Insects play a vital role in ecosystems and humans are particularly dependent on them for food. Dmitry Grigoriev / Unsplash
By Ajit Niranjan
Seven 'no-regret' actions could rescue insects on the road to extinction, a new roadmap for conservation says, helping ecosystems even where a lack of research means scientists cannot prove benefits to individual species.
<p><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/why-biodiversity-loss-hurts-humans-as-much-as-climate-change/a-48579014" target="_blank">Earth's biodiversity is declining at unprecedented rates</a> but population data on insects — which are small, diverse and abundant — is patchy.</p><p>Instead of waiting to fill knowledge gaps, 75 experts writing in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-019-1079-8" target="_blank">Nature Ecology and Evolution</a> are calling for immediate actions that also improve ecosystems and wider society. Short-term measures such as phasing out <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides">pesticides</a> and diversifying farmland could set struggling insect species on a path to recovery while better data is collected.</p><p>"We reap what we sow," said Jeff Harvey, ecologist at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology and lead author of the roadmap. "It's a no-brainer that decline of insects will affect other species in the food chain … We can't just put little bandages on this."</p>
<h3>'Insectageddon'</h3><p>Last year, a global review published in the journal Biological Conservation spawned headlines heralding an "<a href="https://www.dw.com/en/how-to-stop-an-insect-apocalypse/a-47723711" target="_blank">insect apocalypse</a>," "Armageddon" and "collapse of nature" when it found 40% of insect species would face the threat of extinction within decades.</p><p>Some experts have since criticized the paper for using biased search terms and misapplying extinction risk. It also relied on studies mainly from Europe and North America.</p><p>"Very little data is available for most species in most countries, so it's simply untrue to claim that there is scientific consensus that insects are in global decline," said Manu Saunders, an ecologist at the University of New England, in an email. "This is a very different issue to insects being under real threat from various drivers, particularly land clearing, pesticides, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate change</a>, etc."</p><p>IPBES, the UN-convened panel of ecology experts, tentatively put the figure of threatened insect species at 10% last year, in the most comprehensive study of life on Earth ever undertaken.</p><p>"I think globally we have quite a decline in species," said Josef Settele, an ecologist at Germany's Helmholtz-Center for Environmental Research and co-chair of the IPBES report. "40% might be too high, and 10% in our global assessment is too low, but this is the range."</p><p>Even as ecologists disagree on broad population trends, they are united on three points: the importance of insects to people; the rising threats they face; and the lack of action to preserve them.</p><p>Insects play a vital role in ecosystems and humans are particularly dependent on them for food. Where fewer earthworms replenish soil, and dwindling bee and butterfly populations struggle to pollinate crops, food supplies could drop catastrophically. The IPBES report estimated that up to $577 billion (€522 billion) in annual crop output is at risk as a result of <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/learningpack-foodwaste/a-51732090" target="_blank">pollinator loss</a> alone.</p>
<h3>Global Losses</h3><p>In Australia, where Saunders works, raging wildfires exacerbated by climate change have <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/australias-koalas-threatened-by-deforestation-and-bushfires/a-50644206" target="_blank">lain waste to wildlife</a>.</p><p>Sweeping through an area larger than Portugal, the fires have killed an estimated one billion animals in a matter of months, with some survivors seeking refuge in waterways and even wombat burrows to escape the heat. A preliminary government analysis last week found that fires have burned more than half the habitat of 114 threatened species.</p><p>Among them is the critically endangered Banksia montana mealybug, an insect thought to live only on a single type of shrub that is vulnerable to disease, fire and climate change. It is one of 4 insect species in a 327-strong list of vulnerable creatures that have seen at least 10% of their known habitat burned by bushfires. More are thought to have perished unseen.<br></p><p>"The main problem is that we have very little data on the insect species that were in these burned locations before the fire, so we have no way of knowing how many have been affected and in what locations," said Saunders.</p><p>The prospect of <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/wildfires-climate-change-and-deforestation-increase-the-global-risk/a-51928388" target="_blank">more intense and frequent fires</a> in Australia — and the difficulties forests may face in growing back — has raised fears about long-term insect populations.</p>
<h3>Agricultural Pressure</h3><p>In Germany, where <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/wwf-highlights-drastic-drop-in-german-insect-population/a-48624626" target="_blank">insect loss</a> is better documented, the speed and scale of decline has shocked scientists.</p><p>A landmark study published in the journal PLOS One in 2017 found a 76% decline in flying insects in nature reserves over nearly three decades. The population loss was not limited to well-studied creatures, such as bees and butterflies, but flying insects as a whole, and was documented in areas supposedly-safe from humans.</p><p>The researchers suggested suggest agriculture and pesticides had aggravated the decline, noting that almost all the reserves were surrounded by farmland.</p><p>Last September, the German government announced a €100 million-a-year action plan that includes protecting habitats, phasing out the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/german-farmers-overregulation-is-the-last-thing-we-need/a-51418355" target="_blank">controversial herbicide glyphosate</a> and reducing light pollution in an effort to counter insect loss. A quarter of the funding will go to research.</p><p>The scientists who wrote the conservation roadmap hold up Germany as a role model for other countries to emulate. But the focus on insect protection without major agricultural reform has left some uncertain.</p><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/industrial-agriculture">Industrial agriculture</a>, pesticides and monocropping pose major threats to insects — and that, in turn, endangers harvests and food supplies, according to an "insect atlas" published in January by the Heinrich-Böll Foundation, Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) and Le Monde Diplomatique.</p><p>Germany is strong on insect protection but fails to tackle the role of farming, said Christine Chemnitz, agriculture policy expert at the Heinrich-Böll Foundation and project lead of the insect atlas. "We totally support [the protection programme] but we view it critically, because agricultural policy must urgently change too."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/insect-apocalypse-dying-ecosystem-species-loss-a-52160360/a-52160360" target="_blank">DW</a></em><em>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
- Insects Must Be Saved to Prevent Collapse of Humanity, Top ... ›
- Alarming Decline of Insect Population Linked to Toxic Pesticides in ... ›
- New Report Documents Global Insect Decline - EcoWatch ›
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King oyster mushroom scallops were served as anvegan entree at the 77th Annual Golden Globes. Rodin Eckenroth / Getty Images
And the winner is … planet Earth!
<p>The 77th annual Golden Globe Awards Sunday made history by becoming the first major awards show to go <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vegan" target="_self">vegan</a>, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2020-01-02/golden-globes-vegan-menu" target="_blank">The Los Angeles Times reported</a>.</p><p>"Over the holidays, we took time to reflect on the last year and began thinking about the new year and the decade ahead," Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) President Lorenzo Soria said in a Facebook post Thursday. "The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> is impossible to ignore and after speaking with our peers, and friends in the community, we felt challenged to do better."</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6fdb04e163655f73820dfc886f39d2d2"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/GoldenGlobes/posts/3454067294635264"></div></div><p>Doing better meant serving an entirely plant-based meal at the first major awards show of the season, which is organized by the HFPA. The dinner began with a chilled golden beet soup and continued with wild mushroom risotto, king oyster mushroom scallops, and roasted baby purple and green Brussels sprouts and carrots, <a href="https://apnews.com/2ba7e05ccb8fb6cdd27280de4d6ef973" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>.</p><p>"The food we eat, the way we grow the food we eat, the way we dispose of the food is one of the large contributors to the climate crisis," Soria told The Associated Press.</p><p>Indeed, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/industrial-agriculture">animal agriculture</a> contributes around 14.5 percent of greenhouse gas emissions,<a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/golden-globes-vegan-menu-climate-change_n_5e0bbe2de4b0843d360cac59?ri18n=true&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaHVmZnBvc3QuY29tL2ltcGFjdC9ncmVlbg&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAH6s0o7s-fgTAAB0Qf7wccCwKK_tH7_kfabioXFiV5LFxfJCuIpCfIpONrupY7QqpMl8tg44eikOzm8D8m43lbi2ltdy0F_-mKJ-Sj4AYxEJTdEIbw-op1Hjpj82Ons4wovvz95IXAs2dkUGWvRh1_jQfzNqZihsPur-TrmGoVln" target="_blank"> HuffPost noted</a>. A <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/vegan-earth-footprint-2574241439.html" target="_self">2018 study</a> found that adopting a vegan diet was probably the single-biggest thing an individual could do to reduce their environmental impact.</p><p>"A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use," study leader and University of Oxford professor Joseph Poore told The Guardian at the time. "It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car."</p>
<p>The HFPA also took a stand against <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastic-pollution" target="_self">plastic pollution</a> by working with Icelandic Glacial to serve water in glass bottles.</p><p>The menu change was a bit of a challenge for the kitchen staff at the Beverly Hilton, where the event was being held. That's because the hotel's executive chef Matthew Morgan was only told to prepare a vegan meal a few days before Christmas, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/01/05/793827606/chef-takes-last-minute-order-a-vegan-golden-globes-dinner?t=1578310844015" target="_blank">NPR reported</a>.</p><p>Morgan said his team had planned to prepare around 150 to 200 plates of vegan food, and then had to scale that up to 13,000.</p><p>"At first, it was a little shocking, but we were happy to make that change," Morgan told NPR, adding, "I really believe in what we're trying to represent and what we're trying to accomplish - the message that we're sending."</p>
<p>The vegan menu was the brainchild of actor Joaquin Phoenix, who also took home the best actor in a drama award for his performance in <em>Joker</em>, <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/news/joaquin-phoenix-golden-globes-vegan-1203457761/" target="_blank">Variety reported</a>. Sources said Phoenix had proposed the idea to the HFPA.</p><p>"First I would like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press for recognizing and acknowledging the link between animal agriculture and climate change, it's a very bold move, making tonight plant-based," he said during his acceptance speech.</p>
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More and more homeowners in Raleigh, NC, have embraced renewable energy like solar power. This popular option allows residents to fuel their homes cleanly and effectively, minimizing their home's environmental footprint while lowering their monthly utility bills. What are the best solar companies in Raleigh, NC? We'll show you the top options, plus provide important information on solar panel systems, federal tax credits, and more.
