Do the right thing even when no one is watching

DO THE RIGHT THING EVEN WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING

As a teacher, this was a motto that we lived by.  As a mom, it’s the same motto that I want my children to live by. As a consumer, it is the same motto that I want brands to live by.  Today I am partnering with our sponsor, General Mills, to share more. 

The reason that I love this so much is that I never want an action to come out of fear. I don’t want my kids to listen to me or to help me because they think that they will be punished if they don’t listen or don’t help. I ultimately want them to do the right thing because it is the right thing.

“We don’t talk back because we respect our parents, not because we will be grounded if we do.”

“We don’t steal because it is sneaky, unkind and wrong, not because we will get caught.”

“We don’t hide the bad grade that we got on a test because we know that by showing our parents they can guide us and teach us, not because we are afraid of a lecture or punishment when they find out.”

I want our children to have integrity: to be honest and have strong moral principles. I want them to always CHOOSE KINDNESS and CHOOSE HAPPINESS, even when no one is watching. (I even keep reminders around our house)

I recently had the chance to speak with some of the representatives on the Sustainability team at General Mills and I learned that they think about food the same way that I think about our children… if we can reach the source (like the hearts of our children, or like the soil that our food grows in) and we can have a positive impact … there is nothing that can’t be done and the world will be a better place because of it.

I was able to talk to the representatives at General Mills to learn about Regenerative Agriculture. It is new and exciting, so I’m glad that we can learn about it together.

Regenerative Agriculture is an approach to help us to protect and restore the planet, focusing on the soil that grows the ingredients that are put into the foods that we eat. No, Regenerative Agriculture is not JUST about soil. It is also about things like protecting pollinators (our bee population) and more, but today I wanted to focus on the soil because I believe that Good Ingredients Need Good Soil.

Having healthy soil could ultimately make the food we eat and feed our children more nutrient dense. When 99 percent of our food comes from the soil, it needs to be a bigger focus for all of us. Plus, soil plays an essential role in balancing the earth’s ecosystems.

General Mills has been around for over 150 years. They have been doing things to protect our planet for a long time Regenerative Agriculture practices including cover crops (think armor for the soil) and diversifying crops (not just growing the same crop year after year for decades)

Cascadian Farm committed $125,000 to conduct soil testing, host field days, share best practices and help remove hurdles to advancing the organic movement. EPIC Provisions has helped create the Land to Market Program to connect conscientious companies and consumers to progressive livestock producers having a positive impact on their land through regenerative practices. General Mills has invested more than $3 million in soil health initiatives led by NGO partners such as The Nature Conservancy, The Land Institute, and Soil Health Partnership. This lets us identify food that has been sourced from farms verified to increase water, soil and climate health.

However, no one really knows this stuff yet. General Mills has been doing a lot of good work behind the scense for years, because they also seem to go by the motto of doing the right thing even when no one is watching (and even when no one knows). But they decided it’s too important to not talk about and they need other companies to join in as well because future generations are dependent on healthy soil and a healthy climate!

I’m glad that they’re letting us know and allowing me to help spread the word about the good things that they are doing to protect our planet. They WANT to protect the world, just like I do because it’s the only world we’ve got. The only world that our children… and their children… will ever know.

We need to make a change now to help future generations and we can start with our food choices, because Our Food Choices Matter: