A federal judge in Washington, D.C. struck down the Trump administration's proposed changes to the SNAP benefits program. Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images
By Julia Conley
A federal judge in Washington, D.C. late Sunday struck down the Trump administration's proposed changes to the SNAP benefits program, potentially saving hundreds of thousands of people from losing badly needed federal food assistance.
<p>U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/trump-food-stamp-cuts/2020/10/18/7c124612-117a-11eb-ad6f-36c93e6e94fb_story.html" target="_blank"> issued</a> a scathing ruling, denouncing President Donald Trump and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who she said have been "icily silent about how many [adults] would have been denied SNAP benefits had the changes sought ... been in effect while the pandemic rapidly spread across the country."</p><p>New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was among more than a dozen state attorneys general who joined the District of Columbia in suing the administration over the changes, called Howell's ruling "a major victory for common sense and basic human decency in our nation."</p>
<div id="e8d44" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="be49aabc36a5465eed30ca54f88f6b2d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1318171686232096772" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">A judge has ruled in our favor and blocked the Trump administration’s unlawful changes to SNAP. This decision is… https://t.co/5zeTafxMLm</div> — NY AG James (@NY AG James)<a href="https://twitter.com/NewYorkStateAG/statuses/1318171686232096772">1603111595.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The USDA proposed the changes months before the coronavirus pandemic began. They were initially set to go into effect in April, but Howell issued an injunction in March, as the president declared a state of emergency, ordering the administration to delay the changes. Perdue later appealed Howell's order, potentially allowing the new rules to go into effect despite a pandemic<a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf" target="_blank"> that has left millions unemployed.</a></p><p>Under existing SNAP benefits rules, states are able to waive work requirements for SNAP benefits for areas with unemployment rates as low as 2.5%. Perdue and Trump moved to tighten the criteria for waiving the requirements by raising the minimum rate to 6%.</p><p>The change could have left nearly 700,000 people without the benefit, the <em>Washington Post</em><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/trump-food-stamp-cuts/2020/10/18/7c124612-117a-11eb-ad6f-36c93e6e94fb_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> reported </a>Sunday.</p><p>Tamar Haspel, a <em>Post</em> food policy columnist, tweeted that the proposal, and the administration's attempt to ensure it could go into effect during the public health and economic crisis, was in the running for Trump's "Vilest Policy Ever."</p>
<div id="f47ab" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="381daa45528adda7398d5628d047294f"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1318175677724676096" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">There's a lot of competition for Vilest Policy Ever, but slashing food stamps during a pandemic that's causing mass… https://t.co/EYvb0C8Q3m</div> — Tamar Haspel (@Tamar Haspel)<a href="https://twitter.com/TamarHaspel/statuses/1318175677724676096">1603112546.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The pandemic, Howell said in her ruling, exposed how unworkable the administration's proposed changes were, with the number of Americans relying on SNAP benefits <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/trump-food-stamp-cuts/2020/10/18/7c124612-117a-11eb-ad6f-36c93e6e94fb_story.html" target="_blank">growing</a> by 17%, or six million enrollees, and unemployment rates quadrupling.</p><p>Perdue and Trump displayed an "utter failure to address the issue" of how millions would be affected by new work requirements during the crisis, Howell said, rendering their changes "arbitrary and capricious."</p><p>With the ruling handed down two weeks before Nov. 3, the last day Americans can vote in the presidential election, journalist Matt Taibbi wrote that it may serve as a reminder of the president's priorities.</p>
<div id="946d8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3cff2dc2643fc55ab21d2a73881c7de8"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1318168614541950976" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Trump: yes to Space Force, no to Food Stamps. Another equation that might be remembered in a few weeks. https://t.co/9IEDBaMy2o</div> — Matt Taibbi (@Matt Taibbi)<a href="https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/statuses/1318168614541950976">1603110862.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"Trump: yes to Space Force, no to Food Stamps," Taibbi tweeted.</p>
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New research finds baby bottles may release millions of microplastic particles with each feeding. Beeki / Needpix
The process of preparing and mixing a baby bottle formula seems innocuous, but new research finds this common occurrence is actually releasing millions of microplastic particles from the bottle's lining, Wired reported.
<p><br>Microplastics are particles that are smaller than five millimeters long. Sterilizing and mixing formula may also release trillions of nanoplastic particles, which are billionths of a meter long, Wired reported.</p><p>The new <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-00171-y" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">study</a> published in <em>Nature Food</em> found that the amount of microplastic babies consume is much larger than previous estimates. "We were absolutely gobsmacked," study co-author John Boland told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/19/bottle-fed-babies-swallow-millions-microplastics-day-study" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. "A study last year by the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated adults would consume between 300 and 600 microplastics a day — our average values were on the order of a million or millions."</p><p>"The numbers are, well, frightening," Deonie Allen, who studies microplastics at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, but wasn't involved in the research, told Wired. "They're bigger than any exposure tests that have been done before for human uptake."</p>
<p>The researchers examined the amount of formula that infants up to a year old consumed in 48 global regions. They discovered that, on average, bottle-fed babies were exposed to 1.6 million microplastic particles a day, The Guardian reported.</p><p>"We have to start doing the health studies to understand the implications," Boland told The Guardian. "We're already working with colleagues to look at what buttons in the immune system these particles begin to press."<br></p><p>The researchers explained their methodology and results in <a href="https://theconversation.com/bottle-fed-babies-may-consume-millions-of-microplastic-particles-our-research-suggests-148350" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. They used common polypropylene baby bottles, and followed the WHO's 2007 <a href="https://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/micro/PIF_Bottle_en.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">guidelines</a> for preparing baby formula. This involved cleaning, sterilizing and mixing formula. The results were that bottles released up to 16 million particles per liter of water heated to 158 degrees F. The number of particles jumped to 55 million at 203 degrees F.</p>
<p>Not only does hotter water shed more microplastics, but so does shaking the bottle, which is a common practice for reconstituting formula.</p><p>However, the researchers also created a simple four-step method for reducing microplastic exposure, detailed in The Conversation:</p><ol><li>Rinse sterilized feeding bottles with cool, sterile water.</li><li>Always prepare formula in a non-plastic container.</li><li>After formula has cooled to room temperature, transfer it into the cooled, sterilized feeding bottle.</li><li>Avoid rewarming prepared formula in plastic containers, especially with a microwave oven.</li></ol><p>The last step resonated with Boland. He told Wired, "I think the important learning is never, ever, ever use a microwave oven to heat anything with a plastic container. Because what happens is you get in fact the local heating of the plastic and the water together, which gives enhanced levels of microplastic generation. And so that combination we think is particularly potent."</p>
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Action Against Hunger USA / YouTube
By Dr. Charles Owubah
Today is World Food Day, a time to reflect on the foundational role that food plays in our lives, communities, and cultures. We cannot live without food.
