Food

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War on Science: Trump picks non-scientist talk radio climate denier as top USDA scientist

Sonny Perdue, the political hack appointed to be secretary of agriculture, once labeled mainstream climate science “so ridiculous and so obviously disconnected from reality.” As if having a science denier running the Department of Agriculture weren’t disastrous enough, Pr*sident Trump has now, as expected, picked another political hack—a former right-wing talk-radio host named Sam Clovis—to be the undersecretary of research, education, […]

July 21st

Water shortage from climate change will devastate agriculture

Agricultural yields within the US will be severely diminished by 2050 as a result of hot spots of intense water shortage caused by climate change, according to a new study from MIT. By James Ayre The hot spots in question are, unsurprisingly, mostly within the Southwestern US, where agriculture and ranching are already highly dependent upon […]

July 19th

Hungry? Climate change will put a choke-hold on the food supply

Roughly 25% of all of the food currently eaten in the world is traded on international markets. Owing to this reality, and the accompanying reliance on a relatively small number of important deep-water seaports, roads, and straits — so-called “choke points” — climate change threatens to greatly disrupt international food supply chains in coming years, […]

July 7th

Congress is about to deregulate you to death

Republicans have complained for years about what they called “job killing” regulations. Since they care more about profits than people, they’re about to pass a suite of laws that will change that to the more egalitarian “killing regulations”. By Jeremy Bloom Imagine this scenario: You go to the doctor because you’re in bad shape, and he […]

June 15th

FDA okays Frankenfish – coming soon to YOUR dinner table

By Dan Bacher The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on November 19 approved genetically engineered salmon, “Frankenfish,” as being “safe” for human consumption, in spite of massive public opposition to the decision. The Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA) announced it was “disappointed” in the decision, joining a broad coalition of fishing groups, environmental organizations, […]

December 3rd

USDA approves fecal-burger (Part 3)

And we’re back to the definition of insanity again. Even though a USDA pilot program has resulted in stomach-turning health and safety violations, our government is marching forward with the plan to let meat companies inspect themselves. Because really, if it takes a little feces and salmonella (or a lot) to jump-start healthy corporate profits […]

September 10th

Now the GOP wants you to cut back on meat?

One result of the impending sequester could be a meat shortage, starting in April. Remember all those fun salmonella outbreaks? The FDA has a team of inspectors that go out there and make sure your meat isn’t going to kill you, but not very many of them (hence all the outbreaks), and if the sequester […]

February 19th

Top 10 ways to green your Thanksgiving

They say that green is the new black, but that doesn’t mean you have to get all emo about it. It’s possible to be joyful and celebratory – and smart. As we officially enter the season of holiday cheer, holiday shopping and holiday excess, we can all think about the planet, too… Getting There – Thanksgiving […]

November 21st

George McGovern, 1922-2012. A war hero and an anti-war hero

George McGovern, the staunch liberal Democrat who challenged Nixon in 1972 and lost in a landslide, has died. He was a warrior and a champion of peace, a bomber pilot who laid the groundwork for a movement known as Food not Bombs, and a liberal environmentalist who won over conservative farmers to the fight against […]

October 22nd

Pink slime fights back!

Last year, we told you about the grossest concoction ever developed by the US food industry: pink slime. This nasty amalgam of beef spare parts was uberproccessed to make it edible, then treated with ammonium hydroxide to kill the ugly bacteria that infested it. Then the glop was added back into ground beef and sold […]

September 15th

James Howard Kunstler: Ponzi’s End

By James Howard Kunstler Way up here in the heartland, far from the craft beer parlors, Facebook stock bucket shops, and gender obsessions of the mythical Urban Edge People, the detritus of your country is up for sale. The lawns are strewn with the plastic effluvia of lives lived through humankind’s weirdest moment: Pee Wee […]

May 29th

James Howard Kunstler: All is swindle, from Goldman to Statins

America’s top curmudgeon explains why he stopped listening to both his pill doc AND his vegan diet guru. By James Howard Kunstler This still moment on the verge of spring equinox, industrial civilization is taking a rest from its travails of finance and economy. The creaking and groaning vehicle of world banking lurches forward with […]

March 20th