(All figures are from the 2014 National Climate Assessment draft.) Later today (Tuesday, May 6), at 8 a.m. EDT, the National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee of experts meets by conference call to approve the final version of the Third National Climate Assessment. The gist of their message, as Suzanne Goldenberg of The Guardian […]
National Climate Assessment Pulls No Punches About US Options Read More 👉
When the hydraulic fracturing measure passed the Los Angeles City Council today, several tweeters posted photos of this meeting (source of the above: Walker Foley on twitter). The City Council of Los Angeles, second-most populous metro in the United States, voted 10-0 today to prohibit hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and other “unconventional” deep-underground drilling methods to produce
Los Angeles Council Unanimously Puts Off Fracking Read More 👉
Premium hydroponic-grown, pesticide-free vegetables and herbs growing in the U.S. Gotham Greens facility (from eponline.com). Two entrepreneurs have recently made London the home of a very creative architectural reuse for food production—underground. Steven Dring, a former executive with Bunzl, an international provider of food-related products and services, and his friend and business partner Richard Ballard,
Refitted Tunnel Shelter Farms Zero Carbon Veggies Read More 👉
Holy Terror Farm is a paradise of sorts on the banks of Terror Creek in the Western Colorado Rockies. Bushels of fresh fruits and vegetables of every sort, species, and color sprout from this soil every season (yes, even winter!). And all the water that irrigates the orchard, garden, and pastures here is siphoned directly
Going well with this 1,200-acre rooftop farming program I discussed about a week ago, the Occupy Wall Street rooftop farm introduced below looks like it will be quite the inspiration. Help the organizers out with a donation if you can! By Winnie and Sarah of OWS Sustainability Working Group. Winnie is also the founder and editor of Seismologik.com.
Occupy Farm in the Sky Read More 👉
Here’s a great video of DC’s highly successful bike-sharing program by the talented filmmakers at Streetfilms (love those guys and girls). Afterwards, you can check out my ‘daily’ roundup of top green living stories from around the internet.
Successful, Cool DC Bike Sharing Program — Video (+ Top Green Living Stories) Read More 👉
Brooklyn Grange (one of the farms featured in the video above) is reportedly the largest rooftop farm and it recently rolled into its second growing season. The organic urban farm, believe it or not, is located in Brooklyn, NY (funny coincidence with the name, eh?). The farm sits on top of a 6-story 1919 warehouse and is 40,000 square feet in size. It was built by Bromley Caldari Architects.
World's Largest Rooftop Farm (in NYC) & Interviews with Its Founder {VIDEOS} Read More 👉
Several organic farming programs take in returning soldiers and teach them the basics of organic farming so that they can learn how to earn a living whilst integrating back into civilian life.
Returning Soldiers Have Opportunities in Organic Farming Read More 👉
As a farmer-in-training, I’m always on the look out for great resources on the web. And while you can learn a lot about organic food production by reading, you can learn even more from watching people actually do it.
Free Videos, Webinars for Starting Farmers and Gardeners Read More 👉
Hundreds of years ago, it was common practice for all the sh*t in a town or city to be gathered up each night and dumped on the nearby fields as fertilizer. This provided excellent nutrients for the crops, but it also created a lot of disease.
Scroll forwards hundreds of years later, and we still have to wash our fruit and veg because of all the chemical sh*t dumped on it. More to the point, real sh*t is being looked at again as a sustainable substitute for chemical and phosphate fertilizers used in intensive agriculture.
The End of Intensive Farming Fertilizers? Read More 👉
Actually prior to Obama’s State of the Union, the Worldwatch Institute recently released its annual State of the World report: State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet. Here’s an intro via a blog post from the Worldwatch Institute’s Danielle Nierenberg over on our sister site, Eat Drink Better: It’s nearly a half-century
State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet Read More 👉
Manmade climate change is not only a thing of the last hundred years, according to new research from scientists at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL). The Roman Conquest, expansion of civilization in China, the Black Death, and the discovery of America, amongst other historical landmarks, have all had large impacts on the climate.