<p>While safe and nutritious food is an essential right, sadly, <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/ca9692en/online/ca9692en.html#chapter-1_1" target="_blank">two billion people go without</a>. After decades of progress, world hunger is on the rise again. From 2018 to 2019, <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/ca9692en/online/ca9692en.html" target="_blank">10 million more people</a> became undernourished because of climate change and conflict, and COVID-19 is further exacerbating this crisis. The UN's World Food Program says <a href="https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-chief-warns-grave-dangers-economic-impact-coronavirus-millions-are-pushed-further-hunger" target="_blank">more people may die from hunger</a> due to the economic impacts of COVID-19 than from the virus itself.</p><p>On the bright side, new innovations for dealing with hunger offer hope in these ominous times. At Action Against Hunger, we are working on innovations that never-before could have been imagined, such as artificial intelligence to help herders in the Sahel find food for livestock and real-time data on global hunger. These and other programs will enable the planet's poorest communities to more easily predict and prevent hunger and are a needed source of progress toward the UN's Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030.</p>
<h3>Artificial Intelligence to Help Herders Feed Livestock</h3><p>With support from The World Bank, we are using AI and tele-detection technology to help herders in West Africa find food and water for their goats, sheep and other livestock. Across Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Senegal, the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferhicks/2020/09/29/these-west-african-herders-are-using-ai-to-find-food-for-livestock/#512aadcf7b4e" target="_blank">Pastoral Early Warning System (PEWS)</a> lets herders know — via local radio, SMS, and bulletins in local languages — where to find fodder for their herds, as well as market prices and animal disease trends. In many of these nations, livestock farming accounts for 40% of the agricultural GDP, making it a lynchpin of the economy and culture. The information, which they receive every 10 days, helps them navigate droughts, heatwaves, bushfires, and even closures due to COVID-19, reaching approximately 100,000 people.</p>
<h3>First Real-Time View of Global Hunger</h3><p>Right now, most of the world's malnutrition data lives in spreadsheets and reams of paper. We're in the middle of creating a new app and database to provide the first real-time view of world hunger. Currently in development, "SMART+" will be an all-in-one digital tool to log data when children are screened for malnutrition and provide an aggregate view, down to the "postal code" level. The goal is to detect food emergencies earlier and improve coordination among governments and agencies so that aid can get to people quicker.</p>
<h3>Treating Life-Threatening Hunger at Home</h3><p>COVID-19 has prevented many families from traveling to faraway hospitals for treatment of malnutrition. We have been able to fill in this critical need for urgent care by training health workers and volunteers to treat malnourished children at home. This is not only more convenient and less expensive for families, but also eases the burden on clinics, which are already stretched thin in the midst of a global pandemic.</p><p>Even better, it's more effective. Research shows that <a href="https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1186/s12913-018-2987-z?author_access_token=sEM77f4NL6OVUxdibMBYl2_BpE1tBhCbnbw3BuzI2ROcqaRsdkQtin8Sw9l7_SdYsd0krVlNAyuV2YlFU8bgIAueZEQFx0_IiG-Xqjng2wY-WshE652zBUE82BftMJjh9FAQTKa3BCZ51A8qAT0KSQ%3D%3D" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">95% of malnourished children treated locally by community health workers recovered</a> from malnutrition, compared with 88% of those who were treated in health centers. These findings prompted the country of Mali to change its entire national health system to reflect this new approach, and now several other countries are following their lead.</p>
<h3>Growing Plants Without Soil<br></h3><p>In Ethiopia's Waghimra region, which borders the Sahel, climate change is exacerbating unpredictable rainfall and recurring droughts. More than 90% of families depend on farming or herding, and they now face historically large livestock losses and rising levels of malnutrition. In response, we introduced hydroponics, an innovative way to grow plants without soil. Grass sprouts from a simple raised bed built with wood and plastic and is watered with a nutrient-rich mineral solution that produces richer fodder. This feed nourishes livestock that become healthier, expanding herds and milk production. In turn, farmers can better feed their families and have more to sell, earning income and strengthening local markets. Compared to traditional, soil-based methods, hydroponics uses less water and can produce higher yields in as little as seven days, rather than months.</p><p>Every day thousands of children still die from hunger. In fact, when a child younger than five dies, nearly half the time, hunger is to blame. This isn't inevitable. Innovations abound — both high- and low-tech — that continue to offer hope.</p><p>This World Food Day, let's pause to remember that hunger is predictable and preventable, and we all can take action. Solutions exist, and we must continue to support the world's most vulnerable until everyone has food to eat.</p>
<p><em>Dr. Charles Owubah, is the CEO of<a href="https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Action Against Hunger</a>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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A mural reading "The future is Europe" is seen on a building outside the EU Headquarters in Brussels on November 24, 2018. Philippe Lopez LOPEZ / AFP / Getty Images
Europe's chief policy-making body Wednesday called for a safer, more sustainable chemicals market, plotting a zero-tolerance approach that nearly eliminates hormone mimicking compounds.
<p>The strategy, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/environment/strategy/chemicals-strategy_en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">approved by the European Commission</a>, represents some of the most ambitious policy recommendations on the planet and draws a stark contrast with the United States, where endocrine-disrupting compounds—such as bisphenol-A (BPA), phthalates, certain flame retardants and pesticides—remain largely unregulated and ubiquitous in products and packaging.</p><h3>'Once-in-a-Decade Opportunity'</h3><p>Environmental health advocates hailed the effort as "the most transformative chemical policy initiative" in 20 years and a "once-in-a-decade opportunity to rethink Europe's approach to chemicals management."</p><p>"Every day, our exposure to cocktails of harmful chemicals is translating in real-life health conditions and diseases for current and future generations," said Natacha Cingotti, senior policy officer for health and chemicals at the Brussels-based <a href="https://www.env-health.org/eu-chemicals-strategy-speedy-implementation-steps-key-to-truly-protect-peoples-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Health and Environment Alliance</a>.</p><p>"While we welcome this significant step forward, the reality leaves no room for self-complacency and it is urgent the Commission gets to work to implement the promises made to effectively protect people from harm and support safe innovation for non-toxic material cycles."</p>
Five Main Thrusts
<p>The new European plan, dubbed the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, is part of the broader Europe Green Deal, a sweeping proposal for the European Union to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, eliminate pollution, and promote a sustainable economy.</p><p>The strategy released Wednesday has five main thrusts:</p><ol><li>Tighter scrutiny of hormone-mimicking compounds, along with an early warning system for chemical risks before such compounds hit the market.</li><li>A "one substance, one assessment" approach to increase chemical testing transparency.</li><li>Incentives for green chemistry and non-toxic materials development.</li><li>Information and tools for citizens to understand chemical risks.</li><li>Pressure on international markets to improve chemical safety globally.</li></ol><p>At its core, the strategy makes use of the precautionary principle—forcing companies or manufacturers to prove chemicals are safe before they go to market, and making them pay when there is pollution.</p>Concern From Business
<p>While environmental and health advocates lauded the move, business interests cautioned it will stifle commerce and innovation.<br></p><p>"Production cycles and supply chains are complex ... (and) not always well understood by decision makers," wrote EuroCommerce, representing the continents' retail and wholesale business sectors, in a position paper as the policy was being crafted this summer. "We ask the Commission to keep a close eye on the impact of individual initiatives, and its cumulative effects on the retail and wholesale sector and how it affects their economic viability."</p>Contrast With United States
<p>The Commission's plan stands in sharp contrast to the United States. Despite decades of warnings from academic scientists, U.S. regulators have largely ignored independent, non-industry science about the dangers of chemicals that impact our hormones, often at very low doses.<br></p><p>Endocrine-disrupting compounds are a particular concern, based on science from research labs worldwide. The compounds—added to a broad range of products such as plastics, toys, cosmetics, food packaging—have been linked to myriad health problems, including birth defects, obesity, diabetes, certain cancers, as well as impacts to the brain and reproductive and immune systems.</p><p>The highest profile—and highest dollar— effort by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to get on the same page of academic scientists and Europe on endocrine disruptor science has only deepened divides. An <a href="https://www.ehn.org/is-bpa-dangerous-for-health-2641153205.html" target="_blank">EHN investigation</a> of the FDA's effort on just one chemical, BPA, found the agency stacked the deck against findings from independent scientists studying BPA. It also found that many chemicals used to replace BPA in "BPA-free" products have the same adverse health impacts as the original chemical.</p>Separate Focus on PFAS
<p>Also released Wednesday was an EU strategy that specifically takes aim at PFAS, compounds so persistent they're called "forever chemicals." PFAS, used in products including firefighting foam, non-stick cookware and some clothing, have been found in the water of roughly 2,230 U.S. communities in 49 states, affecting more than 100 million people.<br></p><p>The new European strategy would only allow for PFAS use when the chemicals are "essential for society." In addition, it will fund research for safe alternatives and for monitoring and cleanup.</p>Toward 'Zero Pollution'
<p>The framework stems from political guidelines laid out at the end of 2019 by European Union President Ursula von der Leyen that pointed Europe toward "zero pollution."</p><p>"I will put forward a cross-cutting strategy to protect citizens' health from environmental degradation and pollution, addressing air and water quality, hazardous chemicals, industrial emissions, pesticides and endocrine disruptors," President von der Leyen wrote <a href="https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/43a17056-ebf1-11e9-9c4e-01aa75ed71a1" target="_blank">in the report.</a></p><p>The Commission plans to release a Zero Action Pollution Action Plan on air, water and soil next year to complement the chemicals strategy.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Panera Bread has partnered with the World Resources Institute to label menu items with a low carbon footprint. Kmf164 / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 3.0
Panera Bread customers now have the ability to make eco-conscious choices. The national soup and sandwich chain has partnered with the World Resources Institute (WRI) to label some of its menu items "Cool Food Meals," CBS News reported.
