Climate Food and Agriculture
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The dirt on biodynamic and ‘authentic’ wines
In Checkout Line, Lou Bendrick cooks up answers to reader questions about how to green their food choices and other diet-related quandaries. Lettuce know what food worries keep you up at night. Dear Checkout Line, What the hell is biodynamic wine and does it taste any better than regular wine? JeffColorado Dear Colorado Jeff, […]
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USDA has crazy idea that organic cows should get time in pasture
Only cows that have gobbled grass in pasture for at least 120 days per year can produce milk labeled “organic,” according to draft rules issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Activists have long criticized a loophole that allowed organic-milk producers to keep their cows in giant feedlots, as long as they were fed organic […]
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Two studies point to ecosystem damage from factory-style farming
How does chemical-intensive, concentrated agriculture affect surrounding ecosystems — and ones that lie downstream from large operations? Seems like a key question, given that upwards of 95 percent of our food comes from such agricultural methods. Yet there has been surprisingly little study of it. For example, when the meat industry started to rapidly consolidate […]
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Food miles are a distraction, climate-wise
One hesitates to agree with Ron Bailey given his doctrinaire libertarianism, but in a somewhat narrow sense I think he’s right about this: in terms of greenhouse-gas emissions, food localism is a red herring. That is to say: Eating local out of concern over carbon emissions is misguided. Food travel is not a big part […]
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Confirming Pollan, PNAS study shows that fast-food chains mainly peddle corn
We literally are what we eat; our metabolic function converts the stuff we consume into our material bodies: flesh, bone, hair, etc. In a memorable passage in Micheal Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, a biologist analyzes a strand of his own hair; he finds it shot through with corn’s unique carbon signature. Materially speaking, eaters of the […]
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Long-term study: GMOs lower fertility in mice
Under President Clinton, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) entered the U.S. food supply with very little public input or independent testing. The precautionary principle crumbled under the weight of industry influence; Clinton staffed the FDA with biotech-industry insiders like Michael Taylor, who has spent his long career bouncing between the government payroll and Monsanto’s. The official […]
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Umbra on food-waste collection
Dear Umbra, Are any communities collecting food waste — potato peels, meat scraps, corn husks, etc. — for recycling? Is there a market for such material? Wendy S. Far Hills, N.J. Dearest Wendy, Yes and yes. Multiple communities collect food waste, in a variety of ways. Which is great, considering that food makes up about […]
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USDA aims to tighten grazing standards for organic cows
Three moos for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is aiming to close a loophole in organic standards for livestock. Under the proposed rule, organic cows must be let out to graze in a pasture at least 120 days per year, and must get 30 percent of their feed from such grazing. The old rules […]
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New EPA rules let factory farms police themselves on water pollution
Factory farms can skip getting a pollution permit if they don’t think they’ll be mucking up nearby waterways, according to new U.S. EPA requirements. Enviros are unimpressed; notes Eric Schaeffer of the Environmental Integrity Project, “It literally puts the foxes in charge of their gigantic henhouses.”
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Where Slow Food Nation rejected bottled water, Terra Madre embraced it
Turin, Italy — At Slow Food Nation in San Francisco back in August, drinking bottled water was simply not done. At several points, the event’s organizers had installed dispensers that proudly poured filtered city water. Socially, clutching a plastic water bottle was tantamount to digging into a greasy McDonald’s bag for a handful of fries. […]
