstein graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1995, and obtained his PhD in 2001. His M.A. and Ph.D. dissertations were supervised by Martin van Creveld and Baruch Kimmerling. From 1999 till 2012 he was affiliated with the Department of Sociology, Political Science and Communication, Open University of Israel. His professional experience includes courses taught at the Department of Sociology, Rothberg International School and Chais Center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at the School of Communication and Journalism at the College of Management, Tel-Aviv. During twelve years (from 1999 till 2010) he served as an adjunct professor of sociology of Israel at the Department of Jewish Studies, Institute of Asian and African Countries, Moscow State University. In 2009 he joined the faculty of the Russian-British postgraduate program at the Department of Sociology and Political Science at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, where he taught during two academic years.

As a former coordinator for academic cooperation at the Chais program in Jewish and Israel studies in Russian at the Open University of Israel, Epstein pushed forward contacts with various top-ranked Russian universities. From 2006 till 2008 agreements were signed with the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO); State University of Nizhniy Novgorod; Ural State University (Ekaterinburg); National Research Tomsk State University; Center of International Studies of Kazan State University. Alek D. Epstein lectured in all of these universities; his articles were published in various journals and collections issued by each of the five abovementioned institutes of higher education.

He has always been particularly concerned with the issues of Russian history, culture and social life both professionally and personally. He describes himself as a humanist, a cosmopolitan and a social democrat. As a convinced atheist, he speaks out for the human rights, for national, ethnic and gender equality, for the recognition of same-sex marriages including the child adoption by same-sex partners, for the protection of the environment and the development of the ecologically-oriented thinking, for the decrease of the number of prisoners. He strongly opposes the ideas of capital penalty, militarism, xenophobia and the concept of a strong nation-state.

In November 2012 he initiated the creation of An Alternative Prize for the Russian Activist Art and became the chairperson of its jury. The laureates included Matvey Krylov, Artem Loskutov, Maria Kiseleva and Pussy Riot group and others. The ceremony was organized as part of the Media Impact Assembly at the Zverev Center for Contemporary art on December 4, 2012.

Grants and awards
Epstein has been awarded Theodor Herzl scholarship and research grants from the Bernard Cherrick Center for the Study of Zionism and the History of Israel; Minerva Center for Human Rights (twice); Leslie and Vera Keller Foundation for the Enhancement of the Jewish Heritage; Lavon Institute for the History of the Israeli Labor Movement; Shaine Center for Research in Social Sciences; David Asseo Foundation and the Open University of Israel. He is listed in  2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century (2008) and Who's Who in the World (2009).

Research
His Ph.D. dissertation was dedicated to the study of "The Involvement of the Academic Community in the Public Discourse on the Formation of the Israeli Political Culture in the Period of Labor Movement Hegemony". Later he served as a principal researcher in the study on the development of sociology of the Israeli society as a research field; in the study of the inter-cultural dialogue between scientists and teachers from the former USSR and their Israeli colleagues; etc.

An expert in Israeli history and politics, as well as in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, he has written extensively on intellectuals' influence on the emergence of civil society, on the development of conscientious disobedience as an indicator of the changing patterns of civil–military relations, on the development of Israel studies as a research field in various countries, on the emergence of the Palestinian refugee problem and unsuccessful attempts to solve it, on various aspects of immigrant scientists' and teachers' professional and social integration in Israel, on bilateral relations between Israel and Russia, Middle Eastern peace initiatives and on several additional topics.

Works on Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict
Epstein has published 150 articles in such scientific journals as Journal of Human Rights; Terrorism and Political Violence; International Studies in the Sociology of Education; Journal of Educational Administration and History; New Global Development: Journal of International and Comparative Social Welfare; Language in Society; Language Problems and Language Planning; Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development; Journal of International Migration and Integration; Tourism, Culture and Communication, as well as Jewish Political Science Review; Journal of Israeli History; Israeli Sociology and others, among them journals, published by Russian and Ukrainian Academies of Sciences.