<p><br>Panera Bread and WRI announced yesterday that the designation applies to about 55 percent of Panera's menu items. Panera has 2,118 stores.<br></p><p>The Cool Food Meal label is for menu items that have a carbon footprint under 5.38 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/14/panera-bread-to-label-entrees-as-climate-friendly.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CNBC</a> reported.</p><p>That threshold is actually 38 percent lower than the average American meal. This size reduction is needed to meet the 2030 targets established in the Paris Agreement, CBS News reported.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-consumer-products-and-services-climate-environment-and-nature-climate-change-c92afaa9294c0626675194dda9d847ee" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">press release</a>, some of the chain's most popular items, including Chipotle Chicken Avocado Melt, 10 Vegetable Soup, Fuji Apple Chicken Salad and Broccoli Cheddar Soup earned the Cool Food Meal designation.</p><p>The Cool Food Meal badge has not yet made it to all of Panera's locations, but it went live on the chain's online menu yesterday, <a href="https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/panera-bread-becomes-first-chain-highlight-climate-friendly-choices/2287776" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">AdAge</a> reported.</p><p>According to a 2019 UN report, global food production accounts for 37 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, which has put pressure on food chains worldwide to limit food waste and reduce their carbon footprint, CNBC reported.</p>
<p>Consumers are able to lower that impact through eco-conscious food choices, Andrew Steer, president and CEO of WRI said in a press release announcing the partnership.</p><p>"As kids, we were always told to eat our vegetables — and now there's another reason to do so," Steer said.</p><p>Panera intends to increase plant-based offerings to comprise more than half of its menu options. Plant-based options currently make up one-fourth of the menu.</p>
<p>"There's a natural skepticism that consumers have any time companies get involved in environmental or social responsibility initiatives," Daniel Korschun, an associate marketing professor at Drexel University told CNBC. "If a company is able to make some credible claims on these types of initiatives, then it can really drive some loyalty on the part of consumers because they're purchasing more than just the product, they're purchasing an affirmation of who they are and what they stand for personally."<br></p><p>This is not the first time that Panera Bread has helped customers make well-informed choices. A decade ago, it became the first chain to post calorie counts of its menu items. In 2017, Panera labeled sugar amounts in beverages like lemonade, soft drinks and tea.</p>
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A Yemeni boy receives humanitarian aid from the World Food Program in Taez, Yemen, on October 10, 2020. Ahmad Al-Basha / AFP / Getty Images
The UN World Food Program (WFP) said on Tuesday that will need to raise $6.8 billion over the next six months to avert famine triggered by the coronavirus pandemic crisis.
<p>"We've got a lot more money to raise to make certain we avert famine," David Beasley, executive director of the WFP, said at a conference organized by the U.N's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).</p><p>Beasley said 7 million people had died from hunger this year, even as the COVID-19 pandemic claimed a further 1 million lives worldwide. But he warned that the pandemic would make things worse in the long term. </p><p>"If we don't sort out COVID, (the) hunger death rate could be 3, 4, 5 times that," said Beasley. </p><p>World hunger was on the decline for several decades, but is it now on the rise again since 2016, driven by both conflict and climate change.</p>
<p>"If you think about the wealth on Earth today we shouldn't see one single child (go) hungry or die from starvation," said Beasley.<br></p><p>The organization was awarded the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/world-food-programme-wins-nobel-peace-prize/a-55213281" target="_blank">Nobel Peace Prize</a> last week for its efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.</p><p>German Chancellor <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/merkel-urges-renewed-fight-against-world-hunger/a-55228708" target="_blank">Angela Merkel praised the organization</a> and called on world nations to join in a renewed fight against hunger.</p><p>"The award ceremony is a recognition of the commitment to international responsibility and international solidarity," Merkel said of the WFP.</p>
Over 1 Billion Raised
<p>The UN food agency is the world's largest humanitarian organization and it is entirely funded by donations. In 2019, the money it raised funded school meals for 17.3 million children globally and delivered 4.2 million tonnes of food to regions or countries.</p><p>Beasley is now urging donors, including governments and institutions, but also the more than 2,000 billionaires in the world - who hold a combined net worth of $8 trillion - to donate to the WFP.</p><p>The organization has so far raised $1.6 billion, far below the target needed this year. </p><p>Beasley has warned that COVID-19 shutdowns are not only hindering the delivery of food but worsening other<br>problems, such as disrupting vaccinations and treatments for other illnesses. </p><p>"There is a grave danger that many more people will die from the broader economic and social consequences of COVID-19 than from the virus itself, especially in Africa," Beasley has said.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/un-world-food-programme-seeks-funds-to-avert-covid-19-famine/a-55258444?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2648204256#/" target="_self"></a></p>From Your Site Articles
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Chef Regina Tchelly with her food creations on her veranda, with Copacabana Beach in the background. Favela Organica
By Agostino Pestroni
Take a dozen banana peels, wash them gently with a brush under running water, then chop them into small pieces. Next, blend the peels with five spoons of cacao and a cup of ice water. Once the lumps have been removed, place the mixture in a hot, buttered pan and stir it for five minutes. Let it cool down to thicken, and then roll the resulting dough into small spheres. Lastly, dip the balls into sesame or peanut powder, and you'll have a brigadeiro, an iconic Brazilian dessert.
But this is not the standard version of the sweet: It's a unique variant created by Regina Tchelly, a 39-year-old Brazilian chef and resident of Rio de Janeiro's Babilônia slum.
