Climate Food and Agriculture

Scientists unveil genetically modified calcium-boosting supercarrot

U.S. scientists have unveiled a new “supercarrot” genetically modified to provide extra calcium, which they hope could ultimately help ward off osteoporosis. Say what you will about genetic modification, but you can’t deny that picturing a carrot flying across the sky in a cape is funny.

What would you ask a ‘Skinny Bitch’?

As our resident foodie Tom Philpott noted a few weeks ago, the bitches behind Skinny Bitch — "a no-nonsense, tough-love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous" — are back. Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be lunching with one of them, and I’m curious what y’all would ask her — […]

Why Omnivore’s Dilemma should be avoided

If I was a pig, and I was president, the first thing I'd do would be to ban The Omnivore's Dilemma.

I have a friend -- let's call him PJ -- who'd been a vegetarian for over a decade. Then he read The Omnivore's Dilemma -- which, if you haven't read it, is manifesto of the local-food movement that culminates in a self-sourced meal starring a locally shot feral pig -- and in short order got a hunting license, bought a gun, and started learning how to make salami, bam bam bam.

A couple weeks ago, PJ and my other friend -- let's call him Aviday -- made a hunting date. Except the night before, PJ got violently ill. Aviday -- who'd done nowhere near the same kind of preparation -- decided to continue on alone. He drove to Big Sur, spent the day bushwhacking without luck, and then as the sun flirted with the horizon in the dusky loaming -- a husky boar, at 100 yards. He squinted down the iron sights, held his breath, steadied the steel, exhaled, and with a gentle squeeze of the trigger, turned the boar into bacon.

Driving home, it occurred to Aviday that he had a 200-pound boar in the backseat of his Golf, slowly stiffening with rigor mortis, and no idea what to do with it. He ended up cutting it into quarters, putting the chunks in garbage bags, and driving around the city to friends' houses at midnight: "Hey man, can I put this in your freezer? It's, uh, pig."

And PJ and Aviday are not isolated instances. A friend, a promising young bureaucrat at the California Public Utilities Commission, now sports an "I'd rather be hunting" belt buckle.

We've heard a lot about the hook and bullet crowd becoming active environmentalists. This book is turning environmentalists into hook and bulleters.

‘Men’s Health’ uncovers some real whoppers

Not so smooth. Photo: iStockphoto Industrial food is really vile stuff — even when it’s been tarted up by marketers to sound “healthy,” “natural,” and “fresh.” This is an obvious point, but it bears revisiting in a culture predicated on quick fixes. Is industrial food killing you? Don’t stop eating it — try these “new […]

Shiny plants will save the climate, say researchers

You thought fighting climate change was going to be hard? Pssh — all we gotta do is plant some peppers and we’ll be home free. OK, it might not be that easy, but California scientists say they’ve hit on an unusual climate-change solution: shiny plants. Encouraging farmers to plant foliage that reflects the sun’s heat […]

GM crops reduce emissions and could be used as carbon offsets, says biotech company

Money paid to offset greens’ sins by emission could go toward planting of genetically modified crops in China, if biotech company Arcadia Biosciences gets its way. Arcadia says its rice requires less nitrogen fertilizer, and farmers planting it should be rewarded with carbon credits for reducing their emissions of greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. The company […]

NYC invests in local-food infrastructure

While the farm bill wallows about in Congress, awaiting reconciliation between House and Senate versions, some state and local governments are making their own smart food policies, investing public resources in the worthwhile goal of rebuilding local food systems. A piece in last week’s New York Times food section reminded me of that happy fact. […]

An interview with Carol Moseley Braun about her biodynamic food company

This election season, Carol Moseley Braun isn’t gunning to become the first black president or the first female president. (Been there, done that.) Instead, she’s trying to break ground in another arena, one she considers vastly more satisfying than politics: food. Healthy, organic, biodynamic food. Carol Moseley Braun. Photo: AP / Seth Perlman In 2002, […]

A full-flavored attack on industrial food

Edible Media takes an occasional look at interesting or deplorable food journalism on the web and off. I have to admit, when I think of vegan fare, I first picture little lumps of soy curd, swimming in a brown pool of Bragg’s Liquid Amino Acids — perhaps with a spear or two of oversteamed broccoli […]

Ammonium drifts into national parks

You may not be able to smell cow poop in Yellowstone, Glacier, and Rocky Mountain National Parks, but the air there has become increasingly contaminated with nitrogen compound ammonium, says a recent report from the National Park Service. Possibly originating in concentrated animal feeding operations, ammonium in the three parks — as well as six […]