Food Mythbusters: Coming to a City Near You on Food Day, October 24th

Topics:

Food Industry News & Trends,Hunger & Food Crisis

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012, 2:22 PM

It’s a tired old refrain you’ve probably heard before: “Industrial agriculture is the only way to feed the world.” Even if you shop at your weekly farmers market, and love your local kale and carrots, maybe you also secretly worry: Are you cursing people to more hunger around the world for your organic proclivities?

Well, folks, the research is in. Study after study is showing the opposite is true: we can onlyensure a well-fed world if we start shifting away from an agricultural system dependent on fossil fuels, mined minerals, and lots of water—all of which will only get more costly as they run out. Some of the most esteemed global institutions have documented that the best way to fight hunger—and grow food abundantly—is to go for organic and ecological production methods and get people eating whole, real food again.

So if we have scientific consensus, why don’t we have more public consciousness? You can find the answer in the marketing budgets of Big Ag. Thanks to well-funded, multi-decade communications campaigns by the very corporations profiting from chemical agriculture, many of us are still in the dark about the true costs of industrial agriculture and the true potential of sustainable agriculture.

Thanks to these efforts, we are inundated with messaging that we need their products—chemicals, fertilizer, genetically engineered seeds—to ensure the world is fed. We hear it all the time.

We hear the grain trader, ADM, is supermarket to the world—while the company’s price-fixing scandals were so outrageous they became fodder for a Matt Damon, Hollywood film.

We hear Monsanto is going to “squeeze more food from a raindrop”—that its genetically engineered crops will help farmers deal with extreme drought—even though no genetically engineered drought-tolerant seeds have been commercialized.

We hear pharmaceutical behemoth, Bayer, is “helping to feed a hungry planet” while at the same time it’s one of the biggest distributors of antibiotics to the livestock industry, leading to a public health crisis of antibiotic resistance. And it’s the maker of a toxic pesticide, now covering nearly 90 percent of all U.S. corn seeds, and a likely culprit in  colony collapse disorder—the fancy name for the disappearance of bees. It doesn’t take a PhD in agronomy to know that pollinators like bees are an essential part of being able to feed the world.

I don’t know about you, but I’m increasingly frustrated by all this spin: by the ad campaigns, the trade-group public relations machines, the lobbying, the front groups—the myth-making. And, while I don’t have $817 million (that’s what Monsanto spent on advertising in just one year), I do have some powerful allies—great food, farming and labor groups who share my frustration and want to do something about it. So together, we’re launching Food MythBusters: a one-stop shop to get your burning questions about food answered through short films, Q&As with experts and links to essential research.

Our first film takes on the myth that we need industrial agriculture to feed the world. We offered sneak peeks at SXSW Eco in Austin and will have previews with partners in Baltimore,Philadelphia and Boston… all building up to a national launch on Food Day, October 24th.

We’re inviting you – yes you – to help join us in spreading the word about the potential for sustainable food, farming and the exciting work springing to life across the country to remake our food system. This will ensure more and more of us have access to good, healthy, sustainably raised food.

Please join us by screening our first film wherever you are—on college campuses, in church basements, at CSA pickups and family rooms. We hope screenings will stimulate conversation, educate more about the real story of our food and compel people to get involved in transforming our food system—in their communities and across the country.

Visit www.foodmyths.org to see a teaser trailer and download a step-by-step toolkit for organizing a screening—it’s not too late. Or tune in on October 24 to our facebook event to watch a livecast. Contact JGordon@StopCorporateAbuse.org if you’d like more information about how to join the many groups around the country hosting a screening on Food Day, or any day this fall.  Together, we can take back the story of our food from the marketing machine of Big Agriculture.