Epstein authored fourteen books, published in Russian, among them: Wars and Diplomacy. Arab–Israeli Conflict in the 20th Century (Kyiv and Moscow, 2003), Israel and the Palestinian Refugee Problem: History and Politics (Moscow, 2005), Israel in the Era of "Post-Zionism": Academy, Ideology and Politics (Moscow, 2006), After the Collapse of the "Road Map": The Attempts to Mitigate the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict (Moscow, 2006), Israel's War Against Hezbollah and Its Impact on the Middle Eastern Politics (Moscow, 2006), Confronting HAMAS: Israel, Jordan and PNA Face to Face with Islamic Fundamentalism (Moscow, 2007), Diplomatic Struggle over Jerusalem. An Offstage History (Moscow/Jerusalem, 2008), Israel and (Non) Administered Territories: Between Annexation and Withdrawal (Moscow/Jerusalem, 2008), Israel's Policy of Targeted Killing: Politics, Law and Ethics (Moscow, 2009), Israelis and Palestinians: From Confrontation to Negotiations and Back (Moscow/Jerusalem, 2009), The Black Years. Soviet Jewry between Hitler and Stalin, 1939–1953 (together with Kiril Feferman, Raanana, Israel, 2010), The Rise and the Decline of the Israeli Left (Moscow, 2011), Russia and Israel: A Difficult Journey (together with Stanislav Kozheurov, Moscow/Jerusalem, 2011), The Revitalization of the Jewish Statehood and the Unresolved Jewish Dilemma (Kyiv, 2011), To Free the Hostages by Any Means Necessary: Israel's Negotiations with Palestinian and Lebanese Guerrilla Organizations (together with Evgeni Varshaver, Moscow, 2012) and Close Allies? United States and Israel: The Hidden History
(2 vols., Moscow/Jerusalem, 2014). His books Political and Ethnic Cleansings in the USSR, 1918–1953 (Raanana, Israel, 2007) and Russian-Speaking Israelis at 'Home' and 'Abroad': Identity and Migration (together with Zeev Khanin and Marina Niznik, Jerusalem – Ramat-Gan, 2011) were published in Hebrew.

He has contributed to and edited twelve volumes in various languages, among them Mass Migration and Its Impact on the Israeli Society (Moscow, 2000); Contemporary Israel: Politics and Society (Moscow/Jerusalem, 2002); The Zionist Imperative: An Anthology of Contemporary Thinking (Moscow/Jerusalem, 2003); The Palestine-Israeli Conflict in the Mirror of Public Opinion and International Diplomacy (Moscow, 2004); The Post-Soviet Jewry: Identity and Education (Jerusalem, 2008); The Jewish State at the Beginning of the 21st Century. An Anthology of Contemporary Israeli Social and Political Thought (Moscow/Jerusalem, 2008) – in Russian; National Priorities: Immigration and Integration in Israel in the Beginning of the 21st Century (Jerusalem, 2007) – in Hebrew; Every Seventh Israeli: The Jews of the Former Soviet Union – Patterns of Social and Cultural Integration (Jerusalem, 2007); Constructing the National Identity: Jewish Education in Russia Twenty Years after the End of the Cold War (Jerusalem, 2008); and Immigrant Scientists in Israel: Achievements and Challenges of Integration in Comparative Context (Jerusalem, 2010) – in English.

In addition, he has edited the Russian versions of the Open University's courses Israel: The First Decade of Independence (Part I. "The Founding of Israeli Democracy", 4 volumes, 2001; Part II. "Society, Economics and Culture", 4 volumes, 2002–2003), From National Home to a State in the Making: The Jewish Community in Palestine between the World Wars (2 vols., 2006), Democracy and National Security in Israel (3 vols., 2007–2009) and Search for Identity Between Assimilation and Immigration: Russian Jewry in the Twentieth Century (2 vols.,  2007–2008).

Works on Russian civic activism and the protest art

In June 2011, the Moscow-based publishing house Gileya headed by Sergey Kudryavtsev published the book The Thought Police: Authorities, Experts and Anti-Extremism Campaign in Contemporary Russia, co-authored by Alek Epstein and Oleg Vasiliev.  The presentation of the book featured speeches by Alexander Verkhovsky, Vsevolod Yemelin, Boris Stomakhin and others, and the Kasparov.ru portal published an extensive interview with the authors.

In June 2012 the Free Marxist Publishing House headed by Kirill Medvedev published the follow-up book entitled Defending the Authorities against Criticism from Society: Ten Years of Anti-Extremism Campaign in Contemporary Russia (it also included articles by the philosophers Ilya Budraitskis and Aleksey Penzin who participated in the presentation that was organized as part of the VII Moscow International Book Festival in the Central House of Artists).