<p>If you're looking to adopt solar energy in Raleigh, North Carolina, one of the first steps in the process is to find the best renewable energy company. Thankfully, there are a number of excellent solar power providers throughout the area. They can provide the expertise and reliable technology you need to upgrade your home and truly take advantage of solar energy systems.</p><h2>Our picks for the best solar energy companies in Raleigh</h2><p><em>Each product featured here has been independently selected by the writer. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.</em></p><ul class="ee-ul"><li><a href="https://www.8msolar.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">8M Solar</a></li><li><a href="https://www.ncsolarnow.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NC Solar Now</a></li><li><a href="https://www.gosunpro.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sunpro Solar</a></li><li><a href="https://blueravensolar.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Blue Raven Solar</a></li><li><a href="https://renuenergysolutions.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Renu Energy Solutions</a></li><li><a href="https://www.emeraldenergync.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Emerald Energy</a></li><li><a href="https://covenantsolar.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Covenant Solar Tech</a></li><li><a href="https://yessolarsolutions.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yes Solar Solutions</a></li><li><a href="https://sundollarenergy.com/about-us/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sun Dollar Energy</a></li><li><a href="https://www.duke-energy.com/home/products/renewable-energy/nc-shared-solar" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Duke Energy</a></li></ul><h2>How we chose the best solar companies in Raleigh</h2><p>In order to create a list of the best solar power installers in Raleigh, North Carolina, we compared each company on a number of important categories. Our picks for Raleigh's best solar energy companies are based on the following:</p><ul class="ee-ul"> <li><strong>Coverage area. </strong>Some companies offer wider, more consistent coverage areas than others. We sought to include companies that make solar power readily available to both Raleigh and nearby areas like Durham and Cary.</li><li><strong>Services.</strong> We also ranked Raleigh's local solar providers on how many total services they offer. For instance, how much help do they offer in terms of consultation, solar system design, and installation? </li><li><strong>Installation process. </strong>We also evaluated local solar energy providers on the basis of whether they can install your new solar panels. Do they send an installation team to your home, or do you have to contract with a separate installation company?</li><li><strong>Pricing and financing. </strong>As you look for the best solar company in Raleigh, you'll definitely need to think about your budget. We've tried to evaluate companies on the basis of affordability and flexible financing options.</li><li><strong>Panel efficiency. </strong>Solar panels can vary quite a bit in terms of how much sunlight they absorb, and how efficiently they convert that solar energy to a usable AC stream. We've selected local companies that offer exemplary technology with the highest <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar-performance-and-efficiency" target="_blank">solar panel energy efficiency</a>.</li><li><strong>Rebates.</strong> Along with flexible financing options, some solar installers make it easy for you to claim clean energy rebates, another useful way to offset your total energy cost.</li><li><strong>Warranty.</strong> When investing in a significant piece of technology, such as a solar panel system, it makes sense to seek some consumer protections. A good warranty can offer ample peace of mind.</li><li><strong>Professional affiliation. </strong>We looked for companies endorsed or certified by leading professional organizations. These include the <a href="https://www.seia.org/about" target="_blank">Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)</a>, the <a href="https://www.nabcep.org/about-us/" target="_blank">North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP)</a>, the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and more. This is one of the easiest ways to evaluate a solar company's reputation.</li></ul><p>With these factors in mind, we're now ready to take a look at a few of the most highly recommended solar power and renewable energy companies in Raleigh, North Carolina.</p><h2>The best solar energy companies in Raleigh, NC</h2><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcwMDY2My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3NTU4Njk2MH0.4uZ3uc3dKy_eV6VkhXe01FTYZygEbPN2vPY52fIj148/img.jpg?width=980" id="6ae05" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c6d86615b9c32f2ec78431ce0441e6c8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="721">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Blend Images - Done Mason / Getty Images</small></p><h3><a href="https://www.8msolar.com/" target="_blank">8M Solar</a><br></h3><p>Based in Wake Forest, 8M Solar is one of the best-rated clean energy companies in North Carolina. Their services are NABCEP-certified, they are SolarEdge and Tesla certified installers, and they are endorsed by Duke Energy. The owners are directly involved in all aspects of solar panel system design to provide hands-on expertise, and their panels come with generous 25-year warranties.</p><p><strong>Why buy: </strong>Simply put, 8M Solar is one of the best companies to choose if you're looking for a straightforward way to go green and decrease monthly utility costs. The company claims that their rates are, on average, 10 percent lower than their competitors. Formidable expertise, best-in-class technology, robust warranties, and affordable pricing make 8M Solar a top choice.</p><h3><a href="https://www.ncsolarnow.com/" target="_blank">NC Solar Now</a></h3><p>Since 2010, NC Solar Now has been a dependable clean energy partner to homeowners throughout the state. Their company is built around a vision for sustainability and ensuring that all families have access to affordable energy. The company is a member of the NC Sustainable Energy Association (NCSEA), the NC Clean Technology Center (NCCTC), is endorsed by Duke Energy, and was chosen as one of the top 20 solar contractors in the US by <a href="https://www.generalcontractors.org/the-best-commercial-solar-contractors-in-the-us/" target="_blank">General Contractor Magazine.</a></p><p><strong>Why buy:</strong> NC Solar Now is a great all-around option for anyone looking to embrace the promise of clean solar power. They are locally owned and operated, they offer flexible pricing for both residential and commercial properties, and they can help you take advantage of all available solar incentives and rebates.</p><h3><a href="https://www.gosunpro.com/" target="_blank">Sunpro Solar</a></h3><p>Sunpro is a nationally known and NABCEP-certified company. They offer cost-effective pricing and leading rooftop solar technology that allows you to save big bucks on your home utility bills. SunPro takes a lot of pride in having first-class customer service and their team is also available to help you claim clean energy tax incentives.</p><p><strong>Why buy:</strong> Sunpro is one of the most-trusted solar energy installers in the country, and even ranked #5 on Solar Power World's 2020 list of the Top Residential Solar Installers in the U.S. They handle everything from design to installation, and offer 25-year guarantees on labor and equipment.</p><h3><a href="https://blueravensolar.com/" target="_blank">Blue Raven Solar</a></h3><p>Blue Raven Solar is one of the fastest-growing solar companies in the country, operating in a number of states throughout the Southeast and beyond. They're passionate about helping homeowners save money on their electricity bills, and that's allowed them to become a clean energy provider of choice in the Raleigh-Durham area, as well as Asheville, Charlotte, and Greensboro.</p><p><strong>Why buy:</strong> Blue Raven Solar offers a truly comprehensive solar energy service, including surveying, solar panel system design, installation, and more. The company also offers highly competitive pricing and excellent financing options (including $0 down), and has received rave reviews from their customers as one of the most trusted solar energy companies around.</p><h3><a href="https://renuenergysolutions.com/" target="_blank">Renu Energy Solutions</a></h3><p>Based in Charlotte, Renu Energy Solutions provides dependable solar energy services to homeowners throughout the state. Since 2010, this locally-owned and operated company has been one of the Charlotte area's trusted names in solar energy. They offer free solar assessments, along with plenty of assistance finding flexible financing solutions.</p><p><strong>Why buy:</strong> This is another great example of a local business with world-class solar expertise. Choose them for friendly service, competitive pricing, and high-quality tech. Plus, Renu offers manufacturer's warranties of up to 25 years (depending on the specific solar panels you choose).</p><h3><a href="https://www.emeraldenergync.com/" target="_blank">Emerald Energy</a></h3><p>Emerald Energy is a Raleigh-based contracting company best known for offering design, consulting and installation for solar energy solutions. They offer zero money down and no interest financing on systems, and can help you take advantage of the many solar rebates and incentives that are offered in North Carolina.</p><p><strong>Why buy: </strong>For a fully-licensed local contractor with real clean energy bona fides, Emerald Energy is one of the best companies you'll find. Their in-house system design and installation services can help you enjoy cleaner electricity, energy independence, and lowered utility bills.</p><h3><a href="https://covenantsolar.com/" target="_blank">Covenant Solar Tech</a></h3><p>Covenant Solar Tech is locally owned and operated in Raleigh, North Carolina. They deliver a full spectrum of services, including consultation, design, installation, financing, and beyond. For those exploring solar energy options, they offer free solar estimates, and boast some truly outstanding customer reviews.</p><p><strong>Why buy:</strong> Covenant Solar Tech offers expert installation with friendly, personable customer service. They are one of the best local Raleigh companies in the solar energy game. Their solar energy expertise and experience was also recently enhanced by the company's purchase of Sun Dollar Energy.</p><h3><a href="https://yessolarsolutions.com/" target="_blank">Yes Solar Solutions</a></h3><p>Yes Solar Solutions is a terrific clean energy company located in Cary, NC. Their installers proudly service residents of Raleigh and the surrounding area. The company has been around since 2009, and in that time they've helped more than 1,000 homeowners go solar. They are a certified installer for Tesla solar equipment, offer free assessments and various financing options.</p><p><strong>Why buy:</strong> Yes Solar Solutions is NABCEP accredited and has a long history, an impressive track record, and plenty of ways to help you cut energy costs. Reviews of the company attest to their excellent customer service in helping people go solar.</p><h3><a href="https://sundollarenergy.com/about-us/" target="_blank">Sun Dollar Energy powered by Covenant Solar Tech</a></h3><p>Sun Dollar Energy started a family-owned solar power contractor serving homeowners throughout North Carolina. The small solar company with local roots offered a personalized experience for customers. In January 2021, the company was purchased by Covenant Solar Tech, but will still provide the same reliable service under the Sun Dollar Energy name.</p><p><strong>Why buy:</strong> Sun Dollar Energy powered by Covenant Solar Tech is your best bet for a truly homegrown, local solar energy provider. They offer years of experience and their licensed, NABCEP-certified installers helped them become a leading provider in the area, with positive customer reviews for their easy installation process.</p><h3><a href="https://www.duke-energy.com/Our-Company/Environment/Renewable-Energy/Solar-Energy" target="_blank">Duke Energy</a></h3><p>Duke Energy might not be the first name you think of for this list, but they provide a wide range of solar energy solutions across the Raleigh area. Not only does Duke Energy provide solar rebates worth up to $6,000, they also offer services like <a href="https://www.duke-energy.com/home/products/renewable-energy/generate-your-own" target="_blank">net metering</a> that can help offset your electric bill with the energy from your solar energy system.</p><p><strong>Why buy:</strong> Duke Energy has made some admirable commitments to renewable energy in recent years. With programs like NC <a href="https://www.duke-energy.com/home/products/renewable-energy/nc-shared-solar" target="_blank">Shared Solar</a>, the company allows you to support solar energy generation and development each month even if you can't install solar panels on your own home, making solar energy more accessible.</p><h2>What types of solar energy are available in Raleigh, NC?</h2><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcwMDY3OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MjEyOTA1MX0.hZ7m-mEyAd_MBxOlVzFtHSuyPbttXtbGtvW1D6wGgh4/img.jpg?width=980" id="f92ca" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="659abb8e87ff463fb88bbe715ccafe0d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="713">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Buena Vista Images / Getty Images</small></p><p>As you consider your options for solar energy in the Raleigh area, it's important to note that different companies provide varied kinds of access to the sun's energy.<br></p><p>For instance, most of the companies on our list are truly solar installers, which means they can help you upgrade your home with solar panels and batteries, allowing you to directly absorb the sun's rays, convert it to electricity, and use that electricity to power your home.</p><p>But a few companies, like Duke Energy, do something a little different: They essentially allow you to choose a plan where you get solar power straight from Duke's solar energy facilities as part of your home's energy, but also use regular electrical power when necessary.</p><p>Make sure you understand these different models as you seek the right solar power provider for your home.</p><h2>How does solar panel installation work?</h2><p>It is also helpful to know more about the process of having solar panels installed on your home.</p><p>Usually, the process begins with an energy audit. A certified installer will arrive at your home, assess your energy needs, and also evaluate how much sun exposure you get. They will then recommend the number of panels that need to be installed on your roof, as well as the ideal locations for those panels.</p><p>Once installed, these solar panels draw energy from the sun and store it in a battery. This solar power is then converted to AC power, using a component known as an inverter, which can then power all your home appliances and devices.</p><p>If you have any specific questions about the installation process, it's usually best to go straight to your installer. Note that while the initial investment in equipment can be steep, that's usually it in terms of overall solar expense: the sun's energy is free, and you won't need to invest in any further fuel sources.</p><h2>Choose the best rooftop solar company in Raleigh</h2><p>There are countless reasons for Raleigh homeowners to embrace clean energy: it's a great way to minimize your environmental impact; it can lower your household energy expenses; and you can take advantage of the many rebates and tax advantages offered in the state.</p><p>As you consider different players within the solar industry, choose wisely, starting with some of the recommendations we've offered here. These are renewable energy companies that have solid reputations and proven track records of solar energy service.</p><p><em><strong>Josh Hurst </strong></em><em>is a journalist, critic, and essayist. He lives in Knoxville, TN, with his wife and three sons. His writing on natural health, nutrition, and supplements has appeared in Health, Shape, and Remedy Review.</em></p>
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By Stacy Malkan
If you like to give friends and family the gift of knowledge about our food, we're here with recommendations for 2019 books and movies that illuminate the issues close to our hearts. At U.S. Right to Know, we believe that transparency – in the marketplace and in politics – is crucial to building a healthier food system for our children, our families and our world. Kudos to the journalists and filmmakers who are exposing how powerful food and chemical industry interests impact our health and the environment.