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The Food and Environment Reporting Network Launches

Topics:

Food Industry News & Trends

Monday, November 28th, 2011, 2:22 PM

For Immediate Release: November 28, 2011
Contact: Sam Fromartz, Editor-in-Chief
202.423.8779-c; sam@thefern.org
Naomi Starkman, 917.539.3924-c;
naomi@thefern.org
THE FOOD AND ENVIRONMENT REPORTING NETWORK LAUNCHES
Independent, Non-Profit, Investigative News Organization to Focus on Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Health
–
Premiere Story Profiles Successful Citizen Movement to Halt Pollution by New Mexico’s Powerful Mega-Dairies
New York, NY—The Food and Environment Reporting Network, Inc., an independent, non-profit, non-partisan news organization that produces investigative reporting on food, agriculture, and environmental health for distribution to major media outlets, today launched with its first story in the award-winning western magazine, High Country News. The report takes a hard look at pollution by the powerful dairy industry in New Mexico and how one man became the driving force behind a movement that brought the state’s mega-dairies to heel. The story can be found on www.thefern.org and hcn.org/milkandwater.
“Our stories will fall under the classic mandate of investigative reporting–to reveal corruption, abuse of power, and exploitation wherever it happens; to expose activities that the powerful work to keep hidden or to explore subjects that are just too complex for the breaking news cycle,” said Editor-in-Chief Sam Fromartz. “We’ve chosen to focus on food, agriculture, and environmental health specifically because we feel these are under-reported subjects that touch people’s lives every day.”
Several more investigative stories commissioned by the Food and Environment Reporting Network will break news in the weeks to come, appearing in mainstream publications, such as The American Prospect and The Nation magazines, as well as major daily newspapers. “Crucial to this work are the relationships we’re forging with regional and national media partners, who are clearly interested in our model and the work we’re producing,” Fromartz said.
“Over the past four decades, coverage of food and agriculture has waned in the mainstream press at the same time as the impact of a more industrialized food system on public health has become increasingly severe,” said Ruth Reichl, editorial board member of the Food and Environment Reporting Network, Editorial Advisor to Gilt Taste, Editor-at-Large at Random House, and former Editor-in-Chief of Gourmet magazine. “Without detailed investigations into food and agriculture, our understanding of humanity’s impacts on the environment is incomplete and related policy changes ineffective.”
The dairy industry is New Mexico’s largest agricultural sector and an influential lobbying force. The state’s dairies average 2,000 cows each, the largest mean herd size in the nation. In her piece, “Milk and Water Don’t Mix,” Stephanie Paige Ogburn reports for High Country News: “Although the state Environment Department has long worked with dairies to reduce pollution, change has been slow: Almost 60 percent of the state’s dairies have polluted groundwater with manure runoff, yet not one has begun the required cleanup.” Detailing how a self-described hermit named Jerry Nivens, his allies, and one Environment Department employee helped to pass some of the most progressive dairy-related water regulations in the West, Ogburn describes how New Mexico may now inspire other states to take the responsibility for limiting industrial farm pollution into their own hands.
About the Food and Environment Reporting Network
The Food and Environment Reporting Network experience in writing and publishing is represented by its Board of Directors, which includes Editor-in-Chief Samuel Fromartz, author, freelance journalist and a former Reuters business editor; Allison Arieff, a contributing columnist for The New York Times, contributing columnist for The Atlantic Cities, and editor of the Urbanist magazine for SPUR (San Francisco Planning & Urban Research Association); and Ralph Loglisci, a leading food policy media strategist. Former board members Katrina Heron and Naomi Starkman were involved in the organization’s founding and development. Tom Laskawy is the Executive Director and manages the organization; Paula Crossfield serves as the Managing Editor.
The Food and Environment Reporting Network’s editorial board includes Brian Halweil, editor of Edible East End and co-publisher of Edible Brooklyn and Edible Manhattan magazines; Katrina Heron, Editor-at-Large at Newsweek/The Daily Beast and previously Editor-in-Chief of WIRED and a senior editor at The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times magazines; Ruth Reichl, Editorial Advisor to Gilt Taste, Editor-at-Large at Random House, and former Editor-in-Chief of Gourmet magazine; Elizabeth Royte, author of the critically acclaimed books, Garbage Land and Bottlemania; and Charles Wilson, co-author with Eric Schlosser of the number one New York Times children’s bestseller Chew On This: Everything You Don’t Want to Know About Fast Food.
A registered 501(c)3 non-profit corporation based in New York, the Food and Environment Reporting Network was founded in October 2009 and began operations in January 2011. It is funded by the generous support of the The 11th Hour Project, McKnight Foundation, Clarence Heller Foundation, Columbia Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

