Articles by Katharine Wroth

Spoiling organic milk?

The Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute has just filed a complaint with the USDA against two dairy farms in Idaho and California. It alleges that massive factory farms are labeling their products organic even though their thousands of cows are not pasture-fed, as required by USDA guidelines. Last month the institute -- which is devoted to "the fight for economic justice for the family-scale farming community" (and also taking pictures out the car window) -- filed a complaint against a similar operation in Colorado. This led the USDA to start ruminating on what "access to pasture" really means, anyway.

While the folks at Cornucopia are doing their best to help the little guys get herd -- er, heard -- larger-scale farmers say they're doing right by cows and consumers. "Our reason for doing it is we'd like to see agriculture change," Mark Retzloff, who runs the Colorado farm, told the Chicago Tribune. "If we're really going to change agriculture, we have to do it on all scales."

Kids say the darnedest … wait a minute …

Who knows where they found them, but yesterday the BBC talked to eight well-spoken young people from around the world about environmental issues. Besides filling your heart with oodles of warmth and light, these teens -- who hail from Japan, India, Ecuador, Kenya, the U.K., and the U.S. -- will probably also make you feel kind of lazy and dumb. They talk about poverty and free trade and sustainability, and describe starting a recycling program, serving as a representative for the U.N. Environment Program, and running a project for street children. Even the kid from the U.S., a country not known for molding the keenest minds, sounds like he knows what he's talking about. Although, curiously, he does use the word "advert."

Ain’t it funny how time slips away

We are late on this one -- later than J Lo's apology for sucking, later than the U.S. signing on to Kyoto -- but just in case you missed it: Willie Nelson is getting into the biodiesel business! The iconic singer and three partners have formed "Willie Nelson's Biodiesel," and they're marketing "BioWillie" (a name that somehow conjures former President Clinton, but never mind) to truck stops across the country.

Lots of bloggers have gushed about this already. But here's my favorite part: "I got on the computer and punched in biodiesel and found out this could be the future," Nelson told MSNBC. Willie Googles!

That doesn't make me think of President Clinton at all.

Revisiting Red Hill Valley

And you haven't even had time to read the post on this from Friday. But several alert readers in Canada have, and they sent along a few updates. Supporters have filed a multi-part petition (number 82), now languishing at the federal level, that addresses damage the highway project will cause, including to the federally endangered spiny softshell turtle. To raise awareness of the issues, the more artistically inclined have released a CD called "Keepers of the Sacred Fire," which features 15 local artists, and a documentary too. And late last week, eight members of Hamilton Friends of Canada traveled to Toronto to apologize to the federal government for that whole "our city is suing the country" thing.

The bulldozers may be hard at work, but this battle isn't over.