In March 2012 the Moscow-based Umlaut Network publishing house issued Alek Epstein's book Total 'War': Art Activism in the Age of Tandemocracy, a social and political analysis of the phenomenon of the "Voina" art-group throughout the five years of its existence starting with its first appearance in February, 2007. Fragments of this research were published in two issues of the NZ: Debates on Politics and Culture journal in the fall of 2011. The presentation of the book that took place in the Vinzavod Center for Contemporary Art was highlighted by speeches by Andrey Erofeev, Yury Samodurov, Peter Verzilov, Anton Nikolaev and others, and detailed interviews with the author were published by such Internet portals as Around Art – Contemporary Art and Art-Chronicle, as well as by the Radio Free Europe. It was named among the best books of the week by Kommersant and Moscow News newspapers as well as by the Russian Reporter weekly.

In the late July 2012, on the eve of the trial of Pussy Riot (Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alyokhina), the publisher Viktor Bondarenko and Kolonna publications released the book entitled Art on the Barricades: 'Pussy Riot', the 'Bus Exhibition' and the Protest Art Activism, edited by Alek D. Epstein. Along with the extensive preface (its fragments were published in two issues of the NZ: Debates on Politics and Culture journal) the album also includes over a hundred photos of actions and works of art created by Victoria Lomasko, Anton Nikolaev, Lena Hades, Aleskey Knedlyakovsky, Lusine Dzhanyan, Evgenia Maltceva, Leonid Danilov, Vladimir Kozin, Oleg Khvostov, Victor Bogorad and other contemporary Russian artists. This art book was designed by Galina Bleikh. Extensive interviews with Alek D. Epstein concerning the book were published on the portals of Radio Free Europe, Gazeta.ru and Be In, a fragment of the album was published on the Artguide website and numerous comments appeared on such websites as Art-Chronicle, Grani.ru, Noart Gallery, ZHIR project and others. The album was named one of the most important art books of the summer of 2012 by Art-Chronicle and "TimeOut Moscow" journals.

In late September 2012 the Russia for all foundation and the Kolonna publications issued the album entitled Victor Bondarenko and Evgeniya Maltceva's Project 'Spiritual Combat' and the Struggle for the Christian Sacred Images' New Life in Art, authored by Alek D. Epstein. The unique material, as well as different versions of the works by Evgenia Maltceva exhibited at the Vinzavod Center for Contemporary Art in September 2012, published for the very first time, makes this book a valuable historical record of one of the most resonant art exhibitions that took place in Moscow in the past few years. The book was designed by Galina Bleikh. The speakers at the presentation included Victor Bondarenko, Marat Gelman, Roman Bagdasarov and others, while an extensive interview with the author was published on the website of the Radio Free Europe.

Scientific conferences
Epstein was an organizer and co-chairperson of the International conference "Contemporary Israel: Politics, Culture and Society" that took place at the Moscow Institute of Israeli and Middle Eastern Studies and Moscow State University on September 8–11, 2000. This conference was the first one in the Russian academic history that was fully dedicated to the study of Israeli society. Later he chaired sessions on the history of Zionism and Israel at the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th Annual International Interdisciplinary Conferences on Jewish Studies (Moscow, 2006–2009). He presented his pieces of research at the 34th, 36th and 37th World Congresses of the International Institute of Sociology (IIS) (Tel-Aviv, Israel, 1999; Beijing, China, 2004; Stockholm, Sweden, 2005), at the 7th and 10th Conferences of the International Society for the Study of the European Ideas (Bergen, Norway, 2000; University of Malta, 2006), at the 25th and 31st Scientific Conferences of the International Society of Political Psychology (Berlin, 2002; Paris, 2008), at the International Political Science Association Conference on "Nationalism and National Security" (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, 1999), at the 9th and 10th Bi-Annual Conferences of the International Society for the Intellectual History (London, 2007; Verona, 2009), at the 3rd International Conference on "Intellectuals, Intelligentsia and Society" (Moscow State University, 1999), at the 3rd, 4th and 5th Annual Conferences of the World Public Forum "Dialogue of Civilizations" (Rhodes, Greece, 2005, 2006 and 2007), at the Association for the Study of Nationalities conference "Twenty Years Later (1991–2011): The Reshaping of Space and Identity" (Moscow, 2011) and various thematic conferences. He has appeared on many  TV and radio programs and his articles have been published in the Russian and Jewish press in various countries.

