NewsRack: flenvcenter/Food_Independent

Organic Strawberries Have Better Taste & Nutrition Than Conventional & Better For Soil Too: New Study - TreeHugger

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Organic Strawberries Have Better Taste & Nutrition Than Conventional & Better For Soil Too: New Study

Organic Food Is Healthier, Tastier, Better For Environment: WSU Study - Green on HuffingtonPost.com

Grist — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Does growing food organically really matter? Supporters of conventional agriculture say that organic farming is little more than a fad -- and that organic produce...

8 Farmside Restaurants (PHOTOS) - Green on HuffingtonPost.com

Huffington Post — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

As summer comes to a close, what better way to celebrate its end than to dine at a farm. Honor summer's bounty by eating a...

It (almost) can’t get more local than growing at the grocery store - Grist Magazine

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

by Ashley Braun. Are farmers markets not fresh enough for you? Is the urban farm down the street too full of dirt? Do you love the experience of walking up and down aisles of artificially lit food which the grocery store can offer but cringe at the miles and minutes it took for your dinner to reach you? Then Agropolis may be for you!  It’s the soil-free, pesticide-free, and travel-free concept grocery store, urban farm, and restaurant , all rolled into one. Peruse the produce growing up the walls and pick what you like, while you have visions of tilapia dinners dancing in your head—and swimming in the aquaponic floor tanks under your feet. The high-tech team behind Agropolis envisions “a world where your food is not ...

Dolphin Slaughter Resumes in Japan - AlterNet

Jaymi Heimbuch, TreeHugger — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Activist Ric O'Barry delivered a petition to the US Embassy in Tokyo signed by 1.7 million people from 155 countries demanding an end to the hunt.

Taiji Opens Season on Dolphins Today - TreeHugger

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Taiji Opens Season on Dolphins Today

New study weighs in on organic vs. conventional debate - Grist Magazine

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

by Michelle Venetucci Harvey. Does growing food organically really matter?  Supporters of conventional agriculture say that organic farming is little more than a fad—and that organic produce lightens consumers’ wallets for no tangible benefits. And unfortunately, since agro-ecosystems are so complex, scientists have had a hard time cutting through the haze of claims and counter-claims. Until now: “ Fruit and Soil Quality of Organic and Conventional Strawberry Agroecosystems ,” a study led by Washington State University Regents professor of soil science John Reganold, is one of the most comprehensive, persuasive studies yet to show the nutritional and environmental benefits of organic farming.  Its findings ...

Weekly Pulse: DIY Abortions on the Border, Pawlenty Screws MN on Sex Ed - WireTap Magazine

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Women on along U.S.-Mexico border are buying black market misoprostol to induce abortions, according to a new report by Laura Tillman in the Nation . The drug is easily available over the counter in Mexico. DIY abortion is cheaper—a bottle of misoprostol costs can cost as little as $70, a fraction of the price of a medical abortion. The DIY approach can also be more convenient and private. One abortion provider told Tillman that about 20% of his patients tried misoprostol before coming to see him. He estimates that many others took the drug successfully. Misoprostol is about 80-85 percent effective when used as directed, but if it doesn't work the woman needs immediate medical help. Potential complications include severe bleeding ...

Help! I have vampires on the farm - Grist Magazine

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

by Steph Larsen. There’s a clan of blood-sucking vampires that calls my farm home. Unlike most, this clan is entirely female, and they like to hunt in the evening after the sun goes down. There aren’t any coffins for them to sleep in, though they enjoy hanging out in the shade of leafy vegetables in the garden. I’m talking, of course, about mosquitoes. This summer’s substantial rain has led to an exploding population of them, and it’s made an otherwise lovely country existence nearly intolerable. Under normal circumstances, I love summer with a passion. Fresh foods and thunderstorms, long days and ice cream, along with a distinct lack of the cold hands and feet that plague me during other parts of the year. ...

Andrew Beahrs: Irreplaceably Delicious: The Flavor of America Has Always Been Wild - Green on HuffingtonPost.com

Andrew Beahrs — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Our willingness to tolerate the disappearance of wild foods, and the pleasures they bring, is deeply sobering.

Bigger (And Better?) Sustainable Farming - GOOD

Peter Smith — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Frederick Kaufman looks at the ambitious, if obscure, consortium called the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops that pairs megafarms and megastores. On Earth

Nescafé Targets Coffee Sustainability with $350M Investment - Business Operations | GreenBiz.com

GreenBiz Staff — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Nestlé is investing nearly $350 million over the next decade to expand its reach into sustainable coffee farming, make its factories more efficient and reduce its packaging. Beyond the Cup: The Nescafe Plan is the company's global project that adds onto the nearly $200 million already spent on coffee project in previous years.