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Real Food Challenge takes off

Topics:

Blog,Food Industry News & Trends,Local Food

Friday, October 28th, 2011, 11:05 AM

Students united to transform food system:
Not just 20% real food by 2020. At least 20% real food by 2020.
The Get Real campaign, for instance, is off and running. It’s aimed at getting college presidents to sign our new Real Food Campus Commitment–and we’ve just had out first victory: the President of St. Mary’s College in Indiana signed this week! http://www.wndu.com/localnews/headlines/Saint_Marys_first_school_to_sign…
http://video.alabamas13.com/v/47561100/real-food-challenge.htm?q=real+food

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Californians Urge Healthy Food and Jobs Focus in Fast Tracked Farm Bill

Topics:

Food Industry News & Trends,Food Policy & Politics

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011, 2:29 PM

http://www.ewg.org/release/californians-urge-healthy-food-and-jobs-focus…
CONTACT: EWG public affairs 202.667.6982; ssciammacco@ewg.org
Oakland, Calif. — More than 60 public health, nutrition, food, farm and environmental groups representing hundreds of thousands of California citizens are urging Gov. Jerry Brown and the state’s congressional delegation to support healthy food reforms as the Congressional super committee crafts a new five-year farm bill.
Environmental Working Group is a leading sponsor of the advocates letter and petition, along with Center for Science in the Public Interest, Roots of Change, Prevention Institute, California Center for Public Health Advocacy, Pesticide Action Network North America and Food and Water Watch.
“In this difficult budget environment, we must invest our money where it will generate the greatest good,” Kari Hamerschlag, a senior analyst at Environmental Working Group, said. “That means investing in conservation, research, nutrition, local and organic food and fruit and vegetable production and promotion. These programs will save us billions in health care costs, while creating jobs, supporting family farmers and protecting our valuable water and soil resources for future generations of farming.”
“We can find billions of dollars in tax payer savings by limiting support to the largest most profitable farming operations that do not need our help,” Hamerschlag said.
The letter and petition, delivered on National Food Day, Monday October 24, demonstrate a broad consensus in California, the largest grower of vegetables, fruits, and nuts, that top priority for federal funding should go to local food production, nutrition, research and conservation programs.
The petition has been signed by more than 16,000 California citizens. It urges the California delegation in Washington to stand up for healthy and sustainable food and farming policies. Advocates plan to descend on Congressional offices over the next few weeks to press their case.
The advocates’ letter and petition highlight the importance of protecting healthy food programs and promoting diets rich in fruit and vegetables and healthy beverages as a way to save billions in costly medical care. They assert that “poor diet and inactivity cost California more than $20 billion a year and the nation at least $150 billion annually in medical cost.”
“This petition should clarify for our political leaders that food and farming must move back to the center of our national agenda, ” said Michael Dimock, President of Roots of Change. “Our health, economy and ecosystem demand it. If we don’t ensure healthy food, farms, ecosystems to support our nation’s people in the next farm bill, Occupy Wall Street could become Occupy Walmart, Cargill and every other “big food” entity.”
“Small investments in conservation and rural development leverage additional private dollars that together deliver huge benefits for farmers, rural communities and consumers,” said Pesticide Action Network senior scientist Margaret Reeves. “These programs help farmers keep our air and water clean, and they also help farmers protect pollinator and soil resources that are essential for the continued production and sale of abundant, healthy food.”
“California is the country’s number-one agricultural producer-we need to get those fresh fruits and vegetables onto the plates of every man, woman and child in California,” said Juliet Sims, a Program Coordinator at the Prevention Institute. “The farm bill delivers nutrition assistance for low-income people who are really in desperate need, and it will help increase access to healthy foods across the state.”