<p>Here are our recommendations for best-of-the-year food books and movies. You can also receive a signed copy of the award-winning 2017 book by our colleague, Carey Gillam, <em>Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer and the Corruption of Science</em>, for a monthly <a href="https://www.patreon.com/usrtk" target="_blank">sustainer donation to U.S. Right to Know through Patreon</a> or you can <a href="https://usrtk.org/donations/donate-to-usrtk/" target="_blank">donate directly to USRTK here</a>. </p>
<p><strong>Eating Tomorrow: Agribusiness, Family Farmers, and the Battle for the Future of Food</strong><br>By Timothy A. Wise, <a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/eating-tomorrow" target="_blank">The New Press</a></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Holiday gift-giving solved: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EatingTomorrow?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EatingTomorrow</a>!<br><br>Olivier De Schutter: "There is a battle for the future of food, and Eating Tomorrow shifts the frontlines.”<a href="https://twitter.com/drvandanashiva?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@drvandanashiva</a>: “Eating Tomorrow is a wake-up call about the future of food."<br>Ricardo Salvador: “Wise’s writing is riveting." <a href="https://t.co/f0nXjqc4Y2">pic.twitter.com/f0nXjqc4Y2</a></p>— Timothy A. Wise (@TimothyAWise) <a href="https://twitter.com/TimothyAWise/status/1201922126208520192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Scholar <a href="https://twitter.com/TimothyAWise" target="_blank">Timothy A. Wise</a> shows the world already has the tools to feed itself, without expanding <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/industrial-agriculture">industrial agriculture</a> or adopting <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/gmo-genetically-modified-organism/">genetically modified</a> seeds. Reporting from Africa, Mexico, India and the U.S., Wise details how agribusiness and its philanthropic promoters have <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/11/01/battle-future-food-africa" target="_blank">hijacked food policies to feed corporate interests,</a> and argues that policies promoted by the Gates Foundation-funded Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) are <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/11/01/battle-future-food-africa" target="_blank">failing to deliver productivity and income improvements</a> for small-scale farmers in Africa. Wise also takes readers to remote villages to see how farmers are rebuilding soils with ecologically sound practices without chemicals or imported hybrid or genetically engineered seeds.</p><p>"Hundreds of billions of dollars spent on fertilizer and hybrid seed subsidies by Kenya and other African countries over the past few years have gone down the drain, a new book argues," writes Julius Segei in Kenya's largest independent newspaper, the <a href="https://mobile.nation.co.ke/news/New-book-says-farm-input-subsidies-deepen-poverty/1950946-5360172-e4pg2hz/index.html" target="_blank">The Daily Nation</a>. "The scholar's verdict that there is little evidence of any green revolution coming to Africa more than 10 years after AGRA is likely to kick up a storm in agriculture and development circles."</p>
<p><strong>The Triumph of Doubt: Dark Money and the Science of Deception</strong></p><p>By David Michaels, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-triumph-of-doubt-9780190922665?cc=us&lang=en&" target="_blank">Oxford University Press (available January 2020)</a></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheTriumphofDoubt?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheTriumphofDoubt</a> won't be available until February. Instead of using Amazon, you can pre-order it with a 30% discount from <a href="https://t.co/GIjwdBSPKq">https://t.co/GIjwdBSPKq</a> with promo code ASFLYQ6 2/<a href="https://t.co/ChmlLcLCHE">https://t.co/ChmlLcLCHE</a></p>— David Michaels (@drdavidmichaels) <a href="https://twitter.com/drdavidmichaels/status/1207300889863770114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>David Michaels' new book offers an insider's look at how corporations manufacture doubt in <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/science/">science</a>: bogus studies, congressional testimonies, think-tank policy documents and more. He provides new details of high-profile cases involving car manufacturing, professional sports, the food we eat and the air we breathe. Michaels, the former assistant secretary of labor under President Barack Obama, writes that the anti-science policies of the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> administration are not new, but rather the outcome of decades-long campaigns by the tobacco and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuel</a> industries to stop regulation of deadly products. "This book is written to get you angry enough to want to learn how to defend yourselves, your communities, and our vulnerable planet," writes consumer advocate Ralph Nader. "Let it grip you toward detection and defiance." </p>
<p><strong>Dark Waters</strong>, feature film in theaters now, starring <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkRuffalo?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank">Mark Ruffalo</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvAOuhyunhY" target="_blank">(link to trailer)</a></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">By making <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DarkWaters?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DarkWaters</a>, we hope that the film brings more awareness to a massive public health threat that DuPont wanted to cover up. <a href="https://t.co/nuj4zeR3Fg">https://t.co/nuj4zeR3Fg</a></p>— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkRuffalo/status/1203687893950185473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>A tenacious attorney, <a href="https://twitter.com/robertbilott" target="_blank">Rob Billot</a>, uncovers a dark secret that connects a growing number of unexplained deaths to one of the world's largest corporations. As the evidence in the film shows, DuPont was aware of the dangers of its Teflon ingredients for many years. While trying to expose the truth, Bilot soon finds himself risking his future, his family and his own life.</p><p>In these kinds of movies, "you know going in that you're going to see a story about how bad things are thanks to corporate influence over government as well as the economy," <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/dark-waters-movie-review-2019" target="_blank">writes movie critic Roger Ebert</a>, "but the extent of the corruption is still shocking, highlighting the implicit question: why fight, if the bad guys have already won? The answer, of course, is that you should fight because it's the right thing to do." Dark Waters is "an effective outrage machine," writes Michael O'Sullivan <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/mark-ruffalo-is-the-dogged-attorney-who-took-on-dupont-in-the-fact-based-dark-waters/2019/11/26/019cc15c-0a3a-11ea-8397-a955cd542d00_story.html?arc404=true" target="_blank">in The Washington Post</a>, but the movie "doesn't aspire to be something it's not. Like Bilott himself, it gets the job done, not by showboating, but by laying out the facts."</p>
<p><strong>Kid Food: The Challenge of Feeding Children in a Highly Processed World</strong><em><br></em>By Bettina Elias Siegel, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/kid-food-9780190862121" target="_blank">Oxford University Press</a></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Many of you have asked if KID FOOD will be released as an audiobook. YES! Here’s a preorder link—along with details re: my East Coast book tour, which starts THIS WEEK! <a href="https://t.co/UBnfH6I9Yw">https://t.co/UBnfH6I9Yw</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/AvivaGoldfarb?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AvivaGoldfarb</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/marionnestle?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@marionnestle</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/pam_koch?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@pam_koch</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/dietdetective?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dietdetective</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/greenlightbklyn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@greenlightbklyn</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/audible_com?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@audible_com</a> <a href="https://t.co/XvhBk6Nppv">pic.twitter.com/XvhBk6Nppv</a></p>— Bettina Elias Siegel (@thelunchtray) <a href="https://twitter.com/thelunchtray/status/1193934908726661120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 11, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/thelunchtray?lang=en" target="_blank">Bettina Elias Siegel</a>, a leading voice on children's food, critically examines how America's food culture exploits children and misleads parents. Siegel exposes predatory food-industry techniques for marketing directly to children and convincing parents that highly-processed products are "healthy." She provides extensive coverage of America's school-food program — including why, even after Obama-era reforms, school meals are still so often dominated by processed foods, many of them bearing popular junk-food trademarks. "This is a gorgeously written, heartfelt, and deeply compelling manifesto arguing why and how we must do better at feeding our kids more healthfully at home, in schools, and on the soccer field," <a href="https://www.foodpolitics.com/2019/10/weekend-reading-kid-food/" target="_blank">writes Marion Nestle</a>, professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. "It should inspire all of us to get busy and start advocating for better kid-food policies — right now."</p>
<p><strong>Modified: A food lover's journey into GMOs<br></strong>By Aube Giroux, feature length documentary <a href="https://www.modifiedthefilm.com/" target="_blank">now available for purchase or rent online</a></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Long time JGI friend Aube Giroux has won a <a href="https://twitter.com/beardfoundation?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@beardfoundation</a> award for her beautiful film Modified! Congratulations <a href="https://twitter.com/Aubergineblog?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Aubergineblog</a> - very well deserved! <a href="https://t.co/GPxO6YvkyZ">https://t.co/GPxO6YvkyZ</a></p>— Jane Goodall 🇨🇦 (@JaneGoodallCAN) <a href="https://twitter.com/JaneGoodallCAN/status/1123227249367449600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>In this beautiful, moving, award-winning documentary, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/kitchenvignettes" target="_blank">filmmaker Aube Giroux</a> and her mother embark on a personal investigative journey to find out why GMOs are not labeled on food products in the U.S. and Canada, despite being labeled in 64 countries around the world. Interweaving the personal and the political, the film is anchored around the filmmaker's relationship to her mom, a gardener and food activist who battled cancer during the film's production. Fueled by their shared love of food, the mother-daughter team discovers the extent to which the agribusiness industry controls our food policies, and makes a strong case for a more transparent and sustainable food system. The winner of four Audience Favorite Awards and the 2019 James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Award for best documentary, Modified is "<a href="https://medium.com/@joan_baxter/award-winning-film-modified-premieres-at-santa-barbara-international-film-festival-a-review-b806cc00a56f" target="_blank">beautiful beyond words … compelling and compassionate</a>," writes the journalist Joan Baxter.</p>
<p><strong>Et le monde devint silencieux: Comment l'agrochimie a détruit les insectes<br>And The World Became Silent: How Agrochemistry Destroyed Insects</strong><em><br></em>by Stéphane Foucart, <a href="https://www.seuil.com/ouvrage/et-le-monde-devint-silencieux-stephane-foucart/9782021427424" target="_blank">Editions du Seuil (in French)</a></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="fr" dir="ltr">[Événement] Stéphane Foucart <a href="https://twitter.com/sfoucart?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sfoucart</a>, journaliste <a href="https://twitter.com/lemondefr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@lemondefr</a>, présente son ouvrage sur l’industrie des pesticides auprès des étudiants dauphinois <br>« Et le monde devint silencieux » <a href="https://twitter.com/EditionsduSeuil?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EditionsduSeuil</a> 🐝 <br><br>📍<a href="https://twitter.com/Paris_Dauphine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Paris_Dauphine</a> <br>➡️ <a href="https://t.co/MpYXfDr1Db">https://t.co/MpYXfDr1Db</a> <a href="https://t.co/N127Gb3Ir1">pic.twitter.com/N127Gb3Ir1</a></p>— Univ Paris Dauphine-PSL (@Paris_Dauphine) <a href="https://twitter.com/Paris_Dauphine/status/1194297679523827718?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Investigative journalist <a href="https://twitter.com/sfoucart?lang=en" target="_blank">Stéphane Foucart</a> details how the agrichemical industry orchestrated "the greatest ecological disaster of the early twenty-first century" – the collapse of insect populations. Although pesticide companies claim the disappearance of insects is a mystery due to multiple factors, Foucart reports that the dominant cause is the massive use of neonicotinoid pesticides, and shows how it was made possible by an industry that faked public debate by manipulating science, regulation and expertise. The book shows how the industry exploited science to the point of "making us forget that insecticides … kill insects," writes Annabelle Martella in La Croix (<a href="https://www.la-croix.com/Sciences-et-ethique/Sciences-et-ethique/monde-devint-silencieux-enquete-strategie-lagrochimie-2019-09-10-1201046466" target="_blank">review in French</a>).</p><p>Foucart won the 2018 European Press Prize for investigative reporting, along with Stéphane Horel, for their <a href="https://www.europeanpressprize.com/article/monsanto-papers/" target="_blank">Monsanto Papers (translated into English here)</a> articles about how Monsanto manipulated science, influenced the regulatory process and orchestrated stealth PR campaigns to defend its Roundup herbicides. </p>