References

1975 births
Living people
Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
Israeli political scientists
Israeli sociologists
Academic staff of Moscow State University
Academic staff of the Open University of Israel
Russian political scientists
Russian sociologists
Place of birth missing (living people)
Academic staff of Ural State University

Alek Epstein


Seniorate Province, also known as the Senioral Province, was a district principality in the Duchy of Poland that was formed in 1138, following the fragmentation of the state. Its ruler held the title of the High Duke, ruling all duchies within Poland. In 1227, following the abolition of the High Duke title, the province was transformed into the Duchy of Kraków.

Senioral principle

The senioral principle established in the testament stated that at all times the eldest member of the dynasty was to have supreme power over the rest (Dux, the Dukes) and was also to control an indivisible "Seniorate Province". In 1138 Bolesław's III eldest son Władysław II, took up the rule over a vast strip of land running north–south down the middle of Poland, composed of:
Lesser Poland, except for the eastern Duchy of Sandomierz allocated to Bolesław's III minor son Henry;
eastern parts of Greater Poland around Gniezno, the Polish ecclesiastical center, and Kalisz;
western Kuyavia;
the lands of Łęczyca, held by Bolesław's III widow Salomea of Berg for life.
The High Duke resided at Kraków, Poland's capital since 1038. The Senior's prerogatives also included control over the Duchy of Silesia and his Pomerelian vassals at Gdańsk in eastern Pomerania. The Senior was tasked with defense of borders, the right to have troops in provinces of other Dukes, carrying out the foreign policy, supervision over the clergy (including the right to nominate bishops and archbishops), and minting the currency.

The High duke generally had his own principality (province, dukedom), which he had inherited within his own branch of the Piast dynasty, and left to his personal heirs within his own branch, whereas Kraków followed the seniorate (fell to the oldest of them). Kraków was a substantial addition to the resources of the incumbent, whoever it was, and was intended to put him higher in might than his vassal dukes.

However, the seniorate soon collapsed, with the first Senior - Władysław II the Exile - failing his bid to take over other provinces and in 1146 was expelled by his younger half-brothers, an incident which led to long-time Polish particularism.

History
The duchy neighboured originally each of the four partition duchies of Masovia at Płock, Sandomierz, Silesia at Wrocław and Greater Poland at Poznań. Even after many of those were further partitioned, it bordered on several principalities, and was at least close to all.

Upon the exile of High Duke Władysław II the rule was assumed by Władysław's II eldest brother Bolesław IV the Curly, Duke of Masovia, who died without issue in 1173. He was followed in the Seniorate by the second eldest Mieszko III the Old, while Masovia and the Kuyavian lands passed to Bolesław's IV minor son Leszek.

The senioral principle finally turned out to be a failure as Mieszko's III rule at Kraków was not only challenged by the sons of expelled Władysław II, but also by the youngest son Casimir II the Just, who had not received any share by his late father's testament. Though upon the death of Bolesław IV the Curly he had received the Duchy of Sandomierz, in 1177 he took the occasion of an uprising by Lesser Polish nobles (magnates) and assumed the rule as High Duke from his elder brother Mieszko III. A long-term struggle between the brothers followed, whereby Mieszko III was able to incorporate the northwestern lands of Gniezno and Kalisz into his Duchy of Greater Poland.

The Seniorate remained contested after Kraków was inherited by Casimir's II son Leszek I the White in 1194, still by his uncle Mieszko III (d. 1202), then by his younger brother Konrad of Masovia, by his cousin, Mieszko's III son Władysław III Spindleshanks and also by the second son of Władysław II the Exile, Duke Mieszko IV Tanglefoot of Upper Silesia. In the long-term struggle Leszek I was killed in 1227 and the Pomerelian lands got lost, when Duke Swietopelk II of Gdańsk declared himself independent.

List of Rulers

 Władysław II the Exile (1138–1146)
 Bolesław IV the Curly (1146–1173)
 Mieszko III the Old (1173–1177)
 Casimir II the Just (1191–1194)
 Leszek the White (1194–1198)
 Mieszko III the Old (1198–1199)
 Leszek the White (1199)
 Mieszko III the Old (1199–1202)
 Władysław III Spindleshanks (1202–1206/1210)
 Leszek the White (1206/1210–1210)
 Mieszko IV Tanglefoot (1210–1211)
 Leszek the White (1211–1225)
 Henry the Bearded (1225)
 Leszek the White (1225–1227)

Notes

Bibliography
 Genealogia Piastów by 0. Balzer. Kraków. 1895.
Dzieje Polski piastowskiej (VIII w.-1370) by J. Wyrozumski. Kraków. "Fogra". 1999. ISBN 83-85719-38-5, OCLC 749221743.

