Remember that global food crisis everyone was talking about last summer? Well, Jayati Ghosh, a professor of economics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, certainly does, and she brings up some interesting questions in her piece in last Friday’s The Guardian, ”Just a few months ago, we were being told that this is a period of stark, unprecedented and unfolding food crisis, with looming shortages and huge global imbalances between demand and supply,” she writes. What happened? Ms. Ghosh “credits” the worldwide bail-outs of financial institutions for diverting attention away from the critical issue.
Check out this video from noted food columnist Mark Bittman. He calls attention to the lop-sided USDA food pyramid, the contribution of industrial food animal production to climate change, and gives a pretty good recap of how the American diet has changed in the last century.
The Washington Post reports that efforts by Eat the View and TheWhoFarm to get food grown again on the White House lawn have made it into the top 30 ideas submitted to the change.org contest. The idea is one of over 7000 proposals submitted.
Ideas for Change in America is a nationwide competition to identify the best ideas for change in America. The top 10 ideas will be presented to the Obama administration just before inauguration day and form the basis of a nationwide advocacy campaign to turn each idea into actual policy. Read More >
In yesterday’s Washington Post, Jennifer Huget reiterated some of the most common recommendations she hears from nutritionists-in an effort to make 2009 about healthy lifestyle changes, not necessarily the frustrating (and all-too-often unfulfilled) January resolutions to drop pounds or fit into a smaller dress size.
One of Huget’s recommendations hits close to home to us here at the Center for a Livable Future: making Mondays meatless.
The Meatless Monday project, which is supported in part by Bloomberg School of Public Health, aims to help Americans bring their diets in line with government recommendations by reducing saturated fat consumption by 15 percent. This conveniently works out to cutting saturated fat one day per week. It’s a memorable way to start off the week eating in moderation.
Check out meatlessmonday.com for dozens of mouthwatering recipe ideas for every meal of the day. For those Maryland crab lovers out there, there is even a mock crab cake recipe. Try it and let us know what you think!
Dr. Jane Lubchenco, an environmental scientist and marine ecologist actively engaged in teaching, research, synthesis and communication of scientific knowledge, was recently named by President-elect Barack Obama to head up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Dr. Lubchenco, Wayne and Gladys Valley Professor of Marine Biology Distinguished Professor of Zoology at Oregon State University, presented the Center for a Livable Future’s Sixth Annual Edward and Nancy Dodge Lecture on April 22, 2005. Here’s the full-text of an article that appeared on the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s web site follow Dr. Lubchenco’s lecture:
May 18, 2005
Dodge Lecture Address Environmental Concerns
World-renowned marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco, PhD, had a message for the faculty and students of the Bloomberg School of Public Health: Human-caused ecosystem changes impact human health and well being worldwide and scientists should inform the public of these changes. Lubchenco’s comments came during the 6th Annual Edward and Nancy Dodge Lecture, “Seas the Day: Ocean Science, Politics and Ethics,” in honor of Earth Day. The event was sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.
Here’s an issue we don’t pay enough attention to: providing affordable health care for farmers. Steph Larsen, Rural Policy Organizer for the Center for Rural Affairs, discusses this in yesterday’s edition the The Ethicurean blog. “When we talk about local food, it means more than just proximity to a farm,” she writes. “We associate supporting ‘local food’ with supporting specific values – such as family ownership, local control, small scale, environmental stewardship, community, and ecological diversity. These values are what motivate people to buy their food directly from the farmer who grows it.” As Larsen notes, supporting these values is a tough go for many farmers who, already on a tight budget, must fork out a small fortune to cover health insurance premiums. It’s a thought-provoking look at how health insurance reform–a key agenda of the incoming Obama administration–impacts sustainable agriculture.
An article in today’s Environmental Health News reports vegetable crops are absorbing antibiotics used in livestock production. Research conducted at the University of Minnesota showed levels of antibiotics commonly used in livestock production turning up in corn, lettuce and other plants. The transfer from livestock to crops takes place when manure, which is used as fertilizer, is added to the soil to help plants grow. Last April, concerned about the growth of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the human population, the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production called for the phase out and ban of non-therapeutic use of antimicrobials in livestock production.
Farmer and Writer Wendell Berry and Land Institute President Wes Jackson share their views on soil loss and degradation, toxic pollution, dependency on fossil fuels in this op-ed published in the New York Times.
