Section » Health and Sustainability

The manurification of America

By Ethicurean • on March 2, 2010

A perfect shitstorm: On some farms, animal manure can be a valuable asset, a way to improve the soil in the fields. But for today's massive factory farms — and, increasingly, the nation's air and waterways — manure is a huge liability, reports the Post's David A. Fahrenthold. Decomposing manure from factory farms is the U.S.'s fastest growing source

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Fertilizer overuse can acidify soil

By Ethicurean • on February 19, 2010

Another reason to dislike the N-word: Fertilizer overuse creates many problems, like aquatic dead zones, resource depletion and blue-baby syndrome. One impact that

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What’s P-Cresol and why is it in my food? “Don’t Eat That” iPhone app will tell you

By Bonnie Azab Powell • on February 5, 2010

A simple little iPhone app launched a few days ago that demystifies the ingredient lists of processed food. Called "Don't Eat That" (link to

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What does asthma have to do with farm animals — or food?

By Marc R. aka Mental Masala • on January 18, 2010

When government officials hear the words "backyard livestock," they tend to worry about disease outbreaks and sanitation crises. And for good reason, as improperly managed animals — including dogs and cats —

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Out of conservation, back to production

By Ethicurean • on November 7, 2009

Good soil deed about to be uprooted: Millions of acres of environmentally sensitive lands are being pushed out of the federal Conservation Reserve Program and, most likely, back into production. The program was created to stabilize commodity prices while saving topsoil, improving water quality and creating

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Report scrutinizes ties between Big Food, health organizations

By Janet • on November 2, 2009

Ignore the man behind the curtain: Reporters Rick Montgomery and Alan Bavley examine the “marriages of convenience” between unhealthy food producers and organizations aimed at promoting health, such as the newly announced alliance between Coca Cola and the American Academy of Family Physicians.

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Doctors take a stand on Coca-Cola funding for physicians’ website

By Ethicurean • on October 30, 2009

Kicking the Coke habit: Nearly 20 doctors have resigned from the American Academy of Family Physicians after it accepted a grant from Coca-Cola to fund nutritional education content on its website. The lead protester pointed out that  consumption of soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks has been

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Dispatch from Germany No. 2: Visiting three small but innovative farm-to-table enterprises

By Guest • on October 20, 2009

By Renee Ciulla As I wrote in my first post for Ethicurean, I’m a graduate student learning about Sustainable Agriculture in Europe who recently spent a semester

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Meet your greens, part 3: Taking the stand against the veggilantes

By Elanor • on October 4, 2009

This is the third in a series about the USDA hearings on an industry proposal for a food-safety marketing agreement for leafy green vegetables. My first post describes what marketing agreements are and do; my second

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Meet your greens, part 2: Industry seeks to outfox FDA

By Elanor • on September 28, 2009

This is the second in a series of posts on my week in Monterey, CA, where I attended the first of seven USDA hearings around the country on an industry proposal to create a national

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Flat world, fat world: Report from the Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Symposium, part 1

By Guest • on September 23, 2009

By Nicole de Beaufort On September 21, 2009 in Minneapolis, a crowd of 300 people representing more than 30 disciplines gathered for a symposium hosted by the Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute

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Dairy runoff in our tap water

By Ethicurean • on September 18, 2009

Big dairies, big problems: Reporter Charles Duhigg of the New York Times has been on the rampage these past few weeks with a series of great articles highlighting the need for better government regulation, oversight and enforcement of clean water

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Farm Labor Experts: The Solution is Not For Sale

By Guest • on September 16, 2009

Friend o' Ethicurean Twilight Greenaway writes about sustainable food for San Francisco's Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA), which nourishes, inspires and educates SF residents and visitors by running the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and other

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Stanford Hospital gets Farm Fresh

By Ethicurean • on September 7, 2009

Recipe for wellness: Stanford Hospital and Clinics' new Farm Fresh project, launched in a pilot phase last month, brings organic, locally grown and sustainable food to any patient whose doctor approves it and doesn't cost a cent more than traditional fare. Other Northern California hospitals such as

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Time to ban practice of feeding poultry “litter” (eg poop & other waste) to cows

By Ethicurean • on September 1, 2009

File in the bulging folder of Really Bad Ideas: It's estimated that as much as 2 billion pounds of poultry litter (comprising chicken manure aka poop, feathers, spilled feed, bedding material, dead rodents, etc.) are fed to cattle every year. That's more than just gross — it courts mad cow disease,

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