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California’s ag crisis and our concentrated food system

Not  many “green shoots” in the Central Valley. California’s severe drought–which could well be related to climate change–isn’t just menacing Los Angeles. The drought has helped tip the state’s Central Valley, epicenter of U.S. fruit and vegetable production, into a severe crisis, The Wall Street Journal reports. Hammered by dry weather, the weak economy, and […]

Duke Energy quits scandal-ridden American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity

Cross-posted from Wonk Room. Electric utility giant Duke Energy has quit the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) because of the coal group’s unethical opposition to President Obama’s clean energy reform agenda. For the last few years, Duke has been one of the most prominent industry voices calling for the regulation of industrial global […]

Rogue 9/11 ad isn’t from WWF — and its science is bogus

A Brazilian advertising agency’s rogue 9/11 ad crashes against WWF’s disapproval. Its message: “The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11. The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it.”Image: DDB Brazil via New York Daily NewsWorld Wildlife Fund (WWF) suffered a PR heart attack this week when bloggers and Twitterers caught scent of […]

The farces of coal — episode #1

WARNING: This video of Ted Nugent may be a little too American for the workplace, and definitely contains too much “freedom” for children. Mr. Nugent has some choice words regarding his machine guns and the President of the United States. Ted Nugent will be the featured emcee of the Verizon-sponsored “Friends of America” pro-mountaintop removal […]

Cash for coal clunkers and anthems for natural gas won’t win this epic battle

Those of us worried sick over climate change confronted a depressing piece of excellent reporting in Monday’s Washington Post. Environment reporter David Fahrenthold wrote that environmental organizations are getting their proverbial clocks cleaned by a well-organized and pervasive campaign mounted by affected industries in small and mid-size communities throughout America. “It seems that environmentalists are […]

Herbicide maker asks that lobbying be excluded from class action lawsuit

This story was written by Danielle Ivory. Lawyers representing the maker of the herbicide atrazine are asking that documents related to the company’s lobbying and trade association activities be excluded from a class action lawsuit being filed by some Illinois water utilities. As the Investigative Fund reported last week, many utilities say they cannot afford […]

Chamber of Commerce keeps stepping on rakes

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce can’t catch a break these days. When the Waxman-Markey bill rolled out, it did what it always does: pretended to agree with the goal while recommending changes in the means so drastic that they would gut the bill. See this comical letter wherein it wants to “balance environmental objectives with […]

Cleaning some of the Fox off of Van Jones

Van JonesA while back I lampooned a Glenn Beck segment on Van Jones, who’s an advisor to the White House Council on Environmental Quality. According to Beck, Jones is the man on the inside for a vast cryptosocialist conspiracy involving the Apollo Alliance, Color of Change, the Center for American Progress, George Soros, ACORN, Al […]

‘Time’ was right about cheap food–but forgot farmworkers

The widely read recent Time cover story “Getting Real about the High Price of Cheap Food” is a useful complement to current discussions about our food system. It offers further evidence of the mainstreaming of ideas and practices that were considered radical or irrelevant a mere decade ago. But the author errs by avoiding any […]

How I got drafted into James McWilliams’ anti-locavore diatribe

It’s happened a lot lately. Someone will send me the latest political diatribe that quotes my work. “What do you think of this guy?” they will ask. There’s also a recent growth industry in academic essays in support of food movement icon, Michael Pollan. These essays pay tribute to him mostly by attacking my work […]