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Corporate Accountability Int’l Turns Up the Heat on McDonald’s

Topics:

Food Industry News & Trends,Hunger & Food Crisis

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011, 3:34 PM

Yesterday, October 24th, was the first annual Food Day, and people across the U.S. are taking action to promote healthy, affordable and sustainably produced food. In recognition of Food Day, Corporate Accountability International members and activists are turning up the heat on McDonald’s to end its harmful marketing of junk food to kids.
Will you celebrate Food Day by “>sending a photo petition to McDonald’s?
Already more than 1,600 health professionals across North America have signed an open letter calling on McDonald’s to stop inundating children with marketing for its unhealthy brand. After all, the nation’s leading pediatricians and a growing body of scientific evidence indicate that reducing junk food marketing to kids could spare the health of millions of children.
But, while McDonald’s has responded with changes to its kids’ meals, they have done nothing to rein in a $400 million plus annual global marketing budget.
“>Submit a photo petition and show McDonald’s that you stand with health professionals in calling for real change.
CAI will deliver your photos and your concerns directly to McDonald’s executives and franchise owners in the weeks ahead.
Don’t have a camera? Don’t worry!“> Click here to email McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner and call on McDonald’s to stop marketing to kids.

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Food Day is here.

Topics:

Food Industry News & Trends,Food Policy & Politics,Hunger & Food Crisis,Local Food,Organic Food & Farming

Monday, October 24th, 2011, 9:36 AM

After months of organizing by countless people, there will be more than 2,000 events from coast to coast—ranging from small house parties to massive festivals — for Food Day. Local governments are seizing the opportunity to announce new food policy initiatives. The National Archives will be hosting a Food Day Open House just feet from our country’s most important founding documents. There will be an “Eat In” in Times Square, with guests like Morgan Spurlock, Mario Batali, and Marion Nestle, and with a meal prepared by Ellie Krieger of the Food Network.
But more important, Food Day is poised to inspire hundreds of thousands if not millions of Americans to change their diets for the better, and to push for improved food policies.
If you are already planning to participate in a Food Day event, this is what I ask you to do: Please take still photos of your event, tag them with “Food Day” on Flickr and join our Flickr group. And, if you can take a short video of your Food Day event, please upload them to YouTube and tag them with the words “Food Day.” The Food Day staff will favorite these videos so they show up on the Food Day YouTube Channel. You can also collect signatures for the Food Day petition asking Congress for better food policies.
If you haven’t found a Food Day event near you, visit FoodDay.org use the map or type in your zip code. (Be patient as events take time to load in the map—a lot of people are visiting right now!) And of course you can keep up with Food Day by liking it on Facebook, following CSPI on Twitter, or by using the #FoodDay hashtag to participate in the national conversation.
Food Day continues to get great publicity, such as these articles in The Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Minneapolis Tribune, and the Portland Oregonian or in the Atlantic. You may have also seen this TV spot-featuring Morgan Spurlock-from our friends at the Cooking Channel, or this one from our friends at the wellness cable channel Veria Living.

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Don’t Let Industry Kill the Healthy Food Marketing Guidelines

Topics:

Food Industry News & Trends,Food Policy & Politics

Friday, October 7th, 2011, 9:07 PM

Please consider signing onto this petition!
In 2009, Congress directed several federal agencies to form the Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Food Marketed to Children to develop guidelines for companies that market food to kids. The IWG proposed a strong set of guidelines earlier this year.
Unfortunately, the food industry and media companies are lobbying the President, his Administration, and Congress to prevent the IWG from finalizing the marketing recommendations. Yet, with the help of advocates like you, over 28,000 parents, health organizations, and others submitted comments supporting the proposed guidelines.
While the First Lady and the Administration have made childhood obesity a priority, they are considering pulling the marketing guidelines given the significant political pressure from the food and entertainment industries.
Please write to President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama (and the IWG agencies) today to encourage the Administration to finalize and release food marketing guidelines as Congress requested.
Recipients
President Barack Obama
First Lady Michelle Obama
Secretary Thomas ‘Tom’ J. Vilsack
Director Thomas R. Frieden
Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg
Chairman Jon Leibowitz

