interview

Future of Food director on ‘making soil sexy’

Filmmaker Deborah Koons Garcia burst onto the sustainable-food scene with her 2004 documentary the Future of Food, a biting, well-researched indictment of Monsanto and genetically modified food. I caught up with her at Slow Food Nation to discuss her current project, a documentary about a topic dear to my heart: soil.

Why climate change may have more to do with your shopping cart than your car

Anna Lappé might be called a green-diaper baby. Her mother, Frances Moore Lappé, brought out the seminal Diet for a Small Planet back in 1971, and has been agitating forcefully for a just, sustainable food system ever since. Her father, the toxicologist Marc Lappé, was an early, important, and persistent critic of the agrichemical industry. […]

Palin parries with Charles Gibson on climate change

“Show me where I have ever said that there’s absolute proof that nothing that man has ever conducted or engaged in has had any effect, or no effect, on climate change.” Photo: Trica Ward In her first substantial interview with a news journalist since being picked as John McCain’s vice presidential candidate two weeks ago, […]

An interview with Bob Barr about his presidential platform on energy and the environment

Bob Barr. Photo: Bob Barr for President In July, Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate for president, attended a big climate-change speech by Al Gore and found himself being praised by the former vice president for paying serious attention to the issue. After the speech, Barr issued a statement commending Gore for his “efforts and leadership” […]

Fast Food Nation author says the sustainable food movement should consider labor

Few Grist readers need an introduction to Eric Schlosser. His 2001 book, Fast Food Nation, helped galvanize interest in the politics and ecology of food production. Since that time, he’s used his increasingly high profile to illuminate one of the most shadowy crannies of the food system — working conditions in the vast monocropped fields […]

Stuffed and Starved author on the myth of consumer choice

Raj Patel, author of the searing book Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, is one of the most trenchant critics of industrial food. According to Patel, one billion people in the world don’t have enough to eat, while another billion suffer from the consequences of too many low-quality calories. The […]

New York chef urges people to get back in the kitchen

Dan Barber is one of the most highly regarded chefs in the United States. Back in the late 1990s, his small Manhattan restaurant Blue Hill got lots of buzz for Dan’s innovative cooking. But even while he was dazzling diners with his technique, Dan was already haunting Manhattan’s Union Square Greenmarket for ingredients, before many […]

Stunning interview with incoherent GOP denier running for Congress

My brother Dave lives in Minneapolis and has been interviewing RNC delegates. Here is Barb Davis White in her own words (audio stream here): White: My name is Barb Davis White and I’m running for the 5th Congressional District against Keith Ellison for the United States House of Representatives, which is called Congress. Romm: Where […]

McCain’s veep pick talks energy, ANWR, and the improbability of being tapped for VP

During a June 25, 2008, appearance on CNBC’s Kudlow & Company, Sarah Palin said, "Sen. McCain is wrong" on the issue of oil drilling.  She said, "I think he’s going to evolve into eventually supporting ANWR opening also …  I’d like the opportunity to change his mind about ANWR."  She was also asked about the […]