<p><strong>Wilted: Pathogens, Chemicals, and the Fragile Future of the Strawberry Industry</strong><br>By Julie Guthman, <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520305281/" target="_blank">University of California Press</a></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Thanks to @uscs professor Julie Guthman for her excellent reporting on how the strawberry industry came to rely on highly toxic soil fumigants. For more on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wilted?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Wilted</a>, see review by <a href="https://twitter.com/emonosson11?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@emonosson11</a> in <a href="https://twitter.com/aaas?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@aaas</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/sciencemagazine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sciencemagazine</a> <a href="https://t.co/AfjdjsgxB2">https://t.co/AfjdjsgxB2</a></p>— U.S. Right To Know (@USRightToKnow) <a href="https://twitter.com/USRightToKnow/status/1207358348737290240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Julie Guthman tells the story of how strawberries – the sixth highest-grossing crop in California which produces 88 percent of the nation's favorite berry – came to rely on highly toxic soil fumigants, and how that reliance reverberated throughout the rest of the fruit's production system. The particular conditions of plants, soils, chemicals, climate and laboring bodies that once made strawberry production so lucrative in the Golden State have now changed and become a set of related threats that jeopardize the future of the industry. "The strawberry industry's predicament is just one example of how our strategy of dominating ecological systems and focusing on increased output at all cost is short-sighted, with diminishing returns," writes Emily Monosson in a <a href="https://blogs.sciencemag.org/books/2019/08/13/wilted/" target="_blank">Science magazine review</a>. "Recent efforts to work with, rather than against, natural systems suggest a path forward."</p>
<p><strong>GMOs Decoded: A Skeptic's View of Genetically Modified Foods<br></strong>By Sheldon Krimsky, <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/gmos-decoded" target="_blank">MIT Press</a></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Have you heard Sheldon Krimsky's interview on "GMOs Decoded" with <a href="https://twitter.com/RalphNader?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RalphNader</a> on Ralph Nader Radio Hour? Listen in here: <a href="https://t.co/kADErGaHUm">https://t.co/kADErGaHUm</a> <a href="https://t.co/ooMwCWoDZe">pic.twitter.com/ooMwCWoDZe</a></p>— MIT Press (@mitpress) <a href="https://twitter.com/mitpress/status/1129343380734009344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 17, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Tufts professor Sheldon Krimsky examines health and safety concerns, environmental issues, implications for world hunger and lack of scientific consensus on GMOs (genetically modified organisms). He explores the viewpoints of a range of GMO skeptics, from public advocacy groups and nongovernmental organizations to scientists with differing views on risk and environmental impact. <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-262-03919-2" target="_blank">Publishers Weekly calls Krimsky's book</a> a "fair-minded, informative primer" that "lays out opposing 'claims and counterclaims,' demystifies the science, and shows where there is consensus, honest disagreement, or unresolved uncertainty." NYU professor Marion Nestle describes the book as "a gift to anyone confused" about GMOs.</p>
<h3>And Two More Excellent Food Books From 2018</h3><p><strong>Seeds of Resistance: The Fight to Save Our Food Supply</strong><br>By Mark Schapiro, <a href="https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510705760/seeds-of-resistance/" target="_blank">Skyhorse Publishing</a></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Check out Mark Schapiro's new website on seed politics, and his terrific new book Seeds of Resistance <a href="https://t.co/QtCduGXSrH">https://t.co/QtCduGXSrH</a></p>— Michael Pollan (@michaelpollan) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaelpollan/status/1097688890155126785?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Journalist <a href="https://twitter.com/schapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Eprofile%3Aschapiro&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fseedsofresistance.net%2Fabout-the-author%2F" target="_blank">Mark Schapiro</a> reports on the high-stakes battle underway for control of the world's seeds, as climate volatility threatens the security of our food supply. Schapiro investigates what it means that more than half the world's commercial seeds are owned by three multinational chemical companies, and brings to light what the corporate stranglehold is doing to our daily diet – from the explosion of genetically modified foods, to the rapid disappearance of plant varieties, to the elimination of independent farmers who have long been the bedrock of our food supply. The book also documents colorful and surprising stories from the global movement that is defying these companies, and offering alternatives capable of surviving the accelerating climatic changes. "Seeds of Resistance is a wake-up call," writes Alice Waters, founder of Chez Panisse and the Edible Schoolyard. "With vivid and memorable stories, Mark Schapiro tells us how seeds are at the frontlines of our epic battle for healthy food."</p>
<p><strong>Formerly Known as Food: How the Industrial Food System Is Changing Our Minds, Bodies, and Culture<br></strong></p><p>By Kristin Lawless, <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250078315" target="_blank">St. Martin's Press</a></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Not mad about the comparison! “Of all the books that I’ve read on the food industry, hers is one that sticks out. An absolute flamethrower – jawdropping – savage AF. Kristin Lawless is Daenerys Targaryen and Big Food is King’s Landing and I’m here for it.” <a href="https://t.co/a7BiHpsh4C">https://t.co/a7BiHpsh4C</a></p>— Kristin Lawless (@kristinlawless) <a href="https://twitter.com/kristinlawless/status/1206235404854124547?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>If you think buying <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/organic">organic</a> from Whole Foods is protecting you, you're wrong. Our food — even what we're told is good for us — has changed for the worse in the past 100 years, its nutritional content deteriorating due to industrial farming and its composition altered due to the addition of thousands of chemicals from pesticides to packaging. We simply no longer know what we're eating. In <em>Formerly Known as Food</em>, <a href="https://twitter.com/kristinlawless?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank">Kristin Lawless</a> argues that, because of the degradation of our diet, our bodies are literally changing from the inside out. The billion-dollar food industry is reshaping our food preferences, altering our brains, changing the composition of our microbiota, and even affecting the expression of our genes.</p><p>"In this revelatory survey of the dangers of the industrial food system, Lawless offers crucial tools for navigating it safely," writes the author Naomi Klein. "The best ones have nothing to do with shopping advice: she asks us to think holistically about food, why it can't be separated from other struggles for justice, and what it means to demand transformative change." </p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://usrtk.org/food-for-thought/2019_book_recommendations/" target="_blank">U.S. Right to Know</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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World Must Reach 'Peak Meat' by 2030 to Fight Climate Crisis, Scientists Say
13 December 2019
Climate
A group of scientists is warning that livestock production must not expand after 2030 for the world to stave off ecological disaster.
A <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(19)30245-1/fulltext" target="_blank">letter</a> published in <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/home" target="_blank">Lancet Planetary Health</a>, signed by more than 50 leading scientists in the field, calls for meat production to peak by 2030, after which governments need firm commitments to stop expanding livestock production, to reduce the most resource-intensive livestock production, and to start "replacing livestock with foods that simultaneously minimize environmental burdens and maximize public health benefits—mainly pulses (including beans, peas, and lentils), grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds."
<p><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/meat" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a>The scientists warn that a coordinated effort from the world's governments to identify and reduce the largest sources of emissions is needed to reduce the risk of global temperatures exceeding the "safe" limit of 1.5-2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/12/world/peak-meat-2030-lancet-intl-scli-scn/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>"The reduction we need means we need deep transformation in every sector," said Helen Harwatt, an environmental social scientist at Harvard Law School and lead author of the letter, to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/12/world/peak-meat-2030-lancet-intl-scli-scn/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. "To reduce to 1.5 C, we need to remove massive amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere. We're suggesting agriculture transitions to optimal systems, and that's plant-based."</p><p>In addition to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, it's important to cut back on methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that cattle and sheep notoriously emit during digestion. </p><p> Furthermore, carbon-capturing forests are destroyed to create room for livestock and to grow grains for intensively raised animals, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/12/peak-meat-climate-crisis-livestock-meat-dairy" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported. More than 80 percent of farmland is used to raise livestock, but it produces just 18 percent of calories. </p><p>Researchers have found that the best way to store large amounts of carbon is to reduce <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/meat">meat</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dairy" rel="noopener noreferrer">dairy</a> intake and for people to shift to a plant-based diet so land is returned to forest, according to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/12/peak-meat-climate-crisis-livestock-meat-dairy" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
<p>"If the livestock sector were to continue with business as usual, this sector alone would account for 49 percent of the emissions budget for 1.5°C by 2030, requiring other sectors to reduce emissions beyond a realistic or planned level," the scientists wrote in their <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(19)30245-1/fulltext" target="_blank">letter</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(19)30245-1/fulltext" target="_blank">letter</a> notes that decreasing livestock production will reduce the carbon footprint left by animal husbandry. The UN estimates that raising animals for meat accounts for nearly 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is twice as much as the fashion industry, according to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/world-must-hit-peak-meat-by-2030-to-avoid-climate-change-crisis-scientists-say/" target="_blank">CBS News</a>. </p>
<p>"Ruminant meat is 10 to 100 times more damaging to the climate than plant-based food," said Pete Smith, at the University of Aberdeen, UK, a senior author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on land use and climate change, to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/12/peak-meat-climate-crisis-livestock-meat-dairy" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. "As a planet, we need to transition away from a dependence on livestock, just as we need to transition away from fossil fuels, if we are to have any chance of hitting the goals of the Paris climate agreement. Livestock numbers need to peak very soon and thereafter decline substantially."</p>
<p>The scientists also pointed out that the land being used to raise cattle is needed to fight the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate crisis</a>. A growing body of research has found that trees are one of the best weapons we have to capture excess carbon. A <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6448/76?hwshib2=authn%3A1562396078%3A20190704%3Ac3ad5971-c185-4942-9acd-92aa24c51c06%3A0%3A0%3A0%3AS1lvoYPtq07c7tMzRommqA%3D%3D" target="_blank">study</a> published in July found that planting 500 billion trees, which we have the space to do if we reduce land used for livestock, can remove nearly two-thirds of the CO2 people have pumped into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution, as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-planting-trees-2639092782.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">EcoWatch</a> reported.</p>
<p>"Food demand is expected to increase massively as our population expands toward 10 billion," said professor Matthew Betts at Oregon State University and another author of the letter, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/12/peak-meat-climate-crisis-livestock-meat-dairy">The Guardian</a> reported. "Reducing human demand for resource-intensive animal protein would considerably slow the rate of global forest loss, with huge benefits for biodiversity and ecosystem services, in addition to carbon storage."</p>
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A loaf of homemade 100% whole wheat rustic bread, baked in a Dutch oven. Katrin Ray Shumakov / Moment / Getty Images
By Alexandra van Alebeek
As more home bakers rediscover how to capture wild yeast and turn it into nourishing loaves of bread, they are part of a growing kitchen movement standing up to the industrial food system.
