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Food
California has been an agricultural powerhouse and produces more than 1/3 of the vegetables and 2/3 of fruits and nuts that are grown in the United States. However, climate change is a ticking time bomb for the Golden State’s agricultural industry and will bring changes in precipitation patterns, leading to more drought and more flooding, […]
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Reducing meat consumption is something we can all do to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But if you want to eat fish, how do you know whether the fish you are buying in the grocery store or choosing in a restaurant is sustainably caught? Of course, there’s an app for that! Several actually. The folks […]
Continue Reading 139 wordsThe Super Bowl is known as much for its advertisements as for the game itself. This year as people watched the big game with a hamburger in hand, The Center for Consumer Freedom, a conservative front group for the beef industry, aired a highly deceptive ad that, according to James Hamblin of The Atlantic, was intended to “scare people about plant-based meats.”
Why This Matters: Clearly the culture war over meat is heating up, which is unfortunate since this should be an issue of personal choice.
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The Boston Globe and NBC News did an in-depth investigation of the E. coli outbreaks of 2018 and found that there are serious issues with the FDA’s ability to respond quickly and effectively to outbreaks of this potentially deadly illness because the antiquated system the agency has to trace the source of contamination takes so long that by the time it finds a definitive link to a particular farm the tainted product is often off the market.
Why This Matters: As we begin to panic about coronavirus, we may be missing the bigger risk to our health right there in our salad bowl. Food safety systems are something only the government can reliably provide — when it comes to food safety and our health, self-regulation does not work.
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Both the Golden Globe awards two weeks ago and the Screen Actors Guild Awards — which serve dinner to Hollywood A-list attendees — served plant-based dinners in a nod to climate change and sustainability. The attendees at the Globes caught flak on Twitter for the disconnect between the carbon footprint of riding in hundreds of […]
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As Lola Fadulu wrote for the New York Times, last Friday the Trump administration moved to roll back school nutrition standards championed by Michelle Obama.
Why This Matters: Government data refutes the rationale behind this move, so seemingly this is a handout to BigAg.
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A rule rollback drastically reducing the number of government safety inspectors at pork processing plants is set to go into effect across the country, but now the inspectors have filed a federal whistleblower complaint alleging that consumers should be warned about the reduced inspections because there could be significant lapses in meat quality.
Why This Matters: Already our food system is riddled with problems from pesticides to e Coli bacteria, and now this. The safety net that the government used to provide consumers is fraying due to a series of rule rollbacks and a failure to regulate toxic chemicals and other agricultural practices that create health risks.
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In a letter to The Lancet Planetary Health Journal, 50 leading scientists called for meat production to peak by 2030.
Why This Matters: The scientists warned that high and middle-income countries should not outsource livestock production to other countries but instead reduce demand for meat products in order to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement.
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Over the past 50 years, fewer crops are feeding the world’s people and diets around the world are becoming more alike. This puts us at risk of a “globalized diet” based on major crops such as soybeans, wheat, rice, and corn–which are grown on almost half the world’s agricultural lands.
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The Wall Street Journal’s headline says it all — “Smaller Loaves of Bread Are on the Rise. Bakers cook up new options to suit small households and millennials who don’t want to waste food.” We hate food waste! And we know you do too, and don’t want to buy more than you will use. So […]
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A vegetarian or even vegan Thanksgiving does not have to be a sacrifice! This year, there are more ways to prepare a meatless Thanksgiving meal, with recipes in abundance (keep reading). And more Americans than ever are preparing meat-free meals this Thanksgiving, according to Time Magazine — due to climate change and health reasons.
Why This Matters: Time reports that a Neilsen poll taken in December 2018 found that more than 60% of Americans are willing to cut back on their meat consumption in order to personally reduce their carbon footprint.
Continue Reading 403 wordsWhat do James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan, Lewis Hamilton, Novak Djokavic, and Chris Paul have in common? They are the producers of a documentary film called “The Game Changers” that sets out to show that one can be an exceptional athlete on a solely plant-based diet without any meat protein. The film tells the […]
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