Manmade Climate Change is Thousands of Years Old Read More 👉
I know, it’s not November any more. I’m dropping links here for November stories I never got around to sharing or writing about but really wanted to. I figured it would be better to do so at the end of the week than on Tuesday. So, here are some more stories from November you might
November Link Drop Read More 👉
This is a special guest post by EatDrinkBetter editor Becky Striepe. Food Democracy Now sent out an urgent alert yesterday regarding protecting family farms from catastrophic federal legislation: The Senate just voted 74 Yes to 25 No in favor of the cloture vote. This means that S.510, aka The Food Modernization Act, will move forward
URGENT ACTION NEEDED: Tell Your Senators to Support Family Farms Read More 👉
This is a special guest post from the Earth Policy Institute (subheadings and photo added). Enjoy. Lester R. Brown The literature on soil erosion contains countless references to the “loss of protective vegetation.” Over the last half-century, clearcutting, overgrazing, and overplowing have removed so much of that protective cover that the world is quickly losing
Conserving and Rebuilding Soils Read More 👉
Most of the meat Americans consume is from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, which are horrific for animals and terrible for our health and our communities. CAFO: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories, edited by Daniel Imhoff and published by Watershed Media and the Foundation for Deep Ecology, is a must-read and must-see book about the
3 Big Lies from Big Food Read More 👉
I was recently tipped off to an awesome website that documents real-world projects focused on both protecting the environment and saving money. Each story comes with a video, and website founder Susan Neisloss also provides resources on how to save/make money through such sustainable efforts in the videos and throughout the website. As far as I
Inspirational Stories and Videos on How to Go Green and Save Money Read More 👉
Greenpeace recently found genetically engineered maize from Monsanto, MON810, illegally growing in Italy. Now, activists from Italy, Austria, Germany and Hungary are quarantining this GE maize. “Greenpeace has taken action today to prevent any further contamination from these hazardous and illegal GE crops,” said Federica Ferrario, Greenpeace Italy Agriculture campaigner. “For days these crops will
Greenpeace Activists Quarantine Illegal GE Crops Read More 👉
Lester R. Brown A dangerous geopolitics of food scarcity is emerging in which individual countries, acting in their narrowly defined self-interest, reinforce the trends causing global food security to deteriorate. This began in late 2007 when wheat-exporting countries, like Russia and Argentina, attempted to counter domestic food price rises by limiting or banning exports. Viet
The Emerging Politics of Food Scarcity Read More 👉
Farming has always been hard, and in the last 50 years has become incrementally harder with the need to make more, pollute less, satisfy everyone while still supporting yourself. All of this has to happen with increasingly scarce natural resources and the looming crisis of climate change and the effect farming is having on climate
US Farmers Suffer Under Public and Regulatory Pressure Read More 👉
In this Earth Policy Institute post, Lester R. Brown discusses the problem of water shortages across the world and potential solutions to this problem. Lester R. Brown With water shortages constraining food production growth, the world needs an effort to raise water productivity similar to the one that nearly tripled land productivity over the last
Raising Water Productivity to Increase Food Security Read More 👉
The last major section from the EPA’s new Climate Change Indicators in the US report is society and ecosystems. Below are key summary points. Clear changes in growing seasons, bird migration leaf growth and blooming dates have occurred and the trends suggest that they will continue. Heat-related deaths show much more variability, despite clear heating trends,
EPA’s & Climate Change Indicators in the US report: Issues for Society and Ecosystems Read More 👉
At least a dozen global food companies collaborate toward practical, cost effective solutions to reduce the climate impact of specific farming systems. [social_buttons] I happen to be a fan of the Sustainable Food Lab, which is a group of businesses, NGOs and academic institutions working together to accelerate the shift toward sustainable agriculture. I respect
Sustainable Food Lab and SAI Platform Launch Global Climate Project with Farmers Read More 👉
Much has been said in opposition to the cap and trade climate legislation that is currently on the Senate’s plate. Opponents have argued repeatedly that the legislation will do nothing but increase the cost of energy, which will force companies send jobs over seas, where labor is cheaper, in order to keep up with production demands. Senator Kit Bond (R-Missouri) even went as far as to call the Waxman-Markey Bill “a pig in a poke.”
Midst Senate Rebuttles, USDA Reports Benefits of Climate Change Legislation Read More 👉
According to Missouri Senator Kit Bond (R) the cap and trade Waxman-Markey Bill “is really a pig in a poke.” That’s what he told the committee on Tuesday, anyway. Given the opportunity to speak in front of a committee on the financial impacts that the climate bill would have on farmers, Senator Bond wasted no time calling the bill a hoax.
Cap and Trade Climate Bill Is "A Pig in a Poke" Read More 👉
It’s in the papers and on TV. It spreads across the Internet (including this very post), and it is finding its way into the classroom. Global climate change is nothing new. And it certainly isn’t going away. Not yet, anyway.
New Report Shows that Climate Change "Literally Affects People in Their Backyards" Read More 👉
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/epXNJNjYBvw&hl=en&fs=1] In two vague bills introduced both in the House and Senate of the US Congress, a vast reorganization of America’s agriculture system aimed at tracking and regulating foods for public safety could endanger organic farms and gardens. [social_buttons] The bills, S.425 and H.R.875, attempt to modernize food safety and regulate and standardize agriculture by
Bills Could Reorganize Farming and Criminalize Organic Farming Read More 👉
This is a guest post by Meg Hamill, a freelance writer who also works at LandPaths in partnership with the Open Space District of Sonoma County, California. California passes its first law protecting farmers who have not been able to prevent GE contamination of their non GE crops. We’ve all heard the horror stories: A
New California Law Protects Farms Against Genetic Engineering Threats Read More 👉
New research from the National Science Foundation suggests a warming Earth could mean a significant increase in voracious, plant-eating insects. Scientists studying the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a period about 55 million years ago when global carbon dioxide levels spiked rapidly, found that plant fossils from that time show noticeably more insect damage than plants
Climate Change to Bring Plagues of Insects? Read More 👉