<p>"I always wanted to be a chef, but not a normal one," Tchelly says.</p><p>In 2001, Tchelly moved from a small town in northeastern Brazil to the favelas, or slums, of Rio looking for a better future for her and her daughter. She initially worked as a housemaid, a common profession for women coming into the city from poorer areas. But the longer she shopped at the local markets, the more she grew disappointed by the amount of food being thrown out each day.</p><p>Back in her hometown, she had learned to use all parts of the fruits and vegetables she prepared, and she couldn't make peace with the wastefulness of the city. She knew that the thrown-away peels, seeds, and rinds held precious nutritional value. Tchelly has since worked to give a second life to food that would otherwise go to waste. She shows that repurposing food waste is not only a solution to the problem of access to healthy food, but also one remedy to help address a broken social system.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUxMTY1Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDk1NDEyOX0.qveLhDsh6gjy_SJ7fnx5BLkZfc30Z7exMWqoIo-Cjk0/img.jpg?width=980" id="c4769" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5a97044d6e71ca284e01ed75cc5cd2c6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Regina Tchelly giving a talk about the impact of food on health in a Rio de Janeiro hospital. Favela Organica
<h2>Democratizing Real Food</h2><p>The difficulty of making ends meet in rural areas of Brazil is <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Brazil/Ongoing-domestic-migration" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one of the reasons for migration within the country</a>. Small farmers leave their homes to crowd into the favelas of the megalopolis, where they can no longer afford the quality of food they used to produce on their land.</p><p>About <a href="https://catcomm.org/favela-facts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1.5 million</a> people live in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, known as the Cidade maravilhosa, or city of wonder. Electricity, running water, and sanitation systems are often lacking in those informal settlements long neglected by the government, and life is tough for those who live in them. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-biosocial-science/article/family-food-insecurity-and-nutritional-risk-in-adolescents-from-a-lowincome-area-of-rio-de-janeiro-brazil/2557E62F6E770DC4144FF5D00B0E0E58" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Food insecurity</a> is one of the most significant divides between the favelas and wealthy areas of Rio: In the slums, many rely on government-subsidized schools, food banks, or junk food to feed their children.</p><p>It's a matter of affordability rather than supply, though. Food abounds in Brazil. A 2014 <a href="http://www.fao.org/in-action/fapda/publications/country-fact-sheets/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">study</a> by the Food and Agriculture Organization listed Brazil as the world's third-largest exporter of agricultural products. Yet <a href="https://www.scielosp.org/article/csc/2020.v25n9/3421-3430/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">5 million people</a> still suffer from <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/malnutrition-in-all-its-forms-and-social-inequalities-in-brazil/89E445C46FF53653A6604163C1EB86E4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">malnutrition</a>.</p><p>"My idea was to democratize real food, so to allow everybody to be able to access it," Tchelly says.</p><p>In 2011, Tchelly gave her first course on how to cook with food scraps to six other housekeepers in her slum, which led her to create a social enterprise called <a href="https://favelaorganica.com.br/pt/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Favela Organica</a>. Her goal was to teach others how to repurpose food waste produced by Rio's markets, and to learn how to grow produce on their balconies and in their yards. Tchelly's project relies on the idea of an integrated food cycle: growing food, utilizing it all, and creating compost with what's left to fertilize a garden.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUxMTY2NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDkwNDc2OH0.nqQKFWhgBdPxnsCUgXAIOWygueR6ZW5f9t29VcKfpEs/img.jpg?width=980" id="ae904" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ed69af837c7eff99599eedc2fe1062d0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A class on how to use juicing residue for skin care. Favela Organica
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUxMTY2Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2NDAxMjUxMX0.hDqR9kLfVZbYJhYjBBSpoRghlrza7KOu5pooCxhUu30/img.jpg?width=980" id="9ea30" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="db8f96e70aaa7a76d283017d95ede675" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Favela Organica's work focuses on the cycle of life and uses yoga and meditation as part of its classes. Favela Organica
<p>While Tchelly initially aimed at tackling food waste, her project soon turned into something more powerful. With the pandemic and the resulting food insecurity <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/08/10/covid-brazil-deaths-inequality/?arc404=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">spreading widely within the crowded favelas</a>, what Regina Tchelly ultimately provides is a way for people to gain dignity by making their own nutritious food. She's part of the <a href="https://www.terramadre.info/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Terra Madre</a> network, a global movement of food producers, chefs, and academics who believe that through a holistic approach to food, communities affected by systemic social disparities can regain power over what they eat, which is the first step towards self-determination.</p>
<h2>Innovating for Food Justice</h2><p>The balcony of Favela Organica overlooks the famous Copacabana Beach. A small vegetable garden adds to the produce coming from local farmers who donate to Tchelly what they cannot sell. Tchelly's workplace is a forest of hanging pans and pots, with a cooking station for two people and a larger space where she gave free classes to 60 people at a time — until the pandemic hit. Now she offers her courses online.</p><p>Tchelly supports the free lessons for residents of the favela. She covers her costs with the income earned from her high-end catering services and the money she receives from giving talks around the world, or winning prizes such as the Prêmio Aliança Empreendedora from the Brazilian Entrepreneurial Alliance. Over the years, Tchelly has built up enough recognition for her work that, in 2016, she was invited to San Paolo to give a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXqc29uVIbo" target="_blank">TEDx Talk</a>. Since she began offering courses, Tchelly has taught some <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=208&v=yPDD8O14tsg&feature=emb_logo" target="_blank">30,000 people</a>, mostly women, around Brazil how to regain power over the food they eat.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUxMTY2OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1ODI4MzIwMX0.FGXkyUNNxqoMBTA8CcWomxhqx3aLYSIbHTDKeEh2q7E/img.jpg?width=980" id="4e685" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="896170dbff69522b1caa12ad72427d8d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
'Tabuli de broccoli,' a salad created by Tchelly made with broccoli stems. Favela Organica
<p>The only requirement to attend Tchelly's classes is that attendees must develop a new recipe to bring to market from the widely available food scraps of Rio de Janeiro. Last year, Ivonides Silva, 54, joined one of the classes.</p><p>"When you go to the market, you spend 10 reais ($2) and use seeds, fruit, and everything else," Silva says. By cooking this way, nothing goes to waste, and Silva has been saving money on groceries.</p><p>As her final project, Silva transformed pumpkin rinds and seeds — parts of the fruit that are usually thrown away — into flour, which she then used to bake a cake. Her classmates liked it, so she began selling more cakes to neighbors and at the salon where she works as a hairdresser. She now sells about five cakes each month, which adds 240 reais ($42) to her income. If it wasn't for the pandemic, Silva says, she could sell many more.</p><p>"Tchelly gives us the tools to have the autonomy to create a small business to make some money," Silva says. In the slums of Rio de Janeiro, where people make on average <a href="https://www.rioonwatch.org/?p=57787" target="_blank">734 reais ($130) a month</a>, the supplementary income from the sale of cakes is a welcome help.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUxMTY3Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNDM2NTczM30.0b-tLtGZxXrqhidrPRCWZD4rvClRUIn-gDqvey2SUxY/img.jpg?width=980" id="b13db" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="029612a5727369b5f6780e3826b79108" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Tchelly at a food bank in Curitiba, Brazil, teaching how to make pumpkin risotto. Favela Organica
<p>Maria Beatriz Martins Costa, CEO of <a href="http://www.greenrio.com.br/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Green Rio</a>, a network that advocates for fairer and better food, is fond of Tchelly's work, but told me that to have a greater impact, projects like Tchelly's need more public support. According to a <a href="https://www.iisd.org/publications/food-security-brazilian-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a> by the International Institute of Sustainable Development, limited access to food is not the result of lack of food availability, but of its unaffordability for many Brazilians. The Brazilian government has worked toward reducing social inequality in the past two decades with programs like the <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/i3023e/i3023e00.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Zero Hunger Program</a>, which aims to give all Brazilians enough good and nutritious food through a series of multi-sectoral public policies. Thanks to this program, the country was removed from the FAO's world hunger map in 2014.</p><p>But malnutrition problems remain, and the pandemic is accentuating them.</p><p>Growing one's own food can help, which is why Tchelly and many other activists around the world also teach students how to grow urban gardens.</p><p>"This kind of agriculture is important because it gives you support," says Costa, who sees urban gardens as another expression of family farming. She believes family farmers play an essential role in future food scenarios and are critical in diminishing food and social disparities. About 77% of Brazil's farmers are family farmers (as opposed to agribusinesses), but they receive only <a href="http://www.fao.org/family-farming/detail/en/c/283339/" target="_blank">36% of the total industry revenues</a>. According to Costa, the difference in income between small and large farms is partly because of a lack of logistics to distribute products and infrastructures to scale up.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUxMTY3My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjI2NDEzOH0.mtp-uqWB0Vj9uqFNWawcQj464YUDcWPWEtc5KwqN250/img.jpg?width=980" id="8c9cd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="69745d31653ac880802003baaf1a895f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Tchelly teaching a class at a food bank in Curitiba, Brazil, on how to use all parts of the produce. Favela Organica
<p>"Public policies are fundamental," Costa says. Over the past 20 years, Brazil has constructed a robust food security policy that includes Safra, a credit program for family farmers, and a program that pushed schools to buy food from local small farms. But in 2019, the current government, led by President Jair Bolsonaro, eliminated the Consea, Conselho Nacional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional — a body that allowed Brazilian civil society to have a say in the formulation of food policies — a <a href="https://www.slowfood.com/lets-defend-brazils-food-security/" target="_blank">move that many fear</a> is the first step toward deconstructing the country's food security policy.</p><p>Still, Costa believes that Brazil, with all its flaws, is working toward issuing policies that promote family farmers. For example, the country's current secretary for Family Agriculture and Cooperation, Fernando Schwanke, has created the first bioeconomy plan for biodiversity and family farming. Such policies, combined with entrepreneurial efforts like Tchelly's, could brighten Brazil's food future.</p><p>"Regina Tchelly was a pioneer and game-changer and deserves all credit as being a forerunner fighting for a change in the food system," Costa says. Tchelly, with her daily fieldwork, represents a larger, and often unseen, global movement that focuses on the roots of nutrition inequalities. Together, they are working to provide access to fairer, cleaner, and better food for all.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2020/10/09/food-waste-brazil-communities/" target="_blank">YES! Magazine</a>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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By Ajit Niranjan
When private equity giant Blackstone invested in alternative milk maker Oatly this summer, furious customers pledged to boycott the dairy-free drink.
