food & water watch

Mexico’s president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he will end the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, once he enters office on Dec. 1. “We will no longer use that method to extract petroleum,” the populist politician said Tuesday at a press conference, as quoted by the Associated Press. This is a setback for the […]

By Jake Johnson Previous attempts by Wall Street financiers and government officials to privatize Puerto Rico’s water system have produced “disastrous results,” but private equity vultures are exploiting the death and destruction caused by Hurricane Maria to plow ahead with yet another privatization effort—one that environmentalists warn could further imperil the island’s public water infrastructure. […]

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled Tuesday that a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of North Carolina’s anti-sunshine law can go forward, reversing the decision of the federal district court. The law was designed to deter whistleblowers and undercover investigators from publicizing information about corporate misconduct, and a coalition including […]

By Andrea Germanos Watchdog groups sounded alarms on Monday after the Wall Street Journal reported that the proposed mega-merger of Bayer and Monsanto has cleared its final regulatory hurdle in the U.S. The reported approval from the Justice Department came “after the companies pledged to sell off additional assets,” the Journal reported, and despite concerns […]

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday morning that he is nominating CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace Rex Tillerson as U.S. Secretary of State. “We got along actually quite well, but we disagreed on things,” Trump said today. The president noted that the Iran nuclear deal was a point of contention, but there were other issues […]

By Jessica Corbett More than 50 groups are demanding that Iowa lawmakers urgently pass landmark legislation to enact a moratorium on factory farm expansion in a state that is home to more than 10,000 of them. “Across the nation, factory farming destroys communities and contaminates drinking water supplies and air quality,” said Krissy Kasserman, the […]

Denver is the latest city to mandate rooftop gardens or solar installations on new, large buildings, joining San Francisco, New York, Paris, London and other cities around the world with similar green roof measures, the Associated Press reported. The Colorado capital ranks third in the nation for highest heat island and eighth in the nation […]

By Mark Schlosberg Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) introduced the Off Fossil Fuels for a Better Future Act (OFF Act) last week. This visionary bill comes as the nation bears witness to the devastation being brought by the climate change-super charged storm Harvey to Texas and Louisiana and braces for Irma’s impacts. Storms like this and other […]