Latest Articles

Big Pork and Sen. Grassley: the Danes want you to know your hogs don’t need endless antibiotics

Must we be dosed daily with antobiotics? According to the meat industry, the debate over legislation pending in the House that would ban the use of sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics comes down to a simple “fact”: hog-farming on any scale without sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics is impossible. The National Pork Producers Council says so. The […]

Does anyone still care about “the land”?

So earnest it hurts.The new climate anthem is out — you know, the remake of “Beds Are Burning” that features such hip, 21st-century acts as Duran Duran, Bob Geldof, and Youssou N’Dour — and I can’t get it out of my head. Actually, it left my head pretty much as soon as the 4:02 video […]

Sardines head south

Emile Azran stands in the sun in front of his sardine processing factory in Safi, Morocco, smoking a cigarette. Business is slow because it is the Eid holidays but soon he says the chimneys will be pumping at full steam again. The smell is putrid. Sardines, once cheap foodstuff for the poor, have become a […]

CEJAPA is Kerry’s bill

Here’s how the first line of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act [PDF] begins: “Mr. KERRY (for himself and Mrs. BOXER) introduced the following bill …” See whose name is first there? It’s not “Mr. Kerry and Mrs. Boxer introduced” either. He’s introducing it. This is John Kerry’s bill. Boxer has signed on […]

At Governator’s climate party, EPA chief aims to calm small business worries

LOS ANGELES — EPA administrator Lisa Jackson unveiled a modest proposal on Wednesday: If a company wants to build a new power plant or refinery, or fix up a smoky old belcher, it will have to use the best available technology to control greenhouse gases. That’s it. Oh, and the Dunkin Donuts of the country […]

Melting the glacial pace of climate talks

A view of the climate talks in Bangkok. Can you imagine getting this many people to agree on anything more substantive than the lunch menu?UNFCCC via FlickrHere they go again. As delegates from some 180 nations gather yet again to try to make progress on negotiating a new climate agreement, they are beginning to feel […]

Why are (some) farmers afraid of Michael Pollan?

Author Michael Pollan is no stranger to controversy. He has broadened the discussion of what we eat, where and how it is grown, big vs. small, organic farming vs. conventional. When he speaks some in the audience will love him, some will not. Advocates of large scale agriculture see Pollan as the enemy, they believe […]

Kerry-Boxer: A second chance for progressives

The new Kerry-Boxer Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act gives progressives a second chance to influence climate legislation, if we learn the right lessons from both the legislative process for the House climate bill and the ongoing health care debate. Many progressives have varying degrees of frustration with both processes, but the fact is […]

What the EPA announcement did (and did not) say

The EPA made an announcement today that lots of folks seem to be misinterpreting as “proposed regulations on power plants.” That’s not what they are. What was announced today is the “tailoring” rule; it establishes that when the EPA regulates stationary sources, it will only regulate those that emit more than 25,000 tons. This is […]

Two takes on school lunches, plus other tasty morsels from around the web

When my info-larder gets too packed, it’s time to serve up some choice nuggets from around the Web. —————- Get ’em while they’re hot.  • In today’s New York Times, Kim Severson’s got a wonderful report on one New York City school cafeteria’s quest to cook as much as possible from scratch. The piece has […]