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10 Percent Fewer Calories at Olive Garden? That’s Not Even the Bread Basket

Topics:

Blog,Food Industry News & Trends

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011, 8:22 AM

Yesterday, to much fanfare, the First Lady announced that the Darden Group—owners of Red Lobster and Olive Garden, among other restaurants—will voluntarily improve their menus, cutting calories and sodium and making healthier options available for kids. In an allegedly bold move, the company is committing to cutting calories and sodium on its menu by 10 percent over five years.
Let’s imagine what this means if you’re dining out at Olive Garden one evening. You’ve got an appetite, so you order your favorite, the fried calamari appetizer. For an entrée, you go for the braised beef and tortelloni dinner and for dessert you treat yourself to the Zeppoli with chocolate sauce and a Caffé Mocha. Worried about your calorie count, you skip the beer and go for a Bella Limonata, not realizing its calories match or surpass most beers.
The grand total? 3,930 calories, nearly twice as many as you should be eating in an entire day. Fast forward five years, and if Darden sticks to its word—which, keep in mind, there is no guarantee the company will—that meal would set you back 3,537 calories, or 177% what you should be eating for an entire day. (And that’s not even counting a few nibbles from the bread basket).
Now, I’m no stickler for details but it seems, folks, like this is little cause for fancy press conferences and pats on the back, especially when it comes with the publicity glow of the First Lady.
Turn to sodium content—the other area the company said it would be targeting—and the story is similar. That meal you’re having delivers 5,405 mg of sodium; three and a half times what the majority of us—especially the elderly and people with high blood pressure—should consume according to the federal government. Yes, Darden Group said it also plans to reduce sodium content, but also voluntarily and by a paltry 10 percent. So, in five years, that meal of yours would still clock in at just over three times your total daily recommended sodium.
This is not just a trifling detail. Sodium overconsumption is clearly linked to a staggering increase in heart disease and stroke across the country. So worrisome is sodium consumption, in fact, that last year the Institute of Medicine recommended mandatory limits on salt in packaged and restaurant foods. Said Michael Jacobson, the Executive Director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, on the release of the report: “Limiting salt in packaged and restaurant foods is perhaps the single most important thing that the Food and Drug Administration could do to save hundreds of thousands of lives and save billions of dollars in health-care expenses.”
Yet despite the fact that Darden’s commitments are far from earth-shattering—the cynical among us might even suggest this fanfare distracts from the mandatory and more serious reductions that would actually improve public health—the promises got big coverage. As of this morning, 583 related news articles from the Wall Street Journal to the Los Angeles Times reported on the announcement. In the biz, this is called “earned media.” All those eyeballs reading about Darden? That’s free publicity. Reading about Darden alongside flattering pictures of the First Lady and happy-looking Darden customers? That’s priceless free publicity.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m happy the First Lady has focused on improving public health and addressing the epidemic of childhood obesity. The national diet-related health crisis is certainly serious, but precisely because the stakes are so high we need to be clear about what is progress and what is PR; wimpy, voluntary changes are exactly what the industry wants to get credit for. Indeed, the partner on Darden’s publicity stunt is the largely industry-funded Partnership for a Healthier America.
Darden’s announcement is just the latest in a long line of similar proclamations. Remember, Walmart’s “big” news back in January that it was making moves to reduce sugar and sodium in “thousands” of packaged products by 2015?
As public health advocate Michele Simon reported at the time, we should pause to remember not just the similar promises, but the history of broken promises, too: McDonald’s committed to cut trans fats, but didn’t; Ruby Tuesday’s promised to list nutrition facts on its menus, but didn’t; soda companies promised to change the beverages they sold in schools, they haven’t. Furthermore, to the extent these moves defuse the demand for more stringent regulations, all the more reason for concern.
Yes, maybe the Darden Group will reduce calories and sodium content by 10 percent in 5 years, but maybe not. And even if it does, the move only scratches the surface of the changes that would need to sweep their menus to make dining at their restaurants good for you. In the meantime: split the appetizer, take half the entrée home, drink water… and do you really need that Zeppoli? That’ll put you back only 1,120 calories, nearly three times fewer than in that original meal. Hey, maybe you should have a press conference?