<h4>Step 1: Capture Wild Yeast and Make Your Own Sourdough Starter</h4><p>Sourdough bread begins with the starter, made by capturing wild yeast from the environment and using it to ferment flour and water. Because yeast cultures vary depending on where you are, every sourdough starter tastes a little different. Here's how to make your own sourdough starter using an ancient grain.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjExMzMxNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MTQ2NDEyOX0.jGY4r59CxyOnen_Nh9Ao3vh7z3MpcMg_PiT3TSZDsMo/img.jpg?width=980" id="06d44" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="58000211b9ff2f8f0580334f25e81095" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>You'll need:</p><ul><li>A quart mason jar with lid</li><li>All-purpose einkorn flour</li><li>Water</li><li>A scale</li></ul>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjExMzMxNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NTc3ODQ4MX0.ElfxS4CODwDYMeiZBpG6Q0dwIxC9Ep7acyndSjNGz9M/img.jpg?width=980" id="9bd84" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6d9263f523f8c043d63ab9e10672ca36" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p><br>Day 1: Mix 60g of flour with 60g of water, and let it sit for 24 hours at room temperature. (Do not sterilize your jar. Your starter uses naturally occurring and varied yeasts and lactobacilli bacteria from your environment.)</p><p>Day 2-5: Repeat the flour-water feeding. You should notice bubbles around day 2 or 3 (exciting — your starter is alive!). Once this happens, store your starter in the refrigerator to slow fermentation.</p><p>Day 6: At this point you should have an active starter. Give it a name! Throw out half of your starter and give it a hearty meal of 100g flour and 100g water.</p><p>To keep your starter alive, you'll need to feed it equal parts water and flour every third day or so. I usually recommend 60g of water and 60g flour. If you're not planning to bake bread at the feeding time, throw out half the starter before feeding to keep your starter at a manageable size. It can take two to three bread-baking cycles before your starter is strong and yields predictable results. Professional bakeries have had their starters for generations.</p>
<h4>Step 2: Make Bread With an Ancient Grain</h4><p>Flour:</p><p>I chose einkorn wheat for this recipe. Einkorn was domesticated around 9000 B.C. Little about the grain has changed because it nearly became extinct and was never hybridized for industrial markets. Einkorn is noted for higher protein and nutrient content as well as gluten that is more digestible than that in industrial wheat. Emmer and spelt are also ancient grains that work for bread baking. You can experiment with different types and ratios of flour as long as the total added flour equals 500g. For example, if you're looking for a denser bread try a higher ratio of whole wheat flour.</p><p>Tools:</p><p>You might want to consider adding a couple of tools to your toolbox. Only the scale is absolutely necessary, but all will make bread-baking considerably easier.</p><ul><li>A scale</li><li>A cast-iron Dutch oven with lid</li><li>A banneton (or an 8-inch bowl with a heavily floured tea towel inside)</li><li>A lamé (or a razor or sharp serrated knife)</li></ul>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjExMzMxOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTI1NzAwN30.Z9dE0keP4aIt-NSmdcJHEi9DDoTCg6OhgfylgzC5Yjw/img.jpg?width=980" id="921b3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7aaf573ac96299f568473e46dbf9d7c7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>Time:</p><p>2.5 hours plus a 12-hour cold bulk fermentation.</p><p>Ingredients:</p><ul><li>100g mature sourdough starter</li><li>350g room temp. water</li><li>400g all-purpose einkorn flour</li><li>100g whole wheat einkorn flour</li><li>11g salt mixed with 20g water</li></ul><p>Instructions:</p><p>1. Add the starter, water, and flour in a bowl. Mix well so that no dry flour remains. The mixture will be quite sticky — do not worry. Let sit for 10–20 minutes.</p><p>2. Add the salt and water mixture to the bread dough. Incorporate, mixing only as much as necessary. Let sit 10–20 minutes.</p><p>3. Folding: In the bowl, grab the bottom of the north side of the dough. Stretch until just before it rips and then fold the dough towards you three-quarters of the way. Take the south side of the dough, stretch, and fold all the way over. Repeat this process with the east and west sides. Let the bread rest for 20 minutes. Then repeat this folding and resting step three more times.</p>
<p>4. Shaping: Lightly flour your work surface. Take the dough out of the bowl, and shape it so that it's rectangular, arranging it so that the short side faces you. Take the south side of the dough, stretch it, and fold it up three-quarters of the way. Take the east side of the bread, stretch it, and fold it up and to the left. Repeat this with the west side. Then take the north flap and fold it all the way over the bread. Roll the dough so that the folding seams are underneath, touching your counter.</p><p>Use your hands to push the dough away from your body and then tuck it back toward you, creating surface tension along the outside of the dough. Rotate the dough with each push and tuck and continue this motion until the boule is a uniform shape with strong surface tension. This is not kneading, but shaping. Most sourdough, including this one, is actually a no-knead bread. We want the natural yeast to do as much of the work as possible.</p><p>5. Place your bread seam-side up in a lightly floured banneton. Cover with a tea towel and place it in the refrigerator for 12 hours.</p><p>6. Next day, preheat your oven (with the Dutch oven in it) to 500 degrees. Take out the Dutch oven, and gently roll your bread into it directly from the refrigerator. Sprinkle some flour on the top and score the dough by slashing the top. Put the lid on the Dutch oven and bake the loaf for 25 minutes. Then take the lid off, and bake for another 15–20 minutes.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjExMzMyMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2Mzc5ODA0N30.ZOftUvP56GBBFHcfvCvz77bq9WkAbhXH9Z_snYe_okA/img.jpg?width=980" id="c7db1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="325ab4826d016678b2084d3b9fec37b7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>7. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven, and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes before slicing, sharing, and enjoying! </p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/building-bridges/home-baked-bread-20191128" target="_blank">YES! Magazine</a>.</em></p>
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By Alex Robinson
Leah Garcés used to hate poultry farmers.
The animal rights activist, who opposes factory farming, had an adversarial relationship with chicken farmers until around five years ago, when she sat down to listen to one. She met a poultry farmer called Craig Watts in rural North Carolina and learned that the problems stemming from factory farming extended beyond animal cruelty.
<p>"My anger toward him got replaced with the realization that he felt as trapped as the chickens," says Garcés, who is the president of animal rights group Mercy for Animals.</p><p>Ever since then, Garcés has been thinking about how she could work with farmers, rather than against them. In order to solve the problems of factory farming, she couldn't simply advocate to take away the livelihood of poultry farmers. She would need to offer a sustainable alternative.</p><p>This week, her organization, Mercy for Animals, is launching a new project called the <a href="https://thetransfarmationproject.org/" target="_blank">Transfarmation Project</a> which looks to transition poultry farmers into plant-based farmers.</p><em></em>
<div id="3a92f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="13D6H41576661150"><blockquote class="instagram-media"
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<div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC);
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B4x7rGwA4Qa/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif;
font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;
word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">Mercy For Animals on Instagram: “We're unveiling a revolutionary new project that will help farmers switch from farming animals to growing crops used for plant-based…”</a></p>
</div></blockquote></div><p>Most chicken farmers work under contract with large poultry companies, and many agree to take on considerable debt to do so. Advocates say that farmers often find themselves unable to pay off unsurmountable levels of debt, as they are on the hook for required upgrades and for when their livestock is devastated by disease. Groups that represent poultry farmers have argued that their contracts are too restrictive and that poultry companies often use unfair pay systems.<br></p><p>As an example for how farmers can transition, Mercy for Animals points to Mike Weaver, a former contract poultry farmer in West Virginia. Two years ago, Weaver decided he had had enough of raising chickens for Pilgrim's Pride and converted his barns into a hemp-growing operation. Weaver was able to pay off his debt, and he stresses the importance of doing so to farmers who want to get out of poultry farming.</p>
<p>"It's really easy when you get that chicken check to go buy a new pickup truck, or something for the kids, a piece of land or whatever suits your fancy," he says. "But the best advice I could give them is to get out from under that debt. Get that paid off so you're not a slave to the poultry company. Then you can decide what you want to do."</p><p>Through the Transfarmation Project, Mercy for Animals is hoping to create a network of farmers, innovators, engineers and advocates to tackle how they can help farmers leave poultry farming behind. The project aims to start by holding an incubator with a group of thinkers in the start of 2020. Then, Garcés says the group will run pilot projects with five to ten farmers.<br><br>It's unclear what will stop other farmers from simply taking the place of those that transition out of contract poultry farming, but Garcés says that's one of the problems the group will have to think through.</p><p>"I worry if we're just taking out what the industry would see as the squeaky wheels," she says.</p><p>Mercy for Animals is looking for poultry farmers who would be interested in participating in the project, and it hopes to connect with them through its website, <a href="http://www.thetransfarmationproject.org/" target="_blank">www.TheTransfarmationProject.org</a>.</p>
<p class=""><em><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://modernfarmer.com/2019/11/animal-rights-group-hopes-to-turn-poultry-farmers-into-plant-growers/" target="_blank">Modern Farmer</a>.</em><br/></em></p>From Your Site Articles
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On September 4, 2019, a loose chain of tropical cyclones lined up across the Western Hemisphere. Joshua Stevens / NASA Earth Observatory / NOAA / NESDIS
We're going to make this very simple. These are the 5 non-negotiable policies an ideal climate plan must include:
1. A Halt on All New Fossil Fuel Development
<div id="ebbb9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="T2NPPI1576661509"><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"> <div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"> </div></div><p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BsrBa_plUhH/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">AbolishFossilFuels on Instagram: “#Truth #AbolishFossilFuels #ActOnClimate #KeepItInTheGround #ExxonKnew #MniWiconi #WaterIsLife #ProtectTheSacred #NoBPP #NoLine9”</a></p> </div></blockquote></div><p>This means <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/campaign/ban-fracking-everywhere" target="_blank">banning fracking everywhere</a>, ending dangerous build-outs of pipelines and other harmful <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> infrastructure, banning public land extraction, and stopping the export of crude oil and natural gas. This also means excluding the use of market-based mechanisms like cap and trade or carbon taxes, which have been proven <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/sites/default/files/ibsp_1711_ejpaytopollute-webfin2_0.pdf" target="_blank">ineffective</a> at reducing fossil fuel use and production. The best policy cuts these emissions off at the source.</p>2. An Aggressive Timeline for a Shift to 100% Clean, Renewable Energy
<div id="48939" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1BJJJP1576661509"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1168660071510880257" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">"That conversation, it's starting to happen, but it is painfully slow and difficult." https://t.co/DXcUaZ8SiA @cleantechnica</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1168660071510880257">1567465248.0</a></blockquote></div><p>This means shifting to clean, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">renewable energies</a> (like wind, solar, tidal, or geothermal) by 2030, stopping the use of "<a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/sites/default/files/rpt_1807_rpsnationalscores-web4_0.pdf" target="_blank">clean washing</a>" (posing dirty energy like nuclear, wood, black liquor, waste methane, waste incineration, renewable energy credits, coal as clean), investing in expanded and better public mass transit, transitioning to zero-emission transportation, and promoting <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/insight/100-percent-clean-energy-2035-stop-global-warming" target="_blank">energy efficiency</a> and conservation across the country.</p>3. A Federal Commitment to Public Water
<div id="aa62f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="CPFD541576661509"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1168368229712109574" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Clean drinking water is a human right. And anyone who violates that right must be held accountable. I stand in soli… https://t.co/iB53mQNvDM</div> — Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan Omar)<a href="https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/statuses/1168368229712109574">1567395667.0</a></blockquote></div><p>This means dedicating at least <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/sites/default/files/fs_1902_waterjobsjustice-wateractupd2-web.pdf" target="_blank">$35 billion</a> each year to renovating our nation's deteriorating public water infrastructure; addressing water contamination from PFOA, PFOS and other PFASs (widespread, persistent lab-made toxics); replacing all lead service lines; stopping sewer overflows; dedicating money to help small, rural and indigenous communities; and promoting affordable water service for all regardless of income (see: <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/reps-lawrence-and-khanna-senator-sanders-introduce-water-act-address-water-justice-america" target="_blank">WATER Act</a>).</p>4. A Transition Away From Corporate Agriculture
<div id="0dc3f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="V93KW91576661509"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1169381876722753541" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">[email protected] — it's about more than personal choices with food. Any real climate plan must tackle agriculture meg… https://t.co/MymVFZYSyi</div> — Food & Water Action (@Food & Water Action)<a href="https://twitter.com/fwaction/statuses/1169381876722753541">1567637340.0</a></blockquote></div><p>This means <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/insight/urgent-case-ban-factory-farms" target="_blank">banning factory farming</a>, breaking up corporate agricultural consolidation, restoring control over agricultural siting and practices to local governments, holding vertically integrated companies accountable for the pollution created by the animals they own and rejecting false solutions like <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/agricultural-revolution-must-exclude-burning-animal-poop" target="_blank">manure-to-energy schemes</a>.</p>5. A Just, Fair, and Equitable Process
<div id="e1046" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="UWB2MD1576661509"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1110999367043842049" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Check out this new @foodandwater report -- Building Climate Justice: Investing in Energy Efficiency for a Fair and… https://t.co/nzwyFcJG25</div> — Frack Action (@Frack Action)<a href="https://twitter.com/FrackAction/statuses/1110999367043842049">1553717865.0</a></blockquote></div><p>This means substantially investing in upgrading the energy efficiency of our nation's buildings to create millions of high-quality jobs, targeting these <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/insight/building-climate-justice-investing-energy-efficiency-fair-and-just-transition" target="_blank">investments</a> in lower-income populations and communities of color in both urban and rural areas, implementing pro-labor policies to ensure green jobs are worker and union-friendly, and funding transition programs for fossil fuel workers.</p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/perfect-climate-plan-5-bullet-points" target="_blank">Food and Water Watch</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Trending
Beef Industry Takes the Biggest Bite Out of Earth's Natural Resources
23 May 2019
Insights + Opinion
A Highland Cattle bull in Scotland chewing hay.
georgeclerk / E+ / Getty Images
By Jennifer Molidor
One million species are at risk of extinction from human activity, warns a recent study by scientists with the United Nations. We need to cut greenhouse gas pollution across all sectors to avoid catastrophic climate change — and we need to do it fast, said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
This research should serve as a rallying cry for polluting industries to make major changes now. Yet the agriculture industry continues to lag behind.