Former countries in Europe
Former monarchies of Europe
Duchies of Poland
History of Poland during the Piast dynasty
History of Lesser Poland
12th-century establishments in Poland
13th-century disestablishments in Poland
States and territories established in 1138
States and territories disestablished in 1227
Fiefdoms of Poland

Seniorate Province


Isaiah 7:14 is a verse in the seventh chapter of the Book of Isaiah in which the prophet Isaiah, addressing king Ahaz of Judah, promises that God will destroy the king's enemies before a child born to an almah is weaned. The Hebrew word  'almāh refers to a "young woman of childbearing age", but it was translated in the Koine Greek Septuagint as  parthenos, meaning virgin, and was subsequently picked up by the gospels of Matthew and Luke and used as a messianic prophecy of the Virgin birth of Jesus. Most English translations of the Bible use "virgin" with some exceptions, such as in the Revised Standard Version where "young woman" is used; as such, Isaiah 7:14 continues to be one of the most controversial Bible verses.

Isaiah's prophesy to Ahaz

Context: Isaiah 7:1-25
The Book of Isaiah was assembled over several centuries, beginning in the 8th century BCE. Chapters 1-39 refer mostly to events of the 8th century, but Isaiah 7:1-25 are the product of a 7th century Josianic redaction (i.e., an editing in the reign of King Josiah, c. 640–609 BCE). They present the 8th century King Ahaz (reigned c. 732–716 BC) as a faithless monarch who rejects God's promise of protection for his dynasty and city, but the purpose of the original 8th century narrative was to dissuade Ahaz' son, Hezekiah, from entering into alliance with other kingdoms to oppose the Assyrian Empire, the regional hegemon of the day.

The oracle: Isaiah 7:1-10
Isaiah 7:18:15 deals with the prophet Isaiah's attempt to persuade King Ahaz not to join the kings of Israel (also called Ephraim) and Syria (Aram-Damascus) in their rebellion against their Assyrian overlord. Isaiah 7:1-8 make up a prologue explaining that Israel and Syria have laid siege to Jerusalem in an effort to replace him with a non-Davidic king who will join them.

When Ahaz ... was king of Judah, Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah ... king of Israel, marched on Jerusalem, they were unable to prevail against it. When the House of David was told that Syria had allied itself with Ephraim, their hearts and the hearts of their people trembled ... But the Lord said to Isaiah, "Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shearjashub your son, ... and say to him, 'Be firm and keep calm ...' In the face of the threat God announces to Ahaz: 'It will not succeed, it will not happen.'

God's sign: Isaiah 7:11-16
Having delivered God's message Isaiah tells Ahaz to ask for a sign to confirm that it is a true prophecy, meaning that Ahaz is being called upon to affirm the divine covenant made with the house of David and threatened by the coalition of enemy kings, but Ahaz refuses, and Isaiah replies that he will have a sign whether he asks for it or not:

7:11
"Ask a sign from the Lord your God, from lowest Sheol or from highest heaven."
7:12
But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not test the Lord."
7:13
Then he retorted: "Listen, house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God?
7:14
therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: the maiden is with child and she will bear a son, and will call his name Immanuel.
7:15
By the time he learns to reject the bad and choose the good, he will be eating curds and honey.
7:16
For before the child knows to reject the bad and choose the good, desolation will come upon the land of the two kings before whom you now cower."

A sign, in this context, means a special event which confirms the prophet's words. Ahaz's sign is to be the birth of a son to an almah, who will name him Immanuel, "God is with us"; the significance of the sign is not the identity of the child or his mother (scholars agree that "almah" refers to a woman of childbearing age and has nothing to do with virginity) but the meaning of his name ("God is with us") and the role it plays in identifying the length of time before God will destroy the Ephraimite-Syrian coalition (before the child learns right from wrong).

Aftermath: Isaiah 7:17-25
Ahaz turned to Assyria to fend off the threat from Israel and Syria, but the price he paid was to become an Assyrian vassal. His son and successor Hezekiah (ruled c. 715-686) rebelled, but the Assyrians devastated his kingdom and put Jerusalem under siege, and Hezekiah was able to save himself only by paying tribute.
A century later, in the time of King Josiah, the prophecy of Isaiah was revised to present Ahaz as a faithless king who rejected God's promise of protection, with the result that God brought Assyria to devastate the land until a new and faithful king (presumably Josiah) would arise to restore peace. The added prophesy, describing the devastation that would come upon Judah at some unspecified future date (future, that is, from the perspective of Isaiah and Ahaz) when God would call up Assyria, is given in verses 7:17–25: "In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines ... will be turned over to thorns and briars".

