Climate Food and Agriculture
All Stories
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A Boy Named “Sue”
Four States Sue EPA for Failing to Protect Kids from Pesticides Four state attorneys general filed suit against the U.S. EPA yesterday, charging that the agency is endangering kids by failing to carry out a 1996 law intended to protect children from the risks of eating pesticide-laden food. “Parents reasonably expect that every effort has […]
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A new GMO treaty is about to get tangled up in trade tussles
All but eclipsed by the somber anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety will become international law today with little fanfare. Nonetheless, its entry into force could mark the beginning of a new era in international trade — with potentially sweeping consequences for the environment. Fields of grain […]
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Goats are the hip new thing in eco-friendly weed management
The lawnmower was broken. Not that I knew how to use it, anyway, as I’d spent my whole life until a year ago in lawn-less New York City. Now, though, I was in Boulder, Colo., with waist-high weeds in my yard. I refused to even consider herbicides, but my attempt to pull the weeds by […]
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Umbra on Roundup
Dear Umbra, I have a large, organic (hopefully) vegetable garden. However, I occasionally use Roundup around the edges to keep invasive grasses from creeping in. Now, I have been given to understand that Roundup is relatively safe and breaks down almost immediately. What are your thoughts on this subject? I totally trust your judgment. BetsyMichigan […]
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Food for Thought: At Yale Dining Hall, A New Food Ethic Emerges
The word “cafeteria” does not exactly bring to mind healthful, organic, and delicious dining — but Yale University is setting out to change all that. The ivy league institution has teamed up with Alice Waters (the chef who changed the face of American cuisine through Chez Panisse, her California restaurant) to create the Sustainable Food […]
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Coming Soon: Organic Cheez Whiz
Mainstream food producers are diving into the organic market, which accounts for less than 2 percent of U.S. food sales but has been expanding by more than 20 percent per year. Salivating at this impressive growth rate, many large companies are gobbling up smaller organic producers. In just the latest example, Dean Foods Co., the […]
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Elizabeth Grossman reviews The Empty Ocean by Richard Ellis
"It's a fire alarm," says Richard Ellis about his new book, The Empty Ocean, which joins a chorus of recent publications documenting the precipitous decline of world fisheries and the dire state of the marine environment. That alarm should make you think long and hard about your lunchtime tuna sandwich or the sashimi you order at your favorite Japanese restaurant.
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Seasick
Once the fourth largest inland sea in the world, Central Asia’s Aral Sea is drying up rapidly and is likely to all but disappear in as few as 15 years, according to a new study by Moscow’s Shirshov Institute of Oceanology. Since the 1960s, the sea has been depleted by the damming of the main […]