Michael Leonardi July 1 marks Canada Day when many Canadians celebrate the unification of three colonies into their country on the same date in 1867. In Ontario, droves of people head off to their summer cottages and vacation get-a-ways on the shores of the Great Lakes for the holiday weekend. Lake Huron’s sandy beaches and […]
Earth Policy Institute By Janet Larsen Half the world’s pigs—more than 470 million of them—live in China, but even that may not be enough to satisfy the growing Chinese appetite for meat. While meat consumption in the U.S. has fallen more than five percent since peaking in 2007, Chinese meat consumption has leapt 18 percent, […]
This week, Connecticut won the honor of becoming the first state to pass a law requiring genetically engineered foods to be labeled. (The governor has indicated he will sign.) It was really only a matter of time. The disappointing defeat of Prop 37 last fall in California—thanks to a massive industry disinformation campaign—sparked a national […]
World Resources Institute By Craig Hanson and Tim Searchinger A bean farmer checks her crop in Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo credit: Neil Palmer, CIAT How can the world feed more than 9 billion people by 2050 in a manner that advances economic development and reduces pressure on the environment? This is one of […]
Michele Simon Last month, the City of San Francisco filed a lawsuit against Monster Beverage over the marketing of the company’s highly caffeinated products to youth children. This is just the latest example of using the legal system to hold the food and beverage industries accountable for deceptive marketing practices. With the federal government all […]
Michael Brune Most Americans have probably heard about the “boom” in natural gas, with U.S. production up by one-third since 2005. Besides historically low natural gas prices, one consequence is that companies like Exxon Mobil are now pushing the federal government to approve permits for more than 20 liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals. Big […]
Beyond Pesticides New research published in the journal Neurology further supports the causative link between pesticide exposure and Parkinson’s disease. Emanuel Cereda, M.D., Ph.D., of the IRCCS University Hospital San Matteo Foundation in Pavia, Italy, and coauthor Gianni Pezzoli, M.D., analyzed 104 studies published between 1975 and 2011 to determine the link between pesticides and […]
Ford International Fellowship Program In 2001, the Ford Foundation granted $280 million—the largest single donation in the Foundation’s history—to a new initiative called the Ford International Fellowships Program (IFP). IFP set out to prove that an international scholarship program could help build leadership for social justice and thus contribute to broader social change. What followed […]
EcoWatch Voting with your dollar has never been easier. “Have you ever wondered whether the money you spend ends up funding causes you oppose?” Thanks to the new Buycott app, you can organize your consumer spending to support causes you care about, and oppose those that you don’t—all by using your smart phone. The program […]