business
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New Agtivist Q&A with John Scharffenberger: First wine, then chocolate, and now … tofu?
John Scharffenberger at the Hodo Soy Beanery tofu factory in Oakland, Calif.(Bart Nagel Photography) This is the first in Grist’s series of interviews with a group we’re calling the “New Agtivists” — the many people who’re working to change this country’s f’ed-up food system. Whether famous or un-, they’re a little bit country and a […]
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Heritage Foods’ Patrick Martins wants to put slaughterhouses back in the city [Q&A]
Rare breed: Patrick Martins moves old-school meat.(Les Meyers photo)After founding Slow Food USA in 2000, Patrick Martins went on to cofound Heritage Foods USA, a nationwide purveyor of meat from sustainably raised, heritage-breed animals, which he continues to head. And every Sunday, he records a radio show & podcast, The Main Course, from New York […]
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Brainstorming Blue Not Green
Entering a green event run by Fortune Magazine in Orange County sets the stage for a few things – an audience of senior executives and government policymakers as well as a myriad of engaging debates and panels that spark ideas. After three days at Fortune Brainstorm Green last month in Laguna Niguel, I noticed that […]
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Waterkeepers question use of dispersant chemicals at oil-spewing wellhead
The chief executive of BP says crews have been able to reduce the amount of oil reaching the Gulf’s surface from a massive underwater leak by using chemicals at the gusher’s source — but environmental advocates are raising questions about the plan’s safety. “We are adamantly opposed to dispersants being used at the well-head as […]
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Gulf of Mexico: from magnificent resource to industrial sacrifice zone
Fire and a vast oil spill, on top of one of the globe’s most productive fisheries. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard The Gulf of Mexico is a magnificent resource: a kind of natural engine for the production of wild, highly nutritious foodstuff. Here’s how the EPA describes it: Gulf fisheries are some of the most productive […]
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Without major capital investments, this generation of Americans will short change the next
From 1980 to 2007, total U.S. electricity consumption increased by a factor of 1.8, but total generation capacity increased by only 1.7 times. In other words, demand out-grew supply. For a while, that was fine — we had more toys than we needed, and real power prices declined for two decades as we made better […]
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Researchers: HFCS is much worse than table sugar
The long-running, contentious debate over the dangers of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may be approaching a conclusive end — one not likely to please those sensitive souls over at the Corn Refiners Association. While there has been extensive evidence that fructose is harmful to human health and associated with metabolic diseases like diabetes and […]
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Organic grain miller goes employee-owned
In “Chewing the Scenery,” we round up interesting food-related video from around the Web. ————- Miller’s crossing: Bob Moore creates a progressive institution. For years, Oregon-based Bob’s Red Mill products have a been a staple of food co-ops and natural-food supermarkets. The company puts out a variety of top-quality, stone-ground organic grain products: from flours […]
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When the big guys want to do the right thing
How green are those Cheerios? Well, no — you’re right — Cheerios shouldn’t be green, but I mean green green. Increasingly, restaurants and food service companies are weighing the need to green their operations and products but the results are often not what they anticipated. According to stories in this week’s issues of two food […]