Climate Food and Agriculture

Feel the farce, Cuke

Well, it seems not everyone finds the (mis)adventures of Cuke Skywalker, Obi Wan Cannoli, TofuD2, and friends as funny as we do. Like its predecessor "The Meatrix," an online video spoof addressing factory farm issues that angered the dairy industry, "Store Wars," which touts organics and refers to conventional farming as the dark side, has many in the produce industry up in arms (er, light sabers?).

"It's one of the best spoofs I've ever seen," said Tim Chelling, vice president for communications for the Western Growers Association in Irvine. "But when it comes to some of the facts presented, as far as consumers go, the farce is not with you."

Listen, Tim, leave the puns to the professionals, ok?

Soy Triste

Brazil’s rainforest keeps getting gobbled up More than 10,000 square miles of Amazon rainforest disappeared from Brazil in 2004, the second-highest level of deforestation ever recorded, thanks mainly to the expansion of soy farming. As U.S.-state comparisons are de rigueur in these stories: that’s an area the size of Massachusetts. Though Brazil’s government implemented a […]

Now your $9 ballpark beer comes in an eco-cup

It's a single piece of news, but a revolution in its own right: starting Friday, the Oakland A's will serve drinks in compostable cornstarch cups, and provide compostable cutlery too. McAfee Coliseum staffers will dig the items out of the trash at the end of each game -- pausing only briefly to wonder if they should have taken that internship with Dad's friend's company instead -- and ship the whole beery, mustardy mess to a composting facility.

It's all part of stadium manager George Valerga's plan to reach a 75-100 percent recycling rate. And the San Francisco Giants are considering composting too. OK, OK, California did pass a law requiring special-events venues to increase their recycling. But hey, whatever it takes to make America's ballfields greener. Let's go A's!

Chavannes Jean-Baptiste ensures a future for Haitian farmers

Chavannes Jean-Baptiste. Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize. Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, faces overwhelming poverty. Massive deforestation has left its people vulnerable to deadly mudslides and floods, such as those that killed an estimated 3,000 people in late 2004, when tropical storm Jeanne swept through the area. The ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide […]

Could there be an environmental version of the new food pyramid?

The new USDA food pyramid has arrived. In a very ownership-society type of way, the pyramid has been transformed into ... MyPyramid. The website is super-slow thus far -- I haven't been able to really dig around yet -- but the arrival of this new-fangled pyramid has made me wonder if some genius, marketing-savvy environmentalist might be able to fashion a clear graphical illustration of environmental do's and don'ts for individuals. Relatively insignificant no-nos (say, acquiring yet one more nasty plastic bag) would be weighted appropriately against much more significant evildoings (say, purchasing a clothes dryer or embarking on yet one more cross-continental flight).

I'm not talking about exercises like the Ecological Footprint, which I find utterly demoralizing and disempowering. (Yes, if everyone lived like me, humanity would need 9 gazillion planets to make do, rather than our single orb.) I'm looking instead for a clear representation of what can be done about the problems facing us and how I (we do live in a me, me, me world) can take part. Of course, continuing in the me-me vein, the American public may latch onto MyPyramid because it ostensibly provides guidance for individual improvement (lose those pounds), while the benefits that came from following the wise advice of the as-of-yet undiscovered green graphic would accrue more to society. But, hey, I'm just trying to riff on something topical!

In closing, let me repeat this exceptionally moving (contain yourself) "Tip of the Week" from the USDA site:

MyPyramid: Do it for you. Make one small change each day for a healthier you.

OK, maybe these folks (on loan, by the way, for a steep price from the food-industry world) aren't such smarties after all.

See food, make smart choices

A new seafood-labeling scheme went into effect yesterday across the U.S. The regulations require that retailers label fish and shellfish with the country of origin and whether they were raised on a farm or caught in the wild. The labels may be put directly on packaging or on signs in the display cases.

Proponents say the labels satisfy a consumer's basic "right to know" about products before purchasing them. Greens should be pleased because the labels will make it easier for consumers to choose seafood from the safest (read: low mercury and POPs) and most sustainable sources. The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch resources can help with those delicious decisions as well. Browse their regional lists of seafood broken down into three categories: best choices, good alternatives, and those to avoid. You can also print your own pocket-size guide. Bon appetit!

Berate and Barrel

Open-barrel trash burning becoming a hot issue for states Not interested in paying the $1- or $2-per-bag fee for trash disposal? Just throw it all in a barrel in your backyard and burn it. That’s what thousands of upstate New Yorkers — and millions of rural Americans — do, and it’s making some environmental activists […]

You Say Tomato, I Say Hidden Costs of Transport

Locally grown food greener than organic, British study says Though organic farming is relatively easy on the environment, buying locally grown food, even the pesticide-sprayed variety, is usually more earth-friendly than buying organic, a new study contends. Published in the journal Food Policy, the study found that the transportation of food over long distances — […]

Spoiling organic milk?

The Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute has just filed a complaint with the USDA against two dairy farms in Idaho and California. It alleges that massive factory farms are labeling their products organic even though their thousands of cows are not pasture-fed, as required by USDA guidelines. Last month the institute -- which is devoted to "the fight for economic justice for the family-scale farming community" (and also taking pictures out the car window) -- filed a complaint against a similar operation in Colorado. This led the USDA to start ruminating on what "access to pasture" really means, anyway.

While the folks at Cornucopia are doing their best to help the little guys get herd -- er, heard -- larger-scale farmers say they're doing right by cows and consumers. "Our reason for doing it is we'd like to see agriculture change," Mark Retzloff, who runs the Colorado farm, told the Chicago Tribune. "If we're really going to change agriculture, we have to do it on all scales."

Make all U.S. farming organic?

The Land Institute runs a program call the Prairie Writer's Circle, which brings together writers who cover sustainability issues in agriculture (and related issues). They distribute their op-eds free of charge. We get them frequently, and I always like them, but we rarely have the space or resources to get them up on the site.

However! Thanks the magic of blogitude, I shall start running the ones I like here. To kick it off, here's an essay about how all -- that's right, all -- farming in the U.S. should go organic within 10 years.