<p>A recent move by the American <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/beef">beef</a> industry is no exception. Earlier this month, faced with its involvement in the planet's environmental crisis, the <a href="https://www.usrsb.org" target="_blank">U.S. Roundtable on Sustainable Beef</a> put together a voluntary framework to "assess" and "encourage" sustainability and hand out recognition certificates.</p><p>But it's totally inadequate. This framework lacks accountability, transparency and, above all, truth about beef's impacts.</p><p>Agriculture takes up <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/" target="_blank">more than a third of the world's land surface</a>, uses nearly 75 percent of freshwater resources and contributes up to 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a landmark new report from the <a href="https://www.ipbes.net" target="_blank">Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform</a> on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.<br></p><div id="47ad8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="S3BH461576661816"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1119306831849857024" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Infographic by supporter @sjcprojects
#cowspiracy #animalagriculture #environment #goolantbased #vegan https://t.co/K6DUzwiCQF</div> — Cowspiracy (@Cowspiracy)<a href="https://twitter.com/Cowspiracy/statuses/1119306831849857024">1555698519.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>In the agricultural industry, beef production takes the biggest bite out of the planet's natural resources. The <a href="https://www.takeextinctionoffyourplate.com/meat_and_wildlife.html" target="_blank">American beef addiction</a> creates the equivalent greenhouse gas emissions of 32.3 million cars. Crops grown to feed livestock in the U.S. take up nearly half the landmass of the lower 48 states.</p><p>Grazing cattle destroy vegetation, trample land, damage soils, contaminate waterways with fecal waste and disrupt natural ecosystem processes. And livestock-wildlife conflicts have contributed to the <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/wildlife_services/index.html" target="_blank">killing of millions of animals</a> every year and have been a key driver in the war against wolves.</p><p>To mitigate damage from this incredibly damaging industry, we need solutions with real teeth. In fact, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0594-0.epdf?referrer_access_token=eb7EMfTkiB4XO_9v8nm4qtRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0M2ZckU8PFAjFp2beHrcOXhHVPwiboHFjCLaVoEktOYmui1E_WbtCgUiW0GQ_D1Zsf9ikhdqzS9hAlJ2OYj63T9paYkbkbjbwbiMDtAsaaLIStmp4pVAf5k2WAYS1T_ySVFXQamjSmbZZOqgcbZWrei-uyC6A_FVQNeiIMKlcXtpL1l3TMhhDAAQ6xoEU683VobvCaltof2ZDm9A_x8ewm3aE1grEmYGSaX-15gO-mrGHeES5P4KA1gOWLnVn00bkBcDXu1v4909po_iwh_KZ1Z&tracking_referrer=www.theguardian.com" target="_blank">scientific research</a> shows that the U.S. needs to reduce consumption of beef by 90 percent to meet climate targets.</p><p>Unfortunately the beef industry has long fought environmental protections like <a href="https://www.epa.gov/wotus-rule" target="_blank">the Clean Water Rule</a>, which attempts to hold the industry accountable for pollution that threatens drinking water and wildlife habitats.</p><p>The industry has also attempted to strong-arm state and federal policymakers into preventing producers of plant-based foods from using the words "meat" and "milk" on their products. Beef lobbyists have argued against including sustainability in the federal government's Dietary Guidelines for Americans.</p>
<p>Rather than addressing the industry's underhanded approach to environmental policy or acknowledging the fundamental problems with mass-scale beef production, the roundtable has turned to <a href="https://foe.org/50-groups-denounce-roundtable-sustainable-beef-greenwash/" target="_blank">greenwashing</a>.</p><p>Bringing together stakeholders to identify the harms of beef production is a step in the right direction, but this framework is a bit like Big Tobacco releasing advice for safe smoking. It fails to admit that beef is bad for the planet, particularly at current rates of consumption. It also falls short of creating clear steps to address that problem.</p><p>What's worse, the framework is intentionally weak – seeking to appease beef producers instead of working to build trust with consumers by acknowledging hard truths about this destructive industry.</p><p>These weaknesses likely grew from the <a href="https://www.usrsb.org/" target="_blank">roundtable's</a> very makeup. It is composed of beef producers and processors, along with giant corporations like McDonald's, Taco Bell, Walmart and Costco in the retail and food service sector, and public advocates. The members claim to represent 30 percent of the nation's cattle and produce 20 billion pounds of beef.</p><p>That scale of production means the roundtable can also take credit for largely contributing to <a href="https://www.takeextinctionoffyourplate.com/extinction_facts/pdfs/BurgerFactsheet.pdf" target="_blank">544 billion pounds of greenhouses gases</a> and 784 billion pounds of manure per year. Its members also use more than 1 billion acres of land and <a href="https://www.takeextinctionoffyourplate.com/extinction_facts/" target="_blank">30 trillion gallons of water</a>.</p><p>With impacts that big, the public is a stakeholder. <br></p><p>It's time for the roundtable to stop catering to its polluting members. Beef producers need to earn our trust, not claim it. And until they're ready to do so, we must support policies, retailers and producers shifting our food system away from excess meat and dairy and toward more plant-based foods.</p>
<p><em>Jennifer Molidor is a senior food campaigner with the <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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Seen is a general view of a blocked major intersection in the flooded Townsville suburb of Idalia on Feb. 04, 2019 in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Ian Hitchcock / Getty Images
An estimated 500,000 are feared dead after historic floods inundated Queensland, Australia, according to News.com.au, citing the state's cattle industry.
Financial losses are estimated at $300 million Australian dollars (about $212 million U.S.).
<p>
Days of "unprecedented" rainfall earlier this month led to widespread flooding across the state, causing power outages, damaging roads and buildings and prompting evacuations, according to <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/australia-historic-flooding-to-continue-worsen-across-queensland-into-the-new-week/70007305" target="_blank">AccuWeather</a>. Some areas, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/11/up-to-500000-drought-stressed-cattle-killed-in-queensland-floods" target="_blank">Guardian</a> noted, received three years' worth of rain in about a week.
</p><p>
Tragically, farmers in northwest Queensland initially welcomed the rains, as the region had suffered years of back-to-back <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought">drought</a>, according to Michael Guerin, the CEO of Queenlands agricultural body AgForce.
</p><p>
"The loss of hundreds of thousands of cattle after five, six, seven years of drought, is a debilitating blow not just to individual farmers, many of whom have lost literally everything, but to rural communities," he said in a <a href="https://www.agforceqld.org.au/index.php?tgtPage=news&id=view,779" target="_blank">press release</a>.
</p><p>
Guerin said the cattle industry could take decades to recover after the entire herds of cattle were wiped out from the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather">extreme weather</a>.
</p><p>
"There is no doubt that this is a disaster of unprecedented proportion," he said. He urged governments of all levels and other agencies to help the farmers with recovery efforts.<span></span>
</p><p>
Local farmers expressed heartbreak at the sheer scale of destruction caused by the floods, not just for cattle but to other native wildlife and to infrastructure.
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"As we begin to access our paddocks we are being confronted with death and devastation at every turn," Kate Hunter, who works at the Gipsy Plains Brahmans farm, wrote in a widely shared <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jacqueline.curley.969/posts/2306986465992800" target="_blank">Facebook post</a>. "There are kangaroos dead in trees and fences, birds drowned in drifts of silt and debris and our beloved bovine family lay perished in piles where they have been huddling for protection and warmth. This scene is mirrored across the entire region, it is absolutely soul destroying to think our animals suffered like this."
</p><p>
"The true scale of destruction this disaster has left in its wake we are only just beginning to discover," she continued. "The sheer amount of water that engulfed the region has demolished fences, exposed pipelines, destroyed water infrastructure, created huge gullies that were once only small seasonal streams, turned roads into rivers and completely washed dam banks away."
</p><p>
<span></span>Hunter wrote that graziers around the district are "working tirelessly" to save all the animals they can and also to humanely euthanize the ones that are "sadly beyond saving."
</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bc249fa9b09d829f9d6b06e6b9b78ae4"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/kate.hunter.2085/posts/10214090787886874"></div></div><p>
"This is an absolutely gut wrenching time for all of us out here, these cattle are not just our source of income, firstly they are our family and for many of us our life's passion," she continued.
</p><p>
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Monday that the federal government will provide an immediate non-gratia payment of $1 million to each of the affected Queensland shires.
</p><p>
"This payment will be for them to use on priorities they deem most urgent—whether that be rate relief for impacted properties, infrastructure, or the disposal of cattle which have perished," he said, as quoted by the <a href="https://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/5897960/flood-hit-qld-shires-to-get-1-million/" target="_blank">Australian Associated Press</a>.
</p>
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- Disaster Declared as Australian City Sees a Year's Worth of Rainfall ... ›
- Extreme Rainfall in Australia Forces Evacuations, Could Flood ... ›
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Worldwide, industrial agriculture is pushing into grasslands, wetlands and forests. Jan Fidler / CC BY. 2.0
By Ronnie Cummins
A new study calling for a "radical rethink" of the relationship between policymakers and corporations reinforces what Organic Consumers Association and other public interest groups have been saying for years: Our triple global health crises of deteriorating public health, world hunger and global warming share common root causes—and that the best way to address these crises is to address what they all have in common: an unhealthy, inequitable food system perpetuated by a political and economic system largely driven by corporate profit.