Local Flower Bouquets are Seasonal and Eco-Friendly - TreeHugger

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Local Flower Bouquets are Seasonal and Eco-Friendly

The New Agtivist: Gene Fredericks is thinking inside the city’s big box - Grist Magazine

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

by Bonnie Azab Powell. In our New Agtivist interviews , we talk to people who are working to change this country’s f’ed-up food system in inspiring ways. They’re the bane of urban and suburban areas alike: the vacant, boarded-up K-Marts and Home Depot Expos, squatting like concrete cowpies amidst a landscape of weedy parking lots. But where most people see blight and a waste of space, San Francisco Bay Area entrepreneur Gene Fredericks sees opportunity: to grow food. Lots of food. Neither a farmer nor a foodie, Fredericks is a technology veteran who’s designed several large, complex network and software systems, working with Apple, Getty, Google, Kaiser, and others; he previously founded Edison-West and ran it ...

Fedele Bauccio: Don't Walk on Egg Shells When It Comes to Food Safety - Green on HuffingtonPost.com

Fedele Bauccio — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Our egg industry is an emblem of industrialized animal agribusiness -- a system that jeopardizes the health of American consumers each and every day, institutionally abuses animals, and pollutes our seas and waterways.

Hardy Jones: What Will End the Dolphin Slaughter? - Green on HuffingtonPost.com

Hardy Jones — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

It baffles me that whaling and dolphin killing can persist in the 21st century. Whale and dolphin watching generate over $2.1 billion per year around the world, vastly more than whale and dolphin killing.

Insecticide To Be Banned, Decades After Poisoning Thousands - AlterNet

Marla Cone, Environmental Health News — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

A farm chemical that caused the worst known outbreak of pesticide poisoning in North America is being phased out. But why did it take so long?

In Search of Real Security, Part Two: Societies, Like All Living Things, Need Air and Light to Live - Truthout - All Articles

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

“Your Majesty, please…I don’t like to complain,
But down here below, we are feeling great pain.”
- Dr. Seuss, Yertle the Turtle

read more

Andrew Briscoe: Consumers Are Confused: Decoding Artificial Sweeteners - Politics on HuffingtonPost.com

Andrew Briscoe — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

The FDA could very clearly list artificial sweeteners on the front of a package. Then shoppers would know exactly what they were getting and could make the choice that's right for their families.

EatingWell: What's Fresh: How to Cook 20 Vegetables - Green on HuffingtonPost.com

EatingWell — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

I’m a vegetable lover. I eat vegetables at least three times a day: sautéed chard stirred into scrambled eggs for breakfast, a big garden-fresh salad...

Ric O'Barry: 'The Cove' Star Cancels Trip To Taiji, Japan Amid Threats, Annual Dolphin Hunt Begins - Green on HuffingtonPost.com

AP — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

TOKYO — The star of "The Cove," an Oscar-winning documentary about a Japanese dolphin hunt, is back in Japan to protest the slaughter but had...

Egg Recall: What The Latest Factory Farm Horror Story Tells Us About Our Food System - Green on HuffingtonPost.com

Katherine Goldstein — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

There's nothing like a good salmonella outbreak to inspire FDA inspectors to deliver blunt, graphic reports from inside the industrial food system. When future historians...

Kent Hayden, M.Div.: Connecting with the Sacred Through Fasting: Could It Solve the U.S. Food Crisis? - Green on HuffingtonPost.com

Kent Hayden, M.Div. — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Fasting is a non-rational abstinence. It is not the abstinence of the lactose intolerant, who forgoes milk because it will make her ill; it is the abstinence of the Hindu, who forgoes milk because it will damage his soul.

'Hunger, Homelessness and Desperation' in Pakistan - ENS

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

'Hunger, Homelessness and Desperation' in Pakistan

After a half billion bad eggs get released, the FDA reveals filthy conditions of Wright County Egg - Gristmill

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

by Tom Philpott. There’s nothing like a good salmonella outbreak to inspire FDA inspectors to deliver blunt, graphic reports from inside the industrial food system. When future historians marvel at the fetid, festering underbelly of our food culture, they will relish these past-facto dispatches from the biohazardous front. Back in 2009, a company called Peanut Corporation of America sparked a massive recall involving 4,000 products put out by 360 companies . Nearly 700 people fell ill, half of them children, and nine died. The cause: salmonella-tainted peanut paste. The FDA’s after-the-fact investigation [PDF] of the massive Georgia plant makes riveting reading (for the strong of stomach): moldy water seeping directly into ...