Gospel of Matthew

Matthew's use of Isaiah
The Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus's ministry as largely the fulfilment of prophecies from Isaiah, but in the time of Jesus the Israelite Jews no longer spoke Hebrew, and Isaiah had to be translated into Greek and Aramaic, the two commonly used languages. The Greek translation, the Septuagint, mistranslated the word almah, meaning a young woman of childbearing age who had not yet given birth, as parthenos, which means virgin. This gave the author of Matthew the opportunity to interpret Jesus as the fulfilment of prophecy: he makes Jesus Immanuel, God is with us (Matthew 1:23), the divine representative on earth, and underlines Jesus' status as "Son of God" by asserting that Joseph did not have sexual intercourse with Mary before she gave birth (Matthew 1:25).

Revised Standard Version
When the Revised Standard Version translators rendered "almah" as "young woman" in 1952 it immediately became a center of controversy for conservative Christians, who believed that this passage predicted the virgin birth of Jesus. The RSV quickly replaced the KJV in many churches across America, but fundamentalist American Christians argued that nowhere in the Old Testament was an almah anything other than a young unmarried girl, and one pastor publicly burned a copy of the RSV. Isaiah 7:14 became a litmus test of orthodoxy among conservatives, but most modern Bible translations use "young woman".

On his blog, New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman has argued that the original meaning of the word parthenos in the Septuagint (i.e., the Hebrew Bible translated by Hellenistic Jews in Koine Greek) is "young woman", not "virgin", but the word changed meaning over the centuries; thus the authors of Matthew and Luke believed instead that Isaiah had predicted a virgin birth for the coming Messiah, using the common understanding of the term in their time.

Uses

Music
The King James Version of this verse is cited as texts in the English-language oratorio "Messiah" by George Frideric Handel (HWV 56).

See also
 Jesus and Messianic prophecy
 Maher-shalal-hash-baz
 Matthew 1:23
 Old Testament messianic prophecies quoted in the New Testament
 Pele-joez-el-gibbor-abi-ad-sar-shalom

References

Bibliography

Book of Isaiah
Christian messianism
Hebrew Bible verses
House of Pekah
Virgin birth of Jesus
Aram-Damascus

Isaiah 7:14


Tish Rabe is a children's book author who lives in New York City, New York and Mystic, Connecticut. and has written or adapted more than 40 Dr. Seuss books since Seuss's death.

She has written over 135 children's books including titles for Sesame Street, Blue's Clues, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Bear in the Big Blue House and Curious George. In 1996 she began writing The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library, a new series of non-fiction science books for early readers.

Her books include Oh, Baby, the Places You'll Go!, which is meant to be read in utero, and eleven other titles that present science concepts to early readers.

Her book, My Oh My—A Butterfly! was named by the Bank Street College of Education as one of the 40 best books for children in 2007. Her story for Nick Jr. Magazine, 'The Best Dressed Guest,' won the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers.

She has also written scripts for several children's television series including Clifford, Clifford's Puppy Days, I Spy and The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures.

As both a songwriter and music producer she has created children's songs that have been broadcast on PBS Kids, Fox, Nickelodeon and HBO Family.

She is a graduate of Ithaca College.

References

External links
Tish Rabe's Website

Living people
Writers from Greenwich, Connecticut
1951 births
People from Mystic, Connecticut
Ithaca College alumni
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American women writers
American women songwriters
American television writers

Tish Rabe


Local food is food that is produced within a short distance of where it is consumed, often accompanied by a social structure and supply chain different from the large-scale supermarket system.

Local food (or locavore) movements aim to connect food producers and consumers in the same geographic region, to develop more self-reliant and resilient food networks; improve local economies; or to affect the health, environment, community, or society of a particular place. The term has also been extended to include not only the geographic location of supplier and consumer but can also be "defined in terms of social and supply chain characteristics." For example, local food initiatives often promote sustainable and organic farming practices, although these are not explicitly related to the geographic proximity of producer and consumer.

Local food represents an alternative to the global food model, which often sees food traveling long distances before it reaches the consumer.

