Climate Food and Agriculture

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  • Bayview Greenwaste provides fertile ground for San Francisco’s urban agriculture revolution

    Just a few years ago, they were abandoned freeways, dilapidated back yards, and institutional dumping grounds. But today, thanks to San Francisco’s urban agriculture renaissance, many of these pockets of underutilized land are being transformed. And one local company — Bayview Greenwaste — is playing a key role, by transforming waste into mulch, and giving […]

    Matt Baume Agriculture

  • Plotting the food revolution at TEDx in New York City

    Laurie David delivers inconvenient truths on the food system at TEDx Manhattan.Photo: Jason Houston, via FlickerAttending the TEDx Manhattan event on the future of food and farming was a day-long drink from a fire hose of cutting-edge ideas, sobering realities, and sincere enthusiasm about how America can eat better and farm more sustainably. Since Time’s […]

    Donald Carr Agriculture

  • 6 things you should never put in your mouth [SLIDESHOW]

    We enjoy our food, even odd food like kale chips. And we are neither snobby nor necessarily squeamish, but when we find “food” that, on the surface or under the ingredient list, makes us cringe, it is our duty to share. You are welcome. Duck, duck, gross Photo: Dindin Lagdameo Balut is a fertilized duck (or chicken) […]

    Grist staff Food

  • The case for labeling GMOs, food for environmentalist thought, and more

    When my info-larder gets too packed, it’s time to serve up some choice nuggets from around the web. Bittman: Time to label GMOs With the USDA’s recent flurry of green lights for genetically modified crops — evidently at the urging of the White House  — the Obama administration should brace itself for a big push […]

    Tom Philpott Agriculture

  • Are Girl Scout cookies killing orangutans?

    Yet another reason to feel bad about waking up in a pile of crumbs.Photo: Josh KenzerIt’s Girl Scout cookie season, but Michigan scouts Rhiannon Tomtishen and Madison Vorva are finding other ways to support the organization’s mission of “building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place” than selling those […]

    Glenn Hurowitz Food

  • A scientist dishes on the wild kingdom beneath our feet

    Creature from the underworld: Scanning electron micrograph of an adult water bear (tardigrade).Photo: Goldstein labCross-posted from Cool Green Science. Water bears? Fungi that strangle worms? Roots that send off reconnaissance soldiers (that somehow report back)? There’s a world of bizarre organisms under our feet — millions of species that are also critical for life on […]

    Robert Lalasz Food

  • What doesn’t kill you makes you gourmet

    Editor’s note: The following essay and map are excerpted from Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas and are republished with permission by UC Press as part of Grist’s California agriculture series, an exploration of the people, farms, and issues shaping the state. Click for a larger version. The Bay Area is a tale of two […]

    Rebecca Solnit Food

  • Reinventing the supermarket: How New York’s Eataly falls short

    Eataly is nice, but there’s still plenty of room left to reinvent the supermarket.Photo: Samantha DeckerThe American supermarket experience hasn’t changed much in a half century. It’s basically a connect-the-dots problem each consumer solves differently: How do you get in, get the things on your list, avoid those annoying people with the slow-moving carts, and […]

    Wayne Curtis Food

  • Aspartame is not the only thing in diet cola that can kill you

    What evil lurks in that can of refreshment?Photo: Jeff GoldenTurns out, it’s not just the fake sweetener in Diet Pepsi and Diet Coke that might cause cancer; it’s also the coloring agent. The cans these beverages come in aren’t so healthy, either. Modern-day commercial colas (both diet and regular) get their characteristic dark hue from […]

    Tom Philpott Food

  • This is Flint, Michigan, in all its pain and all its glory

    Buick City parking lot, 2010.Photos: Wes Janz, except when notedCross-posted from Places [at] Design Observer, an online journal of architecture, landscape and urbanism, published in partnership with Design Observer. “Distressed are big chunks of Detroit, Flint, Gary, Chicago, East St. Louis, and Cincinnati.” This is what I wrote after completing the weeklong Midwess Distress Tour with […]

    Wes Janz Agriculture