Climate Food and Agriculture

All Stories

  • Roni Neff explains how the media miss the story on food’s connection to climate change

    In 2006, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization published a 390-page report called “Livestock’s Long Shadow.” The dense document came to a startling conclusion: Livestock production — including land-use changes for pasture and crop production — contributes more to global warming than every single car, train, and plane on the planet. Rajendra Pachauri, chair of […]

    Anna Lappe Food

  • Non-GM seed and feed make a comeback

    I recently met with members of Japan’s Seikatsu Club Consumers’ Cooperative (SCCC) in my office in San Francisco to discuss how to overcome the difficulties of obtaining certain non-GM products for its 1 million members. The 14-person delegation — comprised of pig, chicken, cattle, and dairy producers for the co-op — came to the U.S. […]

    Lisa J. Bunin Food

  • TV queen shows 10 million viewers the dark side of Chicken McNuggets

    The chicken industry has had a rough year, its wings clipped by pricey feed, reduced demand, and financial trouble. Even after a recent rally, Pilgrim’s Pride — which slaughters and packs 24 percent of U.S. chicken — has seen its share price plunge nearly 90 percent. As if the industry didn’t have enough to squawk […]

    Tom Philpott Food

  • Old breeds, new ideas are helping small farms

    I just returned from a 10 day photo assignment covering the efforts of Heifer Project — Poland to return heritage/locally-adapted breeds of chickens, geese, cattle, and pigs to small farmers struggling to keep a foothold in this changing country. These breeds in many cases are already making a difference. One of these, the Polish Red […]

    Erik Hoffner Food

  • NYT Magazine features Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Maverick Farms, Anna Lappé, and more

    You know the Sunday New York Times Magazine issue I blogged about a few days ago, the "food issue" featuring a major essay by Michael Pollan? It also highlighted the farm I help run, Maverick Farms, in a section on "food fighters." We’re extremely flattered and delighted to be included in the same list as […]

    Tom Philpott Food

  • Most ubiquitous fish in American diet 50 percent below last year’s levels

    Here’s a guest post from Jennifer Jacquet of the Sea Around Us project at the University of British Columbia, and blogger-in-chief of the Shifting Baselines Blog. —– Ask a scientist to give a good example of a well-managed fishery, and they often will cite the Alaska pollock fishery. But John Hocevar of Greenpeace-USA prefers to […]

    Erik Hoffner Food

  • With little oversight, BP, Chevron, ADM, and Cargill cook up next-gen biofuels

    Synthetic biologists, a brave new breed of science entrepreneurs who engineer life-forms from scratch, are holding their largest-ever global gathering in Hong Kong this week, known as “Synthetic Biology 4.0.” Although most people have never heard of synthetic biology, it’s moving full speed ahead fueled by giant agribusiness, energy and chemical corporations with little debate […]

    Hope Shand Food

  • Michael Pollan lays out a national food agenda

    Food policy hasn’t exactly been a hot-button issue in the presidential election. And it’s not going to be. We’re sure to hear more about a vague acquaintance of Barack Obama, or a bush-league politician’s fantasy-world twaddle about energy independence, than farm subsidies or school-lunch policy. Knowing that full well, Michael Pollan has published a serious […]

    Tom Philpott Food

  • Is organic pet food worth the trouble?

    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 Grist, I eat organic food; should my dog? What’s the deal with organic dog food and what’s the problem with conventional […]

    Lou Bendrick Food

  • While global markets crater, a Vermont town unites around food

    The effort to revive global credit markets has devolved into farce. Every day, U.S. authorities announce some earth-shaking new measure — a $700 billion bailout, the Fed’s extraordinary move into the commercial-paper business, a coordinated global set of rate cuts — and every day, investors continue acting as tweaky as meth heads when the dope […]

    Tom Philpott Food