History

In the US, the local food movement has been traced to the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, which spawned agricultural subsidies and price supports. The contemporary American movement can be traced back to proposed resolutions to the Society for Nutrition Education's 1981 guidelines. In 1994, Chicago pop culture made local food a trend in the Midwest. These largely unsuccessful resolutions encouraged increased local production to slow farmland loss. The program described "sustainable diets" - a term then new to the American public. At the time, the resolutions were met with strong criticism from pro-business institutions, but have had a strong resurgence of backing since 2000.

In 2008, the United States farm bill was revised to emphasise nutrition: "it provides low-income seniors with vouchers for use at local produce markets, and it added more than $1 billion to the fresh fruit and vegetable program, which serves healthy snacks to 3 million low-income children in schools".

Definitions

No single definition of local food systems exists. The geographic distances between production and consumption varies within the movement. However, the general public recognizes that "local" describes the marketing arrangement (e.g. farmers selling directly to consumers at regional farmers' markets or to schools). Definitions can be based on political or geographic boundaries, or on food miles. The American Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 states that:

In May 2010 the USDA acknowledged this definition in an informational leaflet.

State definitions of "local" can be included in laws, statutes, regulations, or program materials, however few state laws explicitly define "local" food. Most states use "local" (or similar words like "native") in food procurement and marketing policies to mean that the food was produced within that state.

The concept of "local" is also seen in terms of ecology, where food production is considered from the perspective of a basic ecological unit defined by its climate, soil, watershed, species and local agrisystems, a unit also called an ecoregion or a foodshed. Similar to watersheds, foodsheds follow the process of where food comes from and where it ends up.

Contemporary local food markets

In America, local food sales were worth $1.2 billion in 2007, more than doubled from $551 million in 1997. There were 5,274 farmers' markets in 2009, compared to 2,756 in 1998. In 2005, there were 1,144 community-supported agriculture organizations (CSAs). There were 2,095 farm to school programs in 2009. Using metrics such as these, a Vermont-based farm and food advocacy organization, Strolling of the Heifers, publishes the annual Locavore Index, a ranking of the 50 U.S. states plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. In the 2016 Index, the three top-ranking states were Vermont, Maine and Oregon, while the three lowest-ranking states were Nevada, Texas and Florida.

Websites now exist that aim to connect people to local food growers. They often include a map where fruit and vegetable growers can pinpoint their location and advertise their produce.

Supermarket chains also participate in the local food scene. In 2008 Walmart announced plans to invest $400 million in locally grown produce. Other chains, like Wegman's (a 71-store chain across the northeast), have long cooperated with the local food movement. A recent study led by economist Miguel Gomez found that the supermarket supply chain often did much better in terms of food miles and fuel consumption for each pound compared to farmers markets.

Local food campaigns

Local food campaigns have been successful in supporting small local farmers. After declining for more than a century, the number of small farms increased 20% in the six years to 2008, to 1.2 million, according to the Agriculture Department.

Launched in 2009, North Carolina's 10% local food campaign is aimed at stimulating economic development, creating jobs and promoting the state's agricultural offerings. The campaign is a partnership between The Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS), with support from N.C. Cooperative Extension and the Golden LEAF Foundation.

In 2017, a campaign was started in Virginia by the Common Grains Alliance mirroring many of the efforts of the North Carolina campaign.

Motivations for eating local

Motivations for eating local food include healthier food, environmental benefits, and economic or community benefits. Many local farmers, whom locavores turn to for their source of food, use the crop rotation method when producing their organic crops. This method not only aids in reducing the use of pesticides and pollutants, but also keeps the soil in good condition rather than depleting it. Locavores seek out farmers close to where they live, and this significantly reduces the amount of travel time required for food to get from farm to table. Reducing the travel time makes it possible to transport the crops while they are still fresh, without using chemical preservatives. The combination of local farming techniques and short travel distances makes the food consumed more likely to be fresh, an added benefit.

Benefits

Community

Local eating can support public objectives. It can promote community interaction by fostering relationships between farmers and consumers. Farmers' markets can inspire more sociable behavior, encouraging shoppers to visit in groups. 75% of shoppers at farmers' markets arrived in groups compared to 16% of shoppers at supermarkets. At farmers' markets, 63% had an interaction with a fellow shopper, and 42% had an interaction with an employee or farmer. More affluent areas tend to have at least some access to local, organic food, whereas low-income communities, which in America often have African American and Hispanic populations, may have little or none, and "are often replete with calorie-dense, low-quality food options", adding to the obesity crisis.