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Farm to School: Lunch Table gets more healthy

Topics:

Blog,Food Industry News & Trends,Food Policy & Politics,Local Food

Thursday, July 21st, 2011, 12:09 PM

NASHVILLE, Tenn., July 12, 2011 – Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan today highlighted the importance of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and announced the findings of USDA’s first Farm to School report during the 2011 School Nutrition Association national convention. Merrigan delivered remarks to thousands of school nutrition professionals at the three-day event which provided an opportunity to discuss the Obama administration’s efforts to improve the health and nutrition of meals served through the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs. Download the whole report here.
“By working closely with school nutrition professionals, the Obama Administration is promoting initiatives that provide kids with access to nutritious foods and information to teach them healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime” said Merrigan. “Farm to school programs are a great way to bring more fresh, local produce into school cafeterias and support local farmers as well. Many schools are also using Farm to School programs to teach students where their food comes from through nutrition education.”
They are starting the program first in Florida & Michigan. Hopefully First Lady Obama will push this further! Her blog all about her food initiatives here.

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The Oakland Institute Launches “Voices From Africa”

Topics:

Blog,Food Industry News & Trends,Food Policy & Politics,Hunger & Food Crisis,Organic Food & Farming

Friday, April 10th, 2009, 4:21 PM

The Oakland Institute has created an new online community called Voices From Africa, a supplement to the report on alternatives to the New Green Revolution in Africa. The Oakland Institute Reporter describes Voices from Africa as “a new online clearinghouse to share information on and promote alternatives to the New Green Revolution in Africa. Featuring articles, press releases, commentary, and reports from African NGOs and partner organizations and individuals around the world, Voices from Africa is set up as an interactive web community and will also serve as a resource for media and policy makers to hear the perspective of the African civil society groups on plans for a New Green Revolution in Africa.”

Join the Voices From Africa community today.

Members will be able to create their own account, access articles and documents on these issues, participate in forums, and strategize with policy-makers, activists and other stakeholders from all over the globe. Make your voice heard in this critical debate.

–Deepa

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RAN in the NYT

Topics:

Blog,Food Industry News & Trends

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009, 11:11 AM

The New York Times published this article about eBay’s belated efforts to promote themselves as a “green” company, claiming that because their business model is founded on buying and selling used products, the company is environmentally friendly by default. (They’ve also added a “Green Team” to their staff, whose job it is to hype the company’s environmental efforts.)

Rainforest Action Network’s Executive Director, Michael Brune, was quoted in the article, stating, “Over the last couple of years, protecting the environment has become as American as apple pie and Derek Jeter. Every company wants to at least be seen as being friendly to the environment. A lot of the things sold on eBay are new merchandise, and last time I checked the Postal Service still used fossil fuels for all of their planes and their trucks, so it’s not sustainable.
It’s fair to say that buying used goods on eBay is better for the environment, but let’s not get carried away and say this is the greenest thing since recycled paper.”

– Deepa

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The World in 2101?

Topics:

Biotechnology,Blog,Food Industry News & Trends,Food Policy & Politics,Hunger & Food Crisis,Organic Food & Farming

Thursday, February 26th, 2009, 2:13 PM

The WorldWatch Institute has published a new report which investigates an “imagined future:” State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World highlights the potential fate of the planet if scientists, consumers, producers, and politicians act quickly and effectively now, in 2009, to combat the energy and climate change crises.

