Climate Food

Goat for the Gold

Pampas and Circumstances

More than 1,500 farmers now plant 7 million acres of organic crops a year in Argentina, up from 220 farmers and 13,000 acres in 1995. For the most part, people in Argentina haven’t developed a taste for the stuff — 90 percent of the country’s organic crops are exported, mostly to the U.S. and Europe. […]

This Little Farmer Went to Market

The number of farmers’ markets in the U.S. increased 63 percent from 1994 to 2000, with 19,000 farmers now selling at about 2,800 markets, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Many of the farmers tout their produce as being organically certified, and farmers at the New York Greenmarket have agreed to a moratorium on […]

Scrambled Egg Labels

With few federal rules in place, many eco-labels and related markers placed on food in the U.S. are meaningless or confusing, says Consumers Union. For example, because the U.S. Agriculture Department doesn’t have standards for free-range eggs, no one checks up on whether the chickens producing such eggs really have the run of the farm. […]

Bay of Pigs' Waste

The U.S. Congress should give farmers more than $6 billion a year to help them restore wetlands and prevent agricultural waste from polluting the nation’s waterways, according to American Rivers and Environmental Defense. They said yesterday that nearly half of the country’s bays are too polluted for fishing and swimming because of fertilizer and manure […]

Residon'ts

Nearly half the fruit and vegetables sold in U.K. supermarkets since 1998 contained pesticide residues, according to an analysis of government pesticide data by Friends of the Earth. The group said most of the residues were within legal limits, but it raised concerns that the individual chemicals could be dangerous in combination, especially for unborn […]

Not in a While, Crocodile

Enviros say more than 10,000 endangered crocodiles in Paraguay are dying because a major river that irrigated their swamplands is now being diverted to provide water for agriculture in Argentina. The crocodiles, known as Yacares, are starving to death or being encased in mud as the swamps dry up. Their numbers had been climbing before […]

A review Fast Food Nation

Given my distaste for fast food and the general knowledge of its detrimental effect on the American diet, I didn't expect to find any revelations in Fast Food Nation. But journalist Eric Schlosser's thoroughly researched and well-written probe into the industry that has transformed American roadsides, eating patterns, and agriculture was actually an eye-opener.

The World's Shortest Forest

An excerpt from Blue Frontier

Predictable but unreported impacts from this spring's flooding on the Mississippi River will be an expanded dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, more southern beach closures, and more dying coral in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.