<p>"Blackstone investments have been linked with deforestation activities in Brazil," wrote British local produce shop Buth Bharraigh in a tweet announcing they would stop selling Oatly products.</p><p>"I don't want my money going to the destruction of the planet ... just so that I can have a creamy coffee in the morning!" wrote <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sustainability" target="_self">sustainability</a> influencer Laura Young in Instagram and Twitter posts that were shared thousands of times.</p><p>They criticized Oatly for enabling Blackstone — an investment firm managing $564 billion (€478 billion) in assets — to greenwash climate-damaging investments. "Learn how we're backing sustainable, plant-based alternatives to dairy with our investment in @oatly," Blackstone wrote on its Instagram page.</p><p>The social media spat between a corporate giant, a "woke" food brand and disenchanted customers is part of a wider debate about the role of <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/oil-giants-face-shareholder-pressure-on-climate-emissions-greenhouse-gas-targets/a-48802418" target="_blank">capital in fighting climate change</a>. It has grown more significant in the food sector as investors start to divest from the highly polluting <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/meat-production-coronavirus-farming-cattle/a-54381190" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">meat and dairy industries</a>, and consumers look for sustainable alternatives.</p>
<h3>Divesting From Deforestation</h3><p>Meat production is the biggest driver of tropical <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/mass-deforestation-how-trade-fells-trees-in-brazil-and-indonesia/a-48280649" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">deforestation</a>. Driven by demand for foods like burgers and milk, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rainforests">rainforests</a> are burned to create land for cattle ranches, and to grow soy that is then mostly fed to livestock.</p><p>Blackstone, which has invested billions of dollars in the fossil fuel sector, partly owns Hidrovias do Brasil, a Brazilian logistics company that was linked to deforestation in the Amazon rainforest by U.S. news organization The Intercept last year. A spokesperson for Blackstone told DW the deforestation claims were "completely false and wholly fabricated."</p><p>Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman is a major donor to U.S. President Donald Trump, a <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/trump-climate-change-denial-emissions-environment-germany-fake-heartland-seibt/a-52688933" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate-science denier</a> who has rolled back environmental regulations and brought the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.</p>
<h3>'Systemic Risks'</h3><p>Pressured by customers, campaigners and policymakers, some food companies are starting to assess their own ecological footprints.</p><p>In 2018, McDonald's pledged to clean its supply chains and cut its emissions. In July, Brazilian food processing giant Marfrig said it would remove deforestation from its production chain by the end of the decade.</p><p>Then, in September, JBS, the world's biggest meat-processing company, said it would monitor its entire supply chain to cut out <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/european-nations-warn-brazil-over-amazon-deforestation/a-54954854" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">deforestation</a> by 2025. Its announcement came two months after investor Nordea Asset Management said it would divest holdings of about €40 million in the company because of a lack of engagement on environmental issues.</p><p>Last year, after fires devastated the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/amazon-rainforest-fire-deforestation-mining-slash-and-burn-brazil/a-54486689" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Amazon rainforest</a>, a group of 251 investors called for a reduction in deforestation, identifying its environmental impacts as "systemic risks" to their portfolios.</p><p>Biodiversity and climate change matter to agricultural markets at risk of extreme weather and environmentally conscious consumers, said Matt McLuckie, research director at Planet Tracker, a UK-based nonprofit that aims to redirect capital toward sustainable development. "The trends are not looking positive for these agricultural producers, particularly in the beef sector."</p>
<h3>Alternative Sources of Protein</h3><p>The IPCC, the gold-standard on climate science, has said climate change could in part be slowed by switching to <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/vegan-meat-the-future-of-planet-saving-plant-based-eating/a-51054861" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">plant-based diets</a>, particularly in richer countries. This is where oat milk comes in.</p><p>Oatly, the biggest player in the alternative milk industry, is valued at $2 billion, and is considering an initial public offering that could push that up to $5 billion, Bloomberg News reported in September. For a business whose core product is made by mixing two cheap and readily available ingredients — oats and water — the Swedish food company founded in the 1990s has seen incredible growth since entering the U.S. market four years ago.</p><p>While campaigners have spent years pressuring the financial world to take their money out of dirty investments like fossil fuel companies, little attention has been paid to finance in the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/food-sustainability-organic-discounter-cheap-environmental-costs-prices-factory-farming/a-54919142" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">agriculture sector</a>, which is responsible for about a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions.</p><p>Shareholders are also typically the ones pressuring companies they own to improve their environmental record, and not the other way around.</p><p>The backlash against Oatly's partnership with Blackstone is fascinating because it's "looking through the other end of the telescope," said Daniel Firger, managing director at climate finance consultancy Great Circle Capital Advisors. "The target of so many people's anger here is Blackstone, a private equity group. And private equity, as compared to other parts of the financial markets, has not really had as much scrutiny."</p>
<h3>Diverting Capital to Climate Change</h3><p>By accepting a $200 million investment from a group led by Blackstone and including U.S. talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, musician Jay-Z and actor Natalie Portman, Oatly said it was diverting capital to sustainable causes. The returns Blackstone makes from the investment could inspire other private equity firms to green their portfolios, it said in a statement justifying its decision.</p><p>"We have to have a fundamental shift in basically everything we do: the way we eat, the way we move, the way we live," Ashley Allen, chief sustainability officer at Oatly, told DW. "The only way to do that, in my mind, is to incentivize finance toward those solutions and disincentivize finance toward high-carbon, high-risk, high-polluting entities."</p><p>Asked whether Oatly would set red lines on who could invest in it — for instance, fossil fuel companies — Allen said she wasn't sure. "I haven't been part of any discussions on that."</p><p>Oatly is not the first ethical food brand to anger customers by accepting money from an investor with a poor environmental record. U.S. ice cream producer Ben and Jerry's — which champions its commitment to social justice — was bought out in 2000 by Unilever, a global conglomerate that has come under fire from campaigners for deforestation and plastic pollution.</p><p>In recent years Unilever has begun to engage more with critics on environmental issues, threatening to sell off brands that do not contribute positively to society. But is still a major contributor to plastic pollution, for instance, responsible for more than 70,000 tons of plastic pollution a year, according to a report published in March by NGO Tearfund.</p><p>While it's important for activists to draw attention to inconsistencies in investments, said Firger, the scale of the climate emergency means hundreds more companies like Oatly need to grow as fast as they possibly can. "I'm not one for purity tests. I feel like we don't have time to waste."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/oatly-deforestation-dairy-brazil-blackstone-stephen-schwarzman-environment-climate-private-equity/a-55138702?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">DW</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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The companionship, love and affection between a pet and its owner has taken on more importance during the pandemic. filadendron / E+ / Getty Images
Every year, World Mental Health Day is celebrated on October 10. This year, with the COVID-19 pandemic, has been uniquely stressful and taxing on mental health. Still, people have found surprising ways of coping during the shutdowns and the economic crisis that have improved mental health and wellness.
