Section » Sustainability
Agrofuels are not the answer for CA’s low-carbon energy needs
This guest post has been unpublished at the request of the contributor due to timing issues.
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‘Killer’ movie tells who to charge for the large
"Killer at Large," a new documentary DVD, is a veritable banquet of obesity information, serving up copious facts and personal tales about the American obesity epidemic that threatens to shorten the life span of the current generation of young people. Alas,
What two 19th-century cities can teach us about community-based food systems
While compiling this week's (long overdue) Digest, I came across the excellent infographic above in Yes! magazine's April issue, which is all
Transgenic seeds are toast(ed): New report says GE crops have not increased yield
Couched deep within the earth-mother rhetoric of a recent Monsanto ad (which you can also see on the back cover of the current
Unfair fare: Why prices for meat from small local farms are too high
Editor's note: New York part-time farmer Bob Comis sent us a link to a post on his Stonybrook Farm blog for consideration in the Digest, but we liked it so much we asked him if we could publish an edited version in its entirety. His opinions are going
Meet menhaden – before this ecologically critical fish vanishes
By Alice Friedemann Ever heard of menhaden? Probably not, although perhaps you're familiar with the fish’s other names: bunker, pogies, mossbacks, bugmouths, alewifes, and fat-backs. You may be surprised to learn they’re the most important fish in the Atlantic and Gulf waters. Menhaden are the vacuum
Fatal attraction: Humanity’s love affair with fish like the Chilean sea bass
Recently I was snared — or hooked, snagged, or netted (pick your favorite fishing pun) — by a book that shows humanity's enormous capacity to affect ocean life. We can nearly wipe out an entire species in just a few decades thanks to new technologies and taste trends. Take the Chilean sea bass, Dissostichus
Digest – Blogs: Tomato truths, legislation lies, and the murky waters of sustainable shrimp
The price of tomatoes: Tom Philpott follows up on his trip to Immokalee, Florida with the second of a two-part post, examining how tomato pickers survive on $50 a day. The answer? With much difficulty. (Grist) That's the internet for
Digest – Features and blogs: Why go local?
Agriculture next to fall? In his latest blog screed, famed dystopian James Howard Kunstler predicts that agriculture will be the next to fall in the world economic crisis, noting that "if the US government is going to try to make remedial policy for anything, it better start with agriculture, to promote
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This is what democracy looks like
Today is a big day for all of us who believe not only in sustainable food and agriculture systems, but also in the democratic process. The months since the election brought an outpouring of engagement from citizens urging the Obama Administration to appoint change-makers to lead our country. And it paid
Sustainable Pork Smackdown, Pt. 1: Why Bay Area residents should choose Midwestern pork
By Samin Nosrat | Illustration by Marcos Sorenson Read Pt. 2: Why Bay Area residents should choose local pork Before Edible San Francisco readers start lobbing flaming Molotov pigtails at me,
Sustainable Pork Smackdown, Pt. 2: Why Bay Area residents should choose local pork
By Bonnie Azab Powell | Illustration by Marcos Sorenson Read Pt. 1: Why Bay Area residents should choose Midwestern pork I have to confess something: I have a hog in this race. In addition
Ready, set, go change the food system: A checklist for evaluating the new USDA’s first six months
Above: National Agricultural Library archival image, shot from the Washington Monument in the mid-1920s; US Department of Agriculture greenhouses on
Digest – Opinion & features: Fred Kirschenmann questions, Pat Roberts explained, Wes Jackson expands
Opinion: Peak soiler: Sustainable-ag visionary Fred Kirschenmann urges Secretary Vilsack to ponder a future in which oil will be $300 a barrel, fresh water resources are half what they are as today, and weather is twice as bad. What kind of agriculture should we be designing? And what could we do to
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Celebrating food independence: A review of “Depletion and Abundance”
OK, quick check: everyone who is concerned about the economic crisis turning into a depression and causing food and fuel prices to rise and pockets to empty — whether for yourself, your parents, your children,