<p>The study, the result of three years of work by 26 commissioners from several countries, was released this week by the <a href="https://www.worldobesity.org/what-we-do/projects/lancet-commission-on-obesity" target="_blank">Lancet Commission on Obesity</a>. Boyd Swinburn, a University of Auckland professor and co-chair of the commission, as <a href="https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/lancet-report-obesity-hunger-climate-change-health-major-rethink-11174206" target="_blank">reported</a> by Channel News Asia, said:</p><p>"Until now, undernutrition and obesity have been seen as polar opposites of either too few or too many calories. In reality, they are both driven by the same unhealthy, inequitable food systems, underpinned by the same political economy."</p><p>According to the report, nearly a billion people are hungry and another 2 billion are eating too much of the wrong foods, causing epidemics of obesity, heart disease and diabetes.</p><p>Boyd said that malnutrition in all its forms, including undernutrition and obesity, is by far the biggest cause of ill health and premature death globally, and that both are expected to be made "significantly worse" by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate change</a>.</p><h2>A Familiar, But Welcome Call for Reform</h2><p>We have long called for the reform of our <a href="https://www.organicconsumers.org/essays/degeneration-nation-connecting-dots-between-factory-farms-roundup-gmos-and-fake-natural-foods" target="_blank">degenerative</a> industrial agriculture system. We've drawn attention to the impact of industrial agriculture on global warming and deteriorating health. And we've highlighted the remarkable <a href="https://regenerationinternational.org/2018/10/09/reversing-climate-change-through-regenerative-agriculture/" target="_blank">potential</a> for organic <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/regenerative-agriculture">regenerative agriculture</a> to naturally draw down and sequester carbon, through nature's own photosynthesis.</p><p>We've also called on global policymakers to connect the dots between <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25012019/climate-change-agriculture-farming-consolidation-corn-soybeans-meat-crop-subsidies?utm_source=InsideClimate+News&utm_campaign=3ef9f9564e-&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-3ef9f9564e-327914821" target="_blank">degenerative agriculture</a>, poor health and climate change.</p><p>We've said all along that the influence of self-serving corporations over policy is largely to blame for U.S. and global policymakers' collective failure to address our degenerative food and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/farming">farming</a> system, and the devastation that system has wrought on human health and the environment.</p><p>This latest study comes at a time when climate scientists have sounded their most urgent and alarming <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/08/global-warming-must-not-exceed-15c-warns-landmark-un-report" target="_blank">warnings</a> to date. It also comes at a time of keen interest in a <a href="https://www.organicconsumers.org/essays/why-we-endorse-greennewdeal-and-how-we-plan-support-it" target="_blank">Green New Deal</a>, whose backers are calling for nothing less than radical solutions to the most pressing issues of our time.</p><h2>Degeneration Nation: The Frightening Truth</h2><p>Welcome to Degeneration Nation, where the frightening truth is this: <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/big-food">Big Food</a> companies, fast food chains, chemical and seed giants such as <a href="https://www.organicconsumers.org/campaigns/millions-against-monsanto" target="_blank">Bayer/Monsanto</a>, and corporate <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agribusiness">agribusiness</a>, aided and abetted by indentured politicians in both the Republican and Democratic parties, are slowly but surely poisoning us with unhealthy, nutrient-deficient, contaminated food.</p><p>The <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides">pesticides</a>, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/gmo-genetically-modified-organism/">GMOs</a>, hormone disruptors and antibiotic residues in non-<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/organic">organic</a> produce, grains and meat, coupled with the excessive sugar, salt and bad fats in the processed foods and beverages that make up the majority of the American diet, have supersized and degenerated the body politic. An epidemic of chronic diseases directly related to our toxic food and environment has spread across the U.S. and much of the world.</p><p>The overwhelming evidence is that human health is seriously deteriorating, and that the underlying causes of this health crisis are directly related not only to our highly toxic industrial practices, but also to our degenerate food, farming and land-management practices.</p><p>In the agricultural sector alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/pesticides/" target="_blank">identifies</a> more than 1,400 pesticides and 1,800 so-called "inerts" chemicals in use, in addition to a toxic stew of animal drugs, antibiotics, synthetic fertilizers and GMOs. Few of these have been properly tested, singly or in combination, for safety.</p><p>The public health and economic consequences of our degraded environment and food system are alarming. A recent Rand Corporation <a href="https://www.rand.org/blog/rand-review/2017/07/chronic-conditions-in-america-price-and-prevalence.html" target="_blank">study</a> found that 60 percent of Americans suffer from at least one chronic health condition, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and arthritis; 42 percent have two or more; and that these chronic diseases now account for more than 40 percent of the entire U.S. health care spending of $3.5 trillion. </p><p>One out of every two Americans will get <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/cancer">cancer</a> at least once in their lifetime. According to recent <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/health/1-in-2-people-will-get-cancer" target="_blank">research</a>, U.S. men born in 1960 have a lifetime cancer risk of 53.5 percent. For women, it's 47.5 percent. </p><p>Seventy percent of U.S. <a href="http://www.care2.com/greenliving/monsantos-roundup-found-in-70-of-drinking-water.html" target="_blank">drinking water</a> is contaminated with <a href="https://www.organicconsumers.org/campaigns/millions-against-monsanto" target="_blank">Monsanto</a>'s top-selling herbicide, <a href="https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/monsantos-roundup-enough-make-you-sick" target="_blank">Roundup</a>, while <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/glyphosate-found-in-urine-of-93-percent-of-americans-tested-1891146755.html" target="_self">93 percent</a> of consumers now have traces of this toxic poison (active ingredient <a href="https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/glyphosate-fact-sheet" target="_blank">glyphosate</a>) in our urine. </p><p>The authors of "What's Making Our Children Sick?" <a href="https://www.organicconsumers.org/blog/can-food-focused-medicine-cure-food-related-disease" target="_blank">report</a> that one in 13 U.S. children have serious food allergies; 6 to 24 percent have serious intestinal problems; 20 percent are obese; 60 percent have chronic headaches; 20 percent suffer from mental disorders and depression. One in every 41 boys and one in every 68 girls are now diagnosed with autism.</p><p>Beyond destroying our health, chemical and fossil fuel-intensive factory farms and GMO monocultures are polluting our <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/farms-more-productive-than-ever-are-poisoning-drinking-water-in-rural-america-11547826031" target="_blank">water</a> and <a href="http://environmentalintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/FACT-SHEET-on-air-pollution-from-factory-farms.pdf" target="_blank">air</a>, degrading our <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/12/third-of-earths-soil-acutely-degraded-due-to-agriculture-study" target="_blank">soils</a>, forests and wetlands, killing off biodiversity and heating up the planet.</p><p>The delicate rhythms of nature—the Earth's carbon cycle circulating between the atmosphere, oceans, soils and forests, the water or hydrological cycle and the climate—are unraveling.</p><h2>Cook Organic, Not the Planet</h2><p>The Lancet Obesity Commission study is clear: Climate change, obesity and poor nutrition can all be linked in some way to the mass production of processed, nutrient-poor food. This is an idea that doesn't get as much attention as it should.</p><p>When most people think about climate-destabilizing greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the impact of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuels</a>—our non-renewable fossil fuel-based energy system for transportation and for utilities and manufacturing, including the construction and the heating and cooling of our homes, offices and buildings.</p><p>What few people understand is that a full <a href="http://grain.org/e/5102" target="_blank">44 to 57 percent</a> of all global GHG emissions are generated by chemical- and fossil fuel-intensive industrial farm production, food processing, packaging, refrigeration, transportation and destructive land-use practices, such as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation">deforestation</a>, heavy plowing, lack of cover crops and wetlands destruction. </p><p>Let's take a closer look at the 44 to 57 percent of human GHG emissions coming from our industrial, GMO, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/factory-farming">factory farm</a> food system, and compare how transitioning to <a href="http://regenerationinternational.org/why-regenerative-agriculture/" target="_blank">regenerative</a> food, farming and land-management practices would not only drastically reduce these emissions, but actually draw down excess atmospheric carbon and sequester it in our soils, trees and wetlands—and in the process, produce more nutrient-dense, chemical-free food.</p><h2>Direct Use of Oil and Gas in Farming: 11 to 15 Percent</h2><p>Most climate analysts agree that fossil fuel use on farms and ranches, including chemical farm inputs (fertilizers and pesticides), is responsible for at least 11 to 15 percent of all global CO2, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/methane">methane</a> and nitrous oxide emissions. Most of these emissions come from the use of fossil fuel-powered farm and irrigation equipment and petroleum-derived <a href="https://www.organicconsumers.org/essays/monsanto%E2%80%99s-evil-twin-disturbing-facts-about-fertilizer-industry" target="_blank">chemical fertilizers</a> and pesticides.</p><p>In addition, the excess manure generated by factory farms, or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) as the industry calls them, releases significant quantities of methane and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans">oceans</a>.</p><p>How can we reduce these on-farm emissions? By converting chemical- and energy-intensive farms to organic and regenerative crop production and planned rotational grazing and free range livestock production. This will require a combination of conscious consumers and farmers working together, on a local-to-global scale to reject factory farm, GMO, chemically tainted, highly processed food, and radical changes in public policy and investment practices.</p><h2>Food- and Farming-Derived Deforestation: 15 to 18 Percent</h2><p>Global "land use change" or deforestation is generally recognized as contributing to approximately 20 percent of all GHG emissions over the past 200 years.</p><p>The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says that expansion of agriculture, especially for export crops such as GMO soybeans (primarily for animal feed) in Latin America, or <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/palm-oil">palm oil</a> (for biofuels and processed food) in Asia, accounts for 70 to 90 percent of global deforestation.</p><p>Worldwide, industrial agriculture is pushing into grasslands, wetlands and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/forests">forests</a>, destroying what were previously carbon-sequestering forests and grasslands. Food and farming's contribution to deforestation thus accounts for 15 to 18 percent of global GHG emissions.</p><p>Over the next 50 years we need to preserve the forests we have left, and plant and nurture a trillion or more new trees. Since the areas of tropical forest deforestation are also the areas of greatest poverty and unemployment, reforestation and forest restoration can provide several hundred million jobs to those local residents and forest dwellers who need them most.</p><h2>Food Transport / Food Miles: 5 to 6 Percent</h2><p>Globally it is generally agreed that transportation accounts for 20 to 25 percent of all GHG emissions. According to the <a href="https://www.organicconsumers.org/sites/default/files/etc-whowillfeedus.pdf" target="_blank">ETC group</a>, "we can conservatively estimate that the transportation of food accounts for a quarter of global GHG emissions linked to transportation, or 5-6 percent of all global GHG emissions." In the U.S. it is commonly estimated that the average food item in your grocery store or restaurant has travelled 1,500 miles before it reaches its final destination. Multi-ingredient processed foods burn up even more food miles.</p><p>If we are to significantly reduce global emissions we will need to drastically reduce the food miles and carbon footprint of our food purchases and focus on fresh non-processed or minimally processed and packaged food produced locally and regionally, including food produced through <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/urban-farming">urban agriculture</a>. Before the second World War most food consumed in the U.S. and other industrialized nations came from a 100-mile radius of where people lived. During the Second World War, 40 to 50 percent of all food consumed by Americans came from urban "Victory Gardens," while 30 percent of all food in Great Britain similarly came from urban gardens.</p><h2>Food Processing / Packaging: 8 to 10 Percent</h2><p>Food processing has become a major part of the industrial food chain. In the U.S., the overwhelming majority of food purchased in grocery stores or restaurants (<a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2013/03/12/life/big-book/processed-foods-make-70-percent-us-diet" target="_blank">70 percent</a>) is processed food. </p><p>ETC group <a href="https://www.organicconsumers.org/sites/default/files/etc-whowillfeedus.pdf" target="_blank">states</a> that the " ... transformation of foods into ready-made meals, snacks and beverages requires an enormous amount of energy, mostly in the form of carbon. So does the packaging and canning of these foods. Processing and packaging enables the food industry to stack the shelves of supermarkets and convenience stores with hundreds of different formats and brands, but it also generates a huge amount of greenhouse gas emissions—some 8 to 10 percent of the global total."</p><p>More and more consumers are recognizing that highly processed food, whether served at home or in fast food restaurants is bad for our health, and that wasteful packaging, misleading advertising and plastic bags and packages are harmful both to our health (especially <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/well/chemicals-food-children-health.html" target="_blank">children's health</a>) and to our environment, including the oceans.</p><p>This awareness has caused a boom in sales of fresh organic produce and animal products in natural and organic food stores and farmer's markets. Many cities and even entire nations are now moving toward banning plastic bags. Unfortunately, U.S. consumers still spend almost half of their food dollars eating in restaurants and fast food outlets where highly processed, packaged foods dominate the menu. Similarly, in schools and cafeterias pre-cooked processed foods delivered by food service conglomerates have displayed hand-cooked meals prepared from fresh ingredients.</p><p>If we are to reduce the 8 to 10 percent of global fossil fuel emissions coming from food processing and packaging we will need to get back to healthy, organic, regionally produced foods, cooked from scratch with natural ingredients. This will not only benefit our health but will also be better for the health of the climate and the environment.</p><h2>Food Refrigeration & Retail: 2 to 4 Percent</h2><p>Approximately 15 percent of all global electricity consumption is for cooling and refrigeration. Of course global food sourcing depends upon keeping fresh produce and animal products cold.</p><p>As ETC group <a href="https://www.organicconsumers.org/sites/default/files/etc-whowillfeedus.pdf" target="_blank">says</a>: "Considering that cooling is responsible for 15 percent of all electricity consumption worldwide, and that leaks of chemical refrigerants are a major source of GHGs, we can safely say that the refrigeration of foods accounts for some 1-2 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions. The retailing of foods accounts for another 1-2 percent."</p><p>Again, reducing our food miles, buying locally and regionally—this is not only good for the planet, but good for our health and the economic well-being of our local farmers and ranchers as well. Until the electricity grid is converted over to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a>, food refrigeration, and refrigeration in general (especially air conditioning), will continue to belch out an unsustainable amount of greenhouse gases.</p><p>In the meantime we can all do our part, not only by turning down our thermostats, but by buying fresh foods produced locally and regionally, pressuring politicians to require local purchasing for schools and institutions, or better yet, by growing some of our own.</p><h2>Throwing Food Into Landfills Instead of Composting: 3 to 4 Percent</h2><p>Our industrial food and farming system currently discards 30 to 50 percent of all the crops and the food that is produced. Not only is this a prodigious waste of the fossil fuel energy and labor involved in producing this food, but the food waste itself generally ends up in garbage dumps and landfills, (rather than being converted into compost) releasing substantial amounts of methane and other GHGs.</p><p>Quoting again from ETC Group: "Between 3.5-4.5 percent of global GHG emissions come from waste, and over 90 percent of these are produced by materials originating within the food system."</p><p>Our planet has five pools or repositories where greenhouse gases are absorbed and stored: the oceans, the atmosphere, the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/soil">soils</a>, vegetation (plants, especially perennial plants, grasses, and forests) and hydrocarbon deposits.</p><p>Our global challenge over the next 25 years is to stop putting more carbon into the atmosphere and the oceans, leave the remaining fossil fuels (oil, coal, uranium and natural gas) in the ground, and move a critical mass of excess atmospheric carbon (250 billion tons of carbon) back into the soil, by transitioning to regenerative food, farming and land-use practices. By doing this we will not only be able to reverse global warming—we'll also produce healthier food and healthier people.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="52f67" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="E6XPDI1576661820"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1086055569646071808" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">A Call for the Food Movement to Rally Behind the Green New Deal https://t.co/RrxyYDJUmH</div> — Non-GMO Project (@Non-GMO Project)<a href="https://twitter.com/NonGMOProject/statuses/1086055569646071808">1547770800.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/01/28/new-study-confirms-degenerative-food-farming-system-poses-mortal-threat" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em><br></p>
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Animal protection groups rescued piglets from a flood at the "Big Ditch" levee in Oakville, Iowa in 2008. Farm Sanctuary / Flickr
On Thursday the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa struck down the Iowa Ag-Gag law, holding that the ban on undercover investigations at factory farms and slaughterhouses violates the First Amendment. In 2017, a coalition of animal, environmental and community advocacy groups, including Center for Food Safety, challenged the law's constitutionality. Federal courts have similarly struck down Ag-Gag laws in Idaho and Utah as unconstitutional.