According WorldWatch, “The questions addressed in the State of the World 2009 are many: how do we adapt- not just as communities and nations, but as a species-to the warming that is headed our way, no matter what we do now? How will the world deal with the fact that the climate burden will fall heaviest on countries whose contributions to climate change have been the most modest? And even as we struggle to adapt, how does society maintain focus on slashing emissions to a pale shadow of their current levels?”

The report selects specific challenges (land use, energy, emissions, etc.) and proposes innovative alternatives. Some of the Innovations highlighted in the Land Use section are:
>> In Parana, Brazil, farmers have developed organic management systems combined with no-till. No-till plots yielded a third more wheat and soybean than conventional plowed plots and reduced soil erosion by up to 90 percent. (p. 36)
>> In 2005, a Pennsylvania dairy farm invested $1.14 million in a project to process the manure from 800 cows, using a digester and a combined heat and power unit. Now the farm makes a profit using biogas to generate 120 kilowatt-hours of electricity to sell back to the local utility. (p. 41)
>> Both India and China have large national programs to revegetate millions of hectares of forest and grasslands-seen as investments to reduce poverty and protect watersheds. (p. 44)
>> In Morocco, 34 pastoral cooperatives with more than 8,000 members rehabilitated and manage some 450,000 hectares of grazing reserves. (p. 44)
>> In Rajasthan, India, community-led watershed restoration programs have reinstated more than 5,000 traditional johads (rainwater storage tanks) in over 1,000 villages. (p. 44)
>> Some countries are redirecting subsidy payments to agri-environmental payments for ecosystem services, some of which explicitly include carbon storage and emissions reduction. (p. 46)

If you’re interested in reading more, download chapters or purchase a copy of this critical report here.

– Deepa

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Just Food’s 2009 Summit on Food and Climate Change

Topics:

Blog,Food Industry News & Trends,Food Policy & Politics

Thursday, February 26th, 2009, 2:10 PM

SPECIAL EVENT!

Support Just Food’s 2009 Summit on Food and Climate Change! The Summit “will help build a more educated, informed and politically involved network of urban and rural communities in the New York City region to influence food, farm and environmental policy. It will be structured to inform and educate participants, generate ideas and strategies, and build coalitions to create and mobilize around a concrete platform for action on Food and Climate Change in 2010.” Just Food’s conference coincides with the United Nations Climate Change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

For more information about this critical event, contact Nadia Johnson, the Food Justice Coordinator at Just Food. She can be reached at nadia@justfood.org or at 212.645.9880, ext. 237.

– Deepa

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YES! Magazine: Food For Everyone

Topics:

Blog,Food Industry News & Trends

Thursday, February 26th, 2009, 4:00 AM

Check out the upcoming “Food For Everyone” Spring 2009 issue of YES! Magazine.

Check it out!

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UK Hospitals to Go Veg?

Topics:

Blog,Food Industry News & Trends,Meat Industry

Monday, February 2nd, 2009, 10:00 PM

We gotta say, the pronouncement perked our ears up: British hospitals to promote cutting back on meat to help the climate?

Juliette Jowit, from the British rag The Guardian, reported on a plan to eliminate meat from hospital menus across the UK. The action would be part of a larger strategy by the National Health Service (UK) to lower carbon emissions and save money, which could then be redirected into patient care.

Check it out here.

The National Health Service was inspired by a study they conducted last year through which they discovered that their emissions alone account for approximately 3% of the country’s s total emissions. If the NHS was a country, this emissions toll would rank them the planet’s 81st worst emitter in 2004.

The NHS has proposed both long- and short-term changes, from “urging people to drink less bottled water to more phone-in surgeries by GPs to the food: The NHS is planning to limit meat and dairy on hospital menus. David Pencheon, director of NHS’s sustainable development unit, said, “We’d like higher levels of fresh food, and probably higher levels of fresh fruit and veg, and more investment in a local economy.”

Sounds good to us.

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