<h3>1. Baking Bread</h3><p>When "Stay-at-Home" orders were first issued, people began making bread. <a href="https://people.com/lifestyle/quarantine-trends-everything-that-went-viral-during-the-pandemic/?slide=a50c8476-3ad3-467f-b614-fda0ce38ac24#a50c8476-3ad3-467f-b614-fda0ce38ac24" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">People</a> magazine named bread-making the number one viral quarantine trend. The hobby became so popular that bakeware, yeast and flour were sold out for months online and in grocery stores, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/reviewedcom/2020/04/20/24-products-selling-out-online-due-coronavirus-pandemic-toilet-paper-cleaning-wipes-yeast-and-more/5161629002/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">USA Today</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/19/coronavirus-stress-baking-sourdough-kneading-relax" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.</p><p>"Stress baking" can help steer thoughts away from worrying about the future by demanding present attention and mindfulness, The Guardian reported. Bread-making also forces people to slow down because it is time-consuming, the report said. It is calming and meditative through the rolling, kneading and mixing. That tangibility is grounding in a world that otherwise has largely gone virtual, The Guardian reported.</p>
<h3>2. Picking Out Pets</h3><p>Pet adoptions and sales have soared during the pandemic, <a href="https://www.fox19.com/2020/04/24/pet-adoptions-soar-during-coronavirus-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fox News</a> reported. Fostering dogs made People's top 5 for most viral quarantine hobbies, and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/31e3e60e7ea6bc4566b0ee3998ab98a6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">AP News</a> reported shortages in many places of pets to rescue. One New York non-profit helping to place fosters has seen an increase from about 140 applications for adoptions per month at this time last year to around 3,000 during the pandemic, the report said.</p><p>The constant companionship, love and affection between a pet and its owner has taken on more importance during the pandemic. <a href="https://adaa.org/learn-from-us/from-the-experts/blog-posts/consumer/alleviating-anxiety-stress-and-depression-pet" target="_blank">Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA)</a> cited a survey of pet owners, 74% of whom reported mental health improvements from pet ownership. Pets can also help instill routine into an otherwise confused, upturned daily life, <a href="https://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/adopting-a-new-pet-during-the-pandemic" target="_blank">U.S. News & World Report</a> reported, and caring for something helps give people a sense of purpose that can stave away anxiety and depression.</p>
<h3>3. Planting Through the Pandemic</h3><p>People have turned to home gardening and buying seeds during the pandemic as a "soothing, family-friendly hobby" to do, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-gardens/home-gardening-blooms-around-the-world-during-coronavirus-lockdowns-idUSKBN2220D3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters</a> reported. The <a href="https://www.nar.realtor/blogs/styled-staged-sold/5-design-trends-emerging-during-the-pandemic" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">National Association of Realtors (NAR)</a> listed gardening as one of the home design trends that emerged from the pandemic. Seed demand typically rises in tough economic times as people try to plan against food scarcity and economic hardship, Tom Johns, owner of Territorial Seed Company in Oregon, told Reuters.</p><p>Caring for a garden brings many mental health benefits, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/03/health/how-to-start-gardening-coronavirus-wellness/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. It can give a sense of accomplishment, community and belonging, and help people remain connected to nature, even while stuck at home. Being surrounded by green or even just looking at it is linked to less anxiety and depression and better stress management, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/think-act-be/201906/10-mental-health-benefits-gardening" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Psychology Today</a> reported.</p>
<h3>4. Home Organizing Is Happening</h3><p>Being at home with so much extra time has also inspired many to reorganize their homes. With home offices and virtual classrooms jammed into existing spaces, the need to maintain "liveable space" has made decluttering a necessity during the pandemic, a <a href="https://blog.cheapism.com/pandemic-decluttering/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">personal blog</a> on the trend said.</p><p>"When there's lots of clutter, you lose control over your physical environment, which is very defeating and can bring on stress, depression, or anxiety," <a href="https://www.mgt.unm.edu/faculty/facultyDetails.asp?id=10095" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Catherine Roster,</a> a professor studying the effect of clutter on our psychological well-being, told <a href="https://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living/why-decluttering-is-important-for-self-care-and-when-it-isnt/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Everyday Health</a>. On the flip side, decluttering can help restore a lost sense of control and reduce stress and depression.</p><p>Decluttering, aside from being energizing, also creates confidence and efficacy, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-practice/201802/6-benefits-uncluttered-space" target="_blank">Psychology Today</a> reported.</p>
<h3>5. Learning a New Language</h3><p>In March, U.S. sign-ups for the language-learning app Duolingo grew 148%, reported <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/duolingo-sees-spike-in-new-users-during-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Business Insider</a>. Other similar technologies have also experienced a boom in interest since the shutdowns, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mergermarket/2020/04/15/language-learning-apps-are-seeing-a-surge-in-interest-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/#550861b848f4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Forbes </a>reported, and investment in the sector has increased.</p><p>"We've seen evidence of many people taking up language learning during this period of isolation and quarantine as a means of self-improvement," Duolingo's Michaela Kron told Business Insider. "Learning a new language comes with numerous benefits, including cognitive ones such as improved memory and social ones such as connecting better with others."</p><p>Not only does learning a new language provide a productive outlet, but it can combat anxiety and depression, <a href="https://www.languagenetworkusa.com/blog/how-learning-a-new-language-can-benefit-your-health" target="_blank">Language Network USA</a> reported. It also can boost confidence, increase multitasking skills and open your mind, Language Network USA reported.</p>
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The United Nations World Food Programme Headquarters on Oct. 9, 2020 at Parco De'3 Medici in Rome, Italy. Franco Origlia / Getty Images
This year's Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) for its "efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict," the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced Friday.
<p>The win draws attention to the organization at a time when the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> have increased the number of people at risk from starvation worldwide. At the same time, UN organizations including the WFP have experienced a dip in funding in recent years as countries, including the U.S., reduce the money they give to international bodies, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/09/world/nobel-peace-prize-winner-2020-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p><p>"With this year's award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to turn the eyes of the world towards the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger," committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said when she announced the prize.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="694ba95bda8f367fa08156d22f65d7bf"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FpP4iUzNyVc?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>The WFP was founded in 1961, according to CNN. In 2019, it <a href="https://www.wfp.org/overview" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">provided food</a> assistance to 97 million people in 88 countries, the most since 2012. It is also the primary UN body in charge of meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goal of eliminating world hunger, the Nobel Committee pointed out, but that goal has gotten harder than ever to reach in recent years.</p><p>Stockholm International Peace Research Institute director Dan Smith told CNN that the number of people experiencing hunger had begun to increase in the last four years after decades of decline, largely because of climate change.</p><p>The situation has gotten even worse because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Nobel Committee noted. In countries like Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Burkina Faso, the pandemic has combined with armed conflicts to put significantly more people at risk from starvation.</p>
<p>WFP head David Beasley <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/10/09/922054491/nobel-peace-prize-awarded-to-world-food-programme" target="_blank">told NPR</a> earlier this year that 135 million people had been at risk for starvation in 2020 before the emergence of COVID-19. After its spread, that number had shot up to almost a quarter of a billion.</p><p>"In the face of the pandemic, the World Food Programme has demonstrated an impressive ability to intensify its efforts," the committee said. "As the organisation itself has stated, 'Until the day we have a medical vaccine, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/food/" target="_self">food</a> is the best vaccine against chaos.'"</p><p>Beasley said he was "speechless" in the face of the award and credited the organization's staff for the win.</p><p>"It's because of the WFP family," Beasley said in a video shared on Twitter. "They're out there in the most difficult, complex places in the world. Whether it's war, conflict, climate extremes — it doesn't matter. They're out there, and they deserve this award."</p>
<div id="94507" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="74acf53b08203b1d117c66b16694f299"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1314508264378454016" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We are deeply humbled to receive the #NobelPeacePrize. This is an incredible recognition of the dedication of the… https://t.co/bBFP4RGKJV</div> — David Beasley (@David Beasley)<a href="https://twitter.com/WFPChief/statuses/1314508264378454016">1602238167.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The prize was announced in Oslo and comes with an award of 10 million Swedish kronor (approximately $1.14 million), <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/09/uns-world-food-programme-wins-nobel-peace-prize?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1hz81T_Btj-_3JqBvJAOdJYQbFeK3q_L_3jtOxr8TKE2bBFWsrvdnAojs#Echobox=1602234318" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. This year, there were 318 nominees for the prize, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, the World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a>.</p><p>When announcing the award, the committee praised the WFP for its role in "multilateral cooperation."</p><p>"The need for international solidarity and multilateral cooperation is more conspicuous than ever," the committee said in the opening line of the announcement.</p><p>Smith told CNN that he thought the committee had intentionally chosen an international organization over an individual at this time to highlight the importance of collaboration.</p><p>"Donald Trump is the embodiment of the spirit of anti-cooperation and by contrast the World Food Programme is the embodiment of the spirit of cooperation," Smith said. "And I think that the Nobel Peace Prize started its announcement with a reference to solidarity and multilateralism as a kind of gentle rebuke to the leaders of the great powers, including Donald Trump, obviously Putin and President Xi as well."</p>
<p>In her remarks to the press after the award, Reiss-Andersen also criticized the rise of populilst nationalism.</p><p>"When you follow international debate and discourse, it's definitely a tendency that international institutions seem to be discredited more than, let's say, 20 years ago," she said, as CNN reported. "It is part of populism that it has nationalistic flavor ... everybody, every nation, supporting their own interests."</p>
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A Subway sandwich. Joe Raedle / Getty Images
The bread used to make Subway sandwiches isn't legally bread.