Environmental

Local foods require less energy to store and transport, possibly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In local or regional food systems it can be easier to trace resource flows and recycle nutrients in that specific region. It can also be a way to preserve open landscapes and support biodiversity locally.

Economic

Farmers' markets create local jobs. In a study in Iowa (Hood 2010), the introduction of 152 farmers' markets created 576 jobs, a $59.4 million increase in output, and a $17.8 million increase in income. Promoting local food can support local actors and create job opportunities.

Nutritional
Since local foods travel a shorter distance and are often sold directly from producer to consumer, they may not require as much processing or packaging as other foods that need to be transported over long distances. If they are not processed, they may contain fewer added sugars or preservatives. The term "local" is sometimes synonymous with sustainable or organic practices, which can also arguably provide added health benefits.

Criticism

Food miles

Critics of the local foods movement question the fundamental principles behind the push to eat locally. For example, the concept that fewer "food miles" translates to a more sustainable meal has not been supported by major scientific studies. According to a study conducted at Lincoln University in New Zealand: "As a concept, food miles has gained some traction with the popular press and certain groups overseas. However, this debate which only includes the distance food travels is spurious as it does not consider total energy use especially in the production of the product." The locavore movement has been criticized by Vasile Stănescu, the co-senior editor of the Critical Animal Studies book series, as being idealistic and for not actually achieving the environmental benefits of the claim that the reduced food miles decrease the number of gasses emitted. Studies have shown that the amount of gasses saved by local transportation while existing, does not have a significant enough impact to consider it a benefit. Food miles concept does not consider agriculture, which is having contributed the highest when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. Plus, season and transportation medium also makes a difference.

Food choice

The only study to date that directly focuses on whether or not a local diet is more helpful in reducing greenhouse gases was conducted by Christopher L. Weber and H. Scott Matthews at Carnegie-Mellon. They concluded that "dietary shift can be a more effective means of lowering an average household's food-related climate footprint than 'buying local'". An Our World In Data post makes the same point, that food choice is overwhelmingly more important than emissions from transport. However, a 2022 study suggests global food miles  emissions are 3.5–7.5 times higher than previously estimated, with transport accounting for about 19% of total food-system emissions, though shifting towards plant-based diets would still remain substantially more important. The study concludes that "a shift towards plant-based foods must be coupled with more locally produced items, mainly in affluent countries".

Environmental impact

Numerous studies have shown that locally and sustainably grown foods release more greenhouse gases than food made in factory farms. The "Land Degradation" section of the United Nations report Livestock's Long Shadow concludes that "Intensification - in terms of increased productivity both in livestock production and in feed crop agriculture - can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation". Nathan Pelletier of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia found that cattle raised on open pastures release 50% more greenhouse gas emissions than cattle raised in factory farms. Adrian Williams of Cranfield University in England found that free range and organic raised chickens have a 20% greater impact on global warming than chickens raised in factory farm conditions, and organic egg production had a 14% higher impact on the climate than factory farm egg production.  Studies such as Christopher Weber's report on food miles have shown that the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions in production far outweighs those in transportation, which implies that locally grown food is actually worse for the environment than food made in factory farms.

Economic feasibility

While locavorism has been promoted as a feasible alternative to modern food production, some believe it might negatively affect the efficiency of production. As technological advances have influenced the amount of output of farms, the productivity of farmers has skyrocketed in the last 70 years. These latter criticisms combine with deeper concerns of food safety, cited on the lines of the historical pattern of economic or food safety inefficiencies of subsistence farming which form the topic of the book The Locavore's Dilemma by geographer Pierre Desrochers and public policy scholar Hiroko Shimizu.

See also

 Local purchasing
 The 100-Mile Diet
 Bioregionalism
 Community-based economics
 Community garden
 Community-supported agriculture (CSA farms)
 Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture
 Farm to fork
 Farm to School
 Food cooperative
 Foodscaping
 Geography of food
 List of diets
 List of food cooperatives
 Localism (politics)
 Locavolt
 Slow Food
 Small farm
 Sustainable agriculture
 Sustainable distribution
 Sustainable Table
 Terra Madre

References

Further reading
 McWilliams, James. Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2010.
 Wilk, Richard, ed. Fast Food/Slow Food: The Cultural Economy of the Global Food System. Walnut Creek: Altamira Press, 2006.

Food politics
Localism (politics)
Rural community development
Sustainable food system
Ecology terminology
Food security

Local food