Climate Food and Agriculture
All Stories
-
EPA intern offends sensitive meat-industry souls
Ironically enough, the people who cram animals together and stuff them full of dodgy feed are really, really sensitive. So please don’t say anything critical about meat.An iron-clad rule for government bureaucrats of all ranks: thou shalt not question the American habit of eating more than a half pound of meat per day. The folks […]
-
Jamie Oliver on parents, nuggets, ‘luminous drinks,’ and school lunches
“Parents can be the most positive, powerful force in a country or they can be disgusting, backstabbing traitors. When little Johnny comes home and says, ‘I didn’t get my nugget today,’ it’s wrong to say ‘Oh, all right, darling,’ and give him some [expletive] horrible Lunchable and a pack of potato chips and a luminous […]
-
Foreign Policy mag spotlights ‘peak phosphorous’
Where your food comes from: a phosphate mine in Florida run by the fertilizer giant Mosaic. Mosaic is two-thirds owned by Cargill, the globe’s largest agribusiness company, with interests in meat, feed, biofuels, and more. Photo: Susan Dracket, via FlickrAs Grist’s recent special series showed, our reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer has serious ecological, geopolitical, […]
-
Coked-out Coca-Colla [sic]
High-fructose corn syrup in soda? Bad. Cocaine in soda? Depends on whom you ask. We all know Coca-Cola used to contain trace amounts of the narcotic back in the day, but, according to the UK Guardian via Fast Company, Bolivia’s kicking it old school with its coca-leaf containing soda, Coca-Colla (note the second L—I smell […]
-
Why it matters that the FDA is beating USDA for control of food system
Small-scale food producers and farmers have been vocal about their concerns that the Senate will pass highly burdensome food-safety legislation. Equally worried, but much less vocal, is the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It frets over major gains by its arch-rival, the U.S. food and Drug Administration, over local food producers and small farms. USDA is […]
-
In Japan, a global meeting on local food
“We wanted to connect ‘safe’ foods and the support of organic farming with the survival of family farmers, with the preservation of the environment, with opposition to militarism and imperialism, with demands for social justice, and with our need to work collectively to create a better future.” — A 20-year teikei (CSA) member at the […]
-
Michigan woman faces down meat industry, wins [VIDEO]
Lynn Henning checks a stream for CAFO contamination. When government regulators toe the industry line, citizens have to fight back. Photo: Tom DusenberryIn “Chewing the Scenery,” we round up interesting food-related video from around the Web. ——— I write a lot about the meat industry’s nearly unbridled power in this country, which it uses to […]
-
The sweetener lobby: still a powerhouse in the school lunch debate
For the sweetener industry, shovelling empty calories to your kids has been very, very good business. They’d prefer not to stop. “Healthy Schools” legislation written by D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh comes up for its first committee vote today after months of deliberations and with one very conspicuous missing element: no regulation of sugar in school meals. Removing the […]
-
USDA Inspector General: meat supply routinely tainted with harmful residues
In Meat Wagon, we round up the latest outrages from the meat and livestock industries. ————- Oh, you wanted those burgers without harmful residues! Sorry, the USDA’s meat-inspection service can’t really help you on that score. Next time you’re at an eatery whose sourcing practices you don’t trust, avoid the veal. Skip the burger, too. […]
-
Scenes from a school cafeteria [slideshow]
Photo courtesy Mrs. QTo understand the problem of school lunch in America, try the following experiment. Go to the supermarket and buy ingredients for a single meal for your family — or a group of friends. Limit yourself to 90 cents per person. If that sounds like too little, consider that it’s about what cafeteria […]