<p>At least that's what Ireland's Supreme Court <a href="https://www.courts.ie/acc/alfresco/fad40678-a172-44c7-9f84-66f8c102c0f0/2020_IESC_60%20%28Unapproved%29.pdf/pdf#view=fitH" target="_blank">ruled Tuesday</a> after an Irish Subway franchise tried to get out of paying value added tax (VAT) on its foodstuffs. The franchise, Bookfinders Ltd, argued that its bread was a staple <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/food/" target="_self">food</a> and should therefore be exempt from the tax, <a href="https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/01/irish-court-rules-subway-bread-is-not-bread" target="_blank">The Guardian explained</a>. But Ireland's Value-Added Tax Act of 1972 has a very clear definition of bread: It can't contain more sugar than 2 percent of the weight of flour in its dough.</p><p>Subway's bread, however, contains five times more sugar than that.</p><p>"In this case, there is no dispute that the bread supplied by Subway in its heated sandwiches has a sugar content of 10% of the weight of the flour included in the dough, and thus exceeds the 2% specified in subpara," the court ruled.</p>
<p>In fact, a six-inch Subway roll contains the same amount of sugar as two digestive cookies and slightly less than a Big Mac bun, The Guardian calculated.</p><p>Subway pushed back against a literal interpretation of the ruling and said it was reviewing the decision.</p><p>"Subway's bread is, of course, bread," the U.S. company said in a statement reported by <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/10/01/919189045/for-subway-a-ruling-not-so-sweet-irish-court-says-its-bread-isnt-bread?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR2ijoqsVYvE6ukloiKvKbvdxhXtXXVaSGxIGvfeQzlTv7MS9Wm2Ob_OuCo&fbclid=IwAR3Ke3wyXbU1i0Dsdjkaeci3GSL6CB--SRdpdDGMtMbcJlfF9f-NSar-T2k&fbclid=IwAR3sb5Cg2_ArJ4NWoT4utsC_1fE4xPubOwlPbxDXm8_-QqD8rDzFLxd8vtk" target="_blank">NPR</a>. "We have been baking fresh bread in our restaurants for more than three decades and our guests return each day for sandwiches made on bread that smells as good as it tastes."</p>
<p>The case came about when Bookfinders appealed a 2006 decision by the Revenue Commissioners not to refund it for VAT it had paid between 2004 and 2005, <a href="https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/sandwiches-in-subway-too-sugary-to-meet-legal-definition-of-being-bread-39574778.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Irish Independent reported</a>. Bookfinders had been taxed at a rate of 9.2 percent but argued it should have been taxed at zero percent because it was selling staples. By ruling Subway's "bread" was too sweet to be a staple, the court rejected the franchise's appeal.</p><p>This is not the first time the content of Subway's sandwich bread has caused controversy. In 2014, the sandwich chain was the target of a petition urging it to stop using azodicarbonamide in its bread, <a href="https://www.foodandwine.com/news/subway-bread-sugar-content-ireland-court-ruling" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Food & Wine pointed out</a>. Azodicarbonamide is a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chemicals" target="_self">chemical</a> used to whiten flour and condition dough, but it is also used in yoga mats and fake leather. It is still approved for culinary use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but is banned from food in Australia and the EU.</p><p>Subway decided six years ago to honor the petition and ditch the ingredient.</p><p>"Even though this ingredient is safe, we are removing it from Subway bread," the company said at the time.</p>
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'Regenerative Agriculture and the Soil Carbon Solution': New Paper Outlines Vision for Climate Action
28 September
Climate
A new white paper explains how to transform current widespread agricultural practices to regenerative agriculture. PickPik
By Andrea Germanos
A white paper out Friday declares that "there is hope right beneath our feet" to address the climate crisis as it touts regenerative agriculture as a "win-win-win" solution to tackling runaway carbon emissions.
<p>"Humans broke the planet with grave agricultural malpractice," Tom Newmark, chairman of <a href="https://thecarbonunderground.org/" target="_blank">The Carbon Underground</a> and a contributor to the research, said in a <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/09/25/new-white-paper-shows-shift-regenerative-ag-could-sequester-100-percent-annual" target="_blank">statement</a>. "With this white paper, Rodale Institute shows us how regenerative agriculture has the potential to repair that damage and actually reverse some of the threatening impacts of our climate crisis."</p><p>"This is a compelling call to action!" he added.</p><p>Released by the Rodale Institute and entitled <em><a href="https://rodaleinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/Rodale-Soil-Carbon-White-Paper_v8.pdf" target="_blank">Regenerative Agriculture and the Soil Carbon Solution</a></em>, the white paper discusses how a transformation of current widespread agricultural practices—which now contribute indirectly and directly to the climate crisis—"can be rolled out tomorrow providing multiple benefits beyond climate stabilization."</p><p>The findings are based on Rodale's own trials, research data, and interviews with experts, and build upon the institute's 2014 <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/10/09/solution-soil-how-organic-farming-can-feed-world-and-save-planet" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">paper</a> <em>Regenerative Organic Agriculture and Climate Change: A Down-to-Earth Solution to Global Warming</em>.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQ0MzM2NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNzczMDk0M30.g3bMMcdsxChGxcYN8onbvkGVHEJUwfLJZTIcX_tPZQk/img.png?width=980" id="1290a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="89e0122fc2627a2a88dfe53a7c0aa395" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Graph from Rodale Institute's new white paper "Regenerative Agriculture and the Soil Carbon Solution."