<p>Iowa's Ag-Gag law criminalizes undercover investigations at a broad range of animal facilities including factory farms, puppy mills and slaughterhouses; preventing advocates from exposing animal cruelty, environmental harm, workers' rights infractions and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/food/">food</a> safety violations. The law achieved its goal of suppressing undercover investigations—no investigations have taken place since the law's passage in 2012. </p><p>"Ag-Gag laws unconstitutionally allow Industrial Ag to hide in the darkness, and today's decision is another important pulling back of that curtain," said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of Center for Food Safety. "This decision is a victory for all those who support humane treatment of farm animals and safe food."</p><p>For more than a century, the public has relied on undercover investigations to expose illegal and cruel practices on factory farms and slaughterhouses. No federal laws govern the conditions in which farmed animals are raised, and laws addressing slaughter and transport are laxly enforced. Undercover investigations are the primary avenue through which the public receives information about animal agriculture operations. Iowa is the biggest producer of pigs raised for meat and hens raised for eggs in the U.S., making it critically important that investigations there are not suppressed.</p><p>"Ag-Gag laws are a pernicious attempt by animal exploitation industries to hide some of the worst forms of animal abuse in the United States," said <a href="https://aldf.org" target="_blank">Animal Legal Defense Fund</a> Executive Director Stephen Wells. "Today's victory makes it clear that the government cannot protect these industries at the expense of our constitutional rights."</p><p>Center for Food Safety is also co-counsel and co-plaintiff in another case successfully striking down Idaho's Ag-Gag law in 2017, and part of ongoing cases in North Carolina and Kansas.</p><p>A copy of the decision is available upon request (please email us at [email protected]).</p><p>The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are the Animal Legal Defense Fund, <a href="http://iowacci.org" target="_blank">Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement</a>, <a href="https://bailingoutbenji.com" target="_blank">Bailing Out Benji</a>, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (<a href="https://www.peta.org/" target="_blank">PETA</a>) and Center for Food Safety. They are represented by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Iowa, Public Justice, the Law Office of Matthew Strugar and Center for Food Safety.</p>
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</p><div id="7fc16" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="LY9X381576661811"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1060910158539194368" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">This Victorious California Ballot Measure Could Improve the Lives of Farm Animals Nationwide https://t.co/EITIAYdOCl</div> — SSF-BERF-DEFM (@SSF-BERF-DEFM)<a href="https://twitter.com/SSF_BERF_DEFM/statuses/1060910158539194368">1541775667.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Here’s What Agriculture of the Future Looks Like: The Multiple Benefits of Regenerative Agriculture Quantified
20 September 2018
Food
rotofrank / iStock / Getty Images Plus
By Ricardo Salvador
At the Union of Concerned Scientists, we have long advocated agricultural systems that are productive and better for the environment, the economy, farmers, farmworkers and eaters than the dominant industrial system. We refer to such a system as our Healthy Farm vision. Based on comprehensive science, we have specified that healthy farm systems must be multifunctional, biodiverse, interconnected and regenerative.
<p>The <a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/stl/sciprg/2017/00000100/00000001/art00006" target="_blank">scientific case</a> for agricultural systems that renew rather than diminish resources is comprehensive, and <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/114/42/11247" target="_blank">research demonstrates</a> the productivity and agronomic feasibility of such systems. Yet, economically viable real-world examples are necessary to spur acceptance and adoption of such schemes. Further, we need to overcome the limitations of economic thinking and measures that were developed in the 19th century—when it seemed that the earth's resources and its capacity to absorb waste were inexhaustible—and improve them to create more modern assessments, appropriate for the 21st century and beyond. A new report from our colleagues at <a href="http://www.farmlandlp.com/" target="_blank">Farmland LP</a>, <a href="https://delta-institute.org/" target="_blank">Delta Institute</a> and <a href="http://www.eartheconomics.org/" target="_blank">Earth Economics</a> will make a major contribution toward this end.</p><p><a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/legacy/food_and_agriculture/solutions/advance-sustainable-agriculture/healthy-farm-vision/index.htm?_ga=2.193929773.1200024297.1537281860-480935064.1536353414" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="https://cdn.blog.ucsusa.org/wp-content/uploads/fa-blog-healthy-farm-vision.png"></a></p><p class="caption"><em>Our World In Data</em></p><p>Economists view <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agriculture">agriculture</a> as a primary sector of the economy, meaning that without the activity of that sector, the remainder of the economy (such as manufacturing and service) could not be developed. Together with other primary economic enterprises such as mining and forestry, agriculture has generally been practiced and acknowledged as an extractive industry. Whereas mining is visibly extractive, agriculture is less so, because degradative processes such as soil erosion, fertility loss, and water and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution">air pollution</a> are not as obvious as mountaintop removal and strip mining. Yet, as practiced industrially, agriculture is both extractive and more extensive than mining.</p><p><a href="https://cdn.blog.ucsusa.org/wp-content/uploads/fa-blog-land-use-food-production.png" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="https://cdn.blog.ucsusa.org/wp-content/uploads/fa-blog-land-use-food-production.png"></a></p><p>Extractive agricultural practices are abetted by strategies such as importing nutrients to compensate for loss of native <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/soil">soil</a> fertility and by the fact that we value the gains from the extraction but don't discount the losses. For example, we measure crop and animal yield and translate that to sales and profit, but don't subtract from the ledger the soil, nutrients, air and water quality lost to produce crops and livestock. One superficial reason for this is that we don't know the "cost" of those resources, but that is simply a polite way to say that historically we don't value them. This is a perfect example of the nostrum that we measure what we care about and care about what we measure.</p><p>Yet, agriculture need not be inherently extractive. Through practices that build soil, recycle nutrients and store <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/water">water</a> it can become a regenerative system while still providing abundant food and other agricultural products. A key to shift from extractive to regenerative mode is to build a more complete picture of the total benefits and costs associated with agricultural management. For nearly a decade, the investment firm Farmland LP has been managing thousands of acres with regenerative techniques, thereby providing an opportunity for scientists and economists to assess the value of these practices to soil, water, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate</a>, energy and social sectors. The Delta Institute and Earth Economics, with grant support from the Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, worked with Farmland LP on just such a project.</p><p>Based on a comprehensive review of scientific literature examining the value of various ecosystem services, the researchers applied the rigorous methodologies of Ecosystem Services Valuation and Greenhouse Gas Accounting to assess the effects of farm management on items such as soil formation and quality, water capture and quality, pollination and seed dispersal, climate stability, disaster risk reduction, air quality and biological control. Using Colorado State University's <a href="http://cometfarm.nrel.colostate.edu/" target="_blank">COMET-Farm model</a>, and the USDA's <a href="https://www.ars.usda.gov/southeast-area/oxford-ms/national-sedimentation-laboratory/watershed-physical-processes-research/research/rusle2/revised-universal-soil-loss-equation-2-overview-of-rusle2/" target="_blank">Revised Universal Soil Los Equation</a>, the researchers evaluated the effect of regenerative techniques on farmed and non-farmed land under Farmland LP's management. They compared these model outputs with those from land managed conventionally to construct a comprehensive impact balance sheet.</p><p>The sums cited in <a href="http://bit.ly/EcosystemServiceReport" target="_blank">this report</a> are astounding, ascending into the millions of dollars of added ecological value from regenerative process—against millions of dollars of ecological losses due to standard industrial practices. The practices Farmland LP implements are well-known, backed by science and practice, and accessible to all farmers and farm managers with an interest in managing whole systems to increase returns to management. Examples include integrated crop and livestock production, crop rotation, biodiverse annual and perennial mixes, stream buffers, grassed waterways, organic fertilizers, biological pest control and uncultivated land to provide ecological services (erosion control, water capture, habitat and refugia for beneficial organisms.) The combination of these regenerative methods generated net value while industrial methods destroyed value—all while performing comparably on the dominant indicator of agricultural yield.</p><p><a href="https://cdn.blog.ucsusa.org/wp-content/uploads/fa-blog-esv-table.png?_ga=2.97920927.1200024297.1537281860-480935064.1536353414" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="https://cdn.blog.ucsusa.org/wp-content/uploads/fa-blog-esv-table.png"></a></p><p class="caption"><em>Delta Institute (See <a href="http://bit.ly/EcosystemServiceReport" target="_blank">report</a> for methods, context and further data.)</em></p><p>This assessment affirms the concrete value and effectiveness of multifunctional regenerative approaches. Since many of these ecosystem services are not currently quantified—much less traded—on markets that would remunerate farmers, the benefits are primarily experienced by way of cleaner environment, lower costs of production and added value of agricultural land. This is because land managed with regenerative practices will produce bountifully, at lower cost and for an indeterminate period of time, whereas the value of industrially managed land depends on false and brittle economies, such as access to government subsidies and the availability of cheap industrial fertilizer.</p><p>In fact, the main business of Farmland LP, a real estate investment trust, is to add long-term value to agricultural land for landowners and investors. A remarkable aspect of this strategy and business model, in addition to more faithfully reflecting actual ecological economics, is how quickly Farmland LP management has been able to produce results. In addition to demonstrating the effectiveness of regenerative methods, these findings indicate the kinds of practices that should be more broadly adopted across all of agriculture to assure our livelihood at present and far into the future.</p><p>The skilled agronomists and farm managers at Farmland LP, together with the rigorous scientists and economists who have developed and used the ecosystem evaluation technique, are demonstrating that regenerative agriculture is not an aspirational figment. It is real, it is possible, it is productive, it is profitable and it is environmentally beneficial. These things can all exist with one another. A successful business model is predicated on this. As long as reliable scientific information influences decisions and behavior, this report provides a beacon toward more viable, ethical and realistic agricultural practice for the long term.</p>
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</p><div id="5807c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8QNYOX1576661896"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="919524530640621568" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">How to Start a Regenerative Agriculture Movement in Your Community https://t.co/Gc8vxs7R3a @foeeurope @globalactplan @Green_Europe</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/919524530640621568">1508066706.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p><em>Ricardo Salvador is director of the food and environment program at the <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/" target="_blank">Union of Concerned Scientists</a>.</em><br></p>
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