Climate Food and Agriculture

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  • Fair trade lite: Fair Trade USA moves away from worker co-ops

    Maya Vinic Co-op in Chiapas, Mexico. Photo: Courtesy of Peace CoffeeCompared to so many other purchasing decisions — like which humane meat label to trust, for instance — the “Certified Fair Trade” logo has made buying ethically produced coffee a relatively simple choice. Most of us either buy fair trade or we don’t.   But […]

    Twilight Greenaway Food

  • Farming: A New York state of mind [VIDEO]

    Farms aren’t the first thing that come to mind when one thinks of New York City. But walk along its streets and you will pass hundreds of urban gardens; jump across its rooftops and you might find yourself in the middle of a commercial farm. Heck, drive just 20 minutes from downtown and you could […]

    Daniel Klein Agriculture

  • Confessions of a former Coke addict

    Coked out.Photo: Lazurite Yes, I’ve battled a Coke “addiction” more than once. Just when I think I have it beat, it worms its way back into my life. No, this Coke isn’t that white, powdery stuff; it comes in a can, and my drug of choice is Cherry Coke Zero. Do you ever wonder why […]

    Bruce Bradley Food

  • Toying with the Happy Meal: Is McDonald’s evading the law?

    While most media outlets dubbed it the “Happy Meal toy ban,” the ordinance passed in San Francisco last year didn’t ban anything. The law just placed a few reasonable nutrition guidelines (a maximum of 600 calories per meal and limits on fat and salt, for example) for restaurants using free toy incentives to lure kids […]

    Michele Simon Food

  • Pesticides on trial [VIDEO]

    On Dec. 3, the 27th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, anti-pesticide advocates are bringing the six largest pesticide companies to trial. Or rather, to something called The Permanent People’s Tribunal, an international body that “officially facilitates the trial, lacking any set of binding national laws.” According to a recent press release from the North American […]

    Twilight Greenaway Agriculture

  • Don’t drink the weed killer: Atrazine taints rural groundwater

    Photo: T.P. MartinsIf you want to understand all that is wrong with our government’s environmental safety priorities, you need only look at the sad story of the weed killer atrazine. Despite the fact that study after study has demonstrated its dangers, it remains one of the most commonly used herbicides in the U.S. — to […]

    Tom Laskawy Agriculture

  • Chicken chases its kale: Chik-fil-A attacks artist over leafy-green slogan

    Photo: Ellen KFor all of you poor souls who can’t tell kale and chicken apart (lord knows it can be difficult), your troubles may soon be over. Chik-fil-A, the country’s second-largest chain chicken restaurant (after KFC), is pressuring Vermont-based small-business owner Bo Muller-Moore to drop the phrase “Eat More Kale,” which he’s been screen-printing by […]

    Claire Thompson Food

  • Talking vertical farms: An interview with Dickson Despommier

    Your classic vertical farm rendering. Rendering: Blake KurasekIf you haven’t seen the slickly rendered architectural models of farms growing in skyscapers, you probably live under a rock. When I first I saw one — this was a few years back, they’ve been making their way around the internet for years — I got a little […]

    Twilight Greenaway Agriculture

  • Crop insurance: This year’s Farm Bill frontier

    2011 was a record year for liability, with drought in Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma, and Hurricane Irene taking out crops along the Eastern seaboard. Photo: Bob Gutowski One of the great battles of the 2012 Farm Bill might concern … (drumroll) … crop insurance! Don’t roll your eyes: At $8 billion, it’s the largest part […]

    Heather Smith Agriculture

  • Food Studies: Old-world innovation

    Le Biancane geothermal park.Photo: Yvone De Zeeuw Food Studies features the voices of volunteer student bloggers from a variety of different food- and agriculture-related programs at universities around the world. You can explore the full series here. Pipelines carry steam directly to consumers from the power plant.Vapor escapes through mountains of white rocks. Steam billows […]

    Kathryn Tomajan Food