<p>The claim made in the new paper is bold: "Data from farming and grazing studies show the power of exemplary regenerative systems that, if achieved globally, would drawdown more than 100% of current annual CO2 emissions.</p><p>"Regenerative agriculture, as the researchers describe, represents "a system of farming principles that rehabilitates the entire ecosystem and enhances natural resources, rather than depleting them."</p><p>In contrast to industrial practices dependent upon monocultures, extensive tillage, pesticides, and synthetic fertilizers, a regenerative approach uses, at minimum, seven practices which aim to boost biodiversity both above and underground and make possible carbon sequestration in soil.</p><ul><li>Diversifying crop rotations</li><li>Planting cover crops, green manures, and perennials</li><li>Retaining crop residues</li><li>Using natural sources of fertilizer, such as compost</li><li>Employing highly managed grazing and/or integrating crops and livestock</li><li>Reducing tillage frequency and depth</li><li>Eliminating synthetic chemicals</li></ul><p>While passers-by may easily spot visual differences above ground between the divergent agricultural approaches, what's happening below ground is also vital. From the paper:</p><blockquote>Contrary to previous thought, it's not the recalcitrant plant material that persists and creates long-term soil carbon stores, instead it's the microbes who process this plant matter that are most responsible for soil carbon sequestration. Stable soil carbon is formed mostly by microbial necromass (dead biomass) bonded to minerals (silt and clay) in the soil. Long term carbon storage is dependent on the protection of the microbially-derived carbon from decomposition.<br></blockquote><p>As for claims such as agricultural transformation wouldn't be able to produce enough food, the paper counters: "Actual yields in well-designed regenerative organic systems, rather than agglomerated averages, have been shown to outcompete conventional yields for almost all food crops including corn, wheat, rice, soybean, and sunflower."</p><p>But that is far from the only benefit. "When compared to conventional industrial agriculture," the authors write, "regenerative systems improve":</p><ul><li>Biodiversity abundance and species richness</li><li>Soil health, including soil carbon</li><li>Pesticide impacts on food and ecosystems</li><li>Total farm outputs</li><li>Nutrient density of outputs</li><li>Resilience to climate shocks</li><li>Provision of ecosystem services</li><li>Resource use efficiency</li><li>Job creation and farmworker welfare</li><li>Farm profitability</li><li>Rural community revitalization</li></ul>
<p>Rather than framing it as a "wake-up call," the institute says the paper should be seen as an "invitation to journey in a new direction."</p><p>"It is intended to be both a road map to change and a call to action to follow a new path," the authors write. "One led by science and blazed by farmers and ranchers across the globe."</p><p>"Together we both sound the alarm and proclaim the regenerative farming solution: It's time to start our journey with a brighter future for our planet and ourselves as the destination," the paper states.</p><p>Resources accompanying the white paper include a sample letter to members of Congress to urge support for the Agriculture Resilience Act (H.R. 5861), <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/mike-lavender/a-resilience-roadmap-fulfilling-agricultures-role-as-a-climate-solution" target="_blank">introduced</a> in February by Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), and a "buyer's guide to regenerative food" to help decipher food labels and questions to ask suppliers at farmers' markets.</p><p>"A vast amount of data on the carbon sequestration potential of agricultural soils has been published, including from Rodale Institute, and recent findings are starting to reinforce the benefits of regenerative agricultural practices in the fight against the climate crisis," said Dr. Andrew Smith, COO and chief scientist of Rodale Institute.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/09/26/regenerative-agriculture-and-soil-carbon-solution-new-paper-outlines-vision-climate?cd-origin=rss" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>
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Eating lots of fruits and vegetables will boost the immune system. Stevens Fremont / The Image Bank / Getty Images
By Grayson Jaggers
The connection between the pandemic and our dietary habits is undeniable. The stress of isolation coupled with a struggling economy has caused many of us to seek comfort with our old friends: Big Mac, Tom Collins, Ben and Jerry. But overindulging in this kind of food and drink might not just be affecting your waistline, but could potentially put you at greater risk of illness by hindering your immune system.
<p>Hear the word "nutrition," and often what comes to mind are fad diets, juice "cleanses" and supplements. Americans certainly seem concerned with their weight; 45 million of us spend <a href="https://www.bmc.org/nutrition-and-weight-management/weight-management" target="_blank">US$33 billion</a> annually on weight loss products. But <a href="https://nccd.cdc.gov/dnpao_dtm/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=DNPAO_DTM.ExploreByLocation&rdRequestForwarding=Form" target="_blank">one in five Americans</a> consumes nearly no vegetables – less than one serving per day.</p><p>When the emphasis is on weight loss products, and not healthy day-to-day eating, the essential role that nutrition plays in keeping us well never gets communicated. Among the many things I teach students in my <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=o_1CmfkAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">nutritional biochemistry course</a> is the clear relationship between a balanced diet and a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nutres.2020.07.005" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">strong, well-regulated immune system</a>.</p><p>Along with social distancing measures and effective vaccines, a healthy immune system is our best defense against coronavirus infection. To keep it that way, proper nutrition is an absolute must. Although not a replacement for medicine, good nutrition can work synergistically with medicine to improve vaccine effectiveness, reduce the prevalence of chronic disease and lower the burden on the health care system.</p>
<h3>The Impact of the Western Diet</h3><p>Scientists know that people with <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html?" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">preexisting health conditions</a> are at greater risk for severe COVID-19 infections. That includes those with diabetes, obesity, and kidney, lung or cardiovascular disease. Many of these conditions are linked to a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsx.2020.05.025" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dysfunctional immune system</a>.</p><p>Patients with cardiovascular or metabolic disease have a delayed immune response, giving viral invaders a head start. When that happens, the body reacts with a more intense inflammatory response, and healthy tissues are damaged along with the virus. It's not yet clear how much this damage factors into the increased mortality rate, but it is a factor.</p><p>What does this have to do with nutrition? The Western diet typically has a high proportion of red meat, saturated fat and what's known as "<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41538-018-0020-x" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">bliss point foods</a>" rich in sugar and salt. Adequate fruit and vegetable consumption is missing. Despite the abundance of calories that often accompanies the Western diet, many Americans <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12061735" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">don't consume nearly enough</a> of the essential nutrients our bodies need to function properly, including vitamins A, C and D, and the minerals iron and potassium. And that, at least in part, causes a dysfunctional immune system: too few vitamins and minerals, and too many empty calories.</p><p>A healthy immune system responds quickly to limit or prevent infection, but it also promptly "turns down the dial" to avoid damaging the cells of the body. Sugar disrupts this balance. A high proportion of refined sugar in the diet can cause <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcad.2017.12.001" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">chronic, low-grade inflammation</a> in addition to diabetes and obesity. Essentially, that "dial" is never turned all the way off.</p><p>While inflammation is a natural part of the immune response, it can be harmful when it's constantly active. Indeed, obesity is itself characterized by chronic, low-grade inflammation and a dysregulated immune response.</p><p>And <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2019.01071" target="_blank">research shows</a> that vaccines may be less effective in obese people. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4590616/" target="_blank">The same applies</a> to those who regularly drink too much alcohol.</p>
<h3>How Nutrients Help</h3><p>Nutrients, essential substances that help us grow properly and remain healthy, help maintain the immune system. In contrast to the delayed responses associated with malnutrition, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm7090258" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vitamin A</a> fights against multiple infectious diseases, including measles. Along with <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/nu7043011" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vitamin D</a>, it regulates the immune system and helps to prevent its overactivation. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9111211" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Vitamin C</a>, an antioxidant, protects us from the injury caused by free radicals.</p><p>Polyphenols, a wide-ranging group of molecules found in all plants, also have anti-inflammatory properties. There's plenty of evidence to show a diet rich in <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11040751" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">plant polyphenols</a> can lower the risk of chronic conditions, like hypertension, insulin insensitivity and cardiovascular disease.</p><p>Why don't we Americans eat more of these plant-based foods and fewer of the bliss-based foods? It's complicated. People are swayed by advertising and influenced by hectic schedules. One starting place would be to teach people how to eat better from an early age. Nutrition education should be emphasized, from kindergarten through high school to medical schools.</p><p>Millions of Americans live in <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2017/16_0408.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">food deserts</a>, having limited access to healthy foods. In these circumstances, education must be paired with increased access. These long-term goals could bring profound returns with a relatively small investment.</p><p>Meantime, all of us can take small steps to incrementally improve our own dietary habits. I'm not suggesting we stop eating cake, french fries and soda completely. But we as a society have yet to realize the food that actually makes us feel good and healthy is not comfort food.</p><p>The COVID-19 pandemic won't be the last we face, so it's vital that we use every preventive tool we as a society have. Think of good nutrition as a seat belt for your health; it doesn't guarantee you won't get sick, but it helps to ensure the best outcomes.</p>
<p>
<em>Grayson Jaggers is an assistant professor at the University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.</em><br/>
</p><p>
<em>Disclosure statement: </em><em>Grayson Jaggers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond his academic appointment.</em>
</p><p>
<em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/good-nutrition-can-contribute-to-keeping-covid-19-and-other-diseases-away-145086" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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