by Glenn Schererr
What do foreign cars, computer hard drives, hamburgers, chocolate, coffee, and peanut butter have in common? They’re all costing more due to the collision of globalization with global warming.
Archive for the ‘Food & Farming’ Category
by Mark Hertsgaard
Africans are defending themselves from drought and other climate change impacts in ways that offer vital lessons to local U.S. communities.
by Jeff Feldman
Here’s a partial solution to the global economic meltdown, peak oil, and climate change: Mushrooms. Yes, mushrooms! Fungi are no longer just food – they’re a hot green industry!
by Karen O’Leary
Looking beyond the political circus in Washington, here are six locally hopeful significant suggestions for revitalizing our nation, our neighborhoods, and our selves.
by Karen O’Leary
The weird weather this spring has caused crops to fail. Unfortunately, NOAA and other agencies are forecasting more extreme weather this summer, which means more failed crops and even higher food costs.
by Erica Gies
U.S. agribusiness has done a phenomenal job of feeding the world, but at a cost to the environment. Journalist Erica Gies raises concerns about contamination of U.S. groundwater by nitrates, chemical pesticides, fertilizers, and animal excrement – and she proposes solutions.
by Darrin Nordahl
Imagine veggie gardens growing on every state house lawn in the U.S. to feed those in need. We’re not there yet, reports urban designer Darrin Nordahl, but we’re trending that way fast as Vermont, California, Wisconsin and many municipalities plant public food gardens to feed families hurt by the economic downturn.
By Erica Gies
Water. Everybody needs it. But everybody wastes it. This is a big problem. With 36 states expecting water shortages by 2013, Erica Gies offers examples on water conservation for agriculture, energy producers, cities and citizens. Erica Gies has been published by The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, and Wired News, Grist. She lives in San Francisco, CA.
by Amy Mathews Amos
Farmed salmon and shrimp are what’s on the menu these days. But these predatory fish are fattened on vast amounts of forage fish—using techniques that threaten ocean ecosystem collapse. Aquaculture done right, says marine consultant Amy Mathews Amos, could feed the world’s billions. Done wrong, it could do irrevocable harm.
by Caroline Abels
Glean? Says journalist Caroline Abels: It’s one of the oldest ways to feed the hungry—featured in the Bible—and a technique sweeping U.S. grassroots food assistance organizations. Gleaning—the gathering of unmarketable crops left behind in farm fields after harvest—is a way for volunteers to roll up their sleeves in these tough times and aid their neighbors.
