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Mon Mar 08, 2010 at 23:43:53 PM PST
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- The NYT reported on how Blanche Lincoln is caught in a pickle, trapped between election opponents on both the right and the left. I've got very little sympathy for her.
- Obesity risks start before birth. It's a new article but not a new idea. It's also a very good article.
- Kathleen Merrigan recently gave a talk at The New School. See it here.
- Hmm, here's some old news recycled as new news. It's from FarmPolicy.com, reporting on Vilsack's perception of U.S. agriculture. They quote heavily from a talk that I was present at, back in October. You can see my write-up here. I don't quite agree with the assessment of Vilsack provided on FarmPolicy.com. Organic CAN feed the world. That's exactly the point, and Vilsack doesn't get it.
- Want to know where your milk is from? Check out WhereIsMyMilkFrom.com.
- This NYT piece on Crop Mob made quite a splash. It's an idea we've been doing here in San Diego too (although we aren't the focus of the piece) where a group of volunteers gather on a farm and work on whatever needs to be done for a day. In San Diego we do this for home gardens primarily instead of farms. I've been jokingly calling them "garden raisings" because they remind me of Amish barn raisings, where the entire community comes together to help one member of the community build a barn in a day.
- How sick is this? "Nutrients For Life" is holding a contest for Future Farmers of America chapters (i.e. middle school and high school students), asking them to promote chemical fertilizer. They are giving away $60,000 in prizes. If you check out their website it is quite an amazing greenwash job. (The Rodale Institute is holding a competing contest for FFA members to make 2-minute videos promoting sustainable ag.)
- The LA Times has an interesting piece on plans in CA to convert cow poo to energy.
- Gahhh! Haven't we had enough Free Trade Agreements? Why do we need a Trans-Pacific one? This past week, Congress held a hearing and invited R-CALF's CEO to testify on his organization's opposition to the Trans-Pacific FTA. My big question is: Why are other countries silly enough to keep signing FTAs with us, if they've already got over a decade of results from our previous FTAs to look at?
- Can I hug Marion Nestle? Check out what she's saying about soda consumption in schools. Get the vending machines out of schools. Woohoo!
- Here's some obvious news: calorie labeling on menus has a bigger effect if the menu also tells you how many calories you SHOULD be eating:
Seeing that an appetizer is over 1000 calories doesn't really hit home until you realize you should only be eating about 2000 calories per day and that appetizer will get you half way there!
- Hey, how about another toxic chemical (antimony) that leaches from plastic bottles into your drinks? Only in very small quantities apparently, but geez already - how many toxins are we consuming without knowing it?
- Here's another one from Marion Nestle: Three year olds recognize food brands. Yup, I could've told her that. Our three year old doesn't know a square from a triangle and she can't recognize any numbers or letters, but by god, she can point out the brand logo for the food she wants to eat. ESPECIALLY when there's a kids cartoon character or a cute animal on the package.
- Civil Eats loves pluots (a cross between a plum and an apricot). I love stone fruit but I wouldn't say that pluots are my favorite. I get most excited when the cherries show up at the market, even though I can't afford them.
- Change.org says "We can't fix obesity one candy bar at a time." Nope, we need big lifestyle changes. That means taking time to eat, taking time to cook, and taking time to grow or otherwise obtain good food. And, believe it or not, you can have fun and spend "quality" time with your family or friends while doing this. Just don't expect to escape without a lot of messes in the kitchen to clean up.
- Kathleen Sebelius is recruiting Olympic athletes for "Let's Move," Michelle Obama's anti-childhood obesity campaign. Imagine that! Getting the most physically fit people in the nation to advocate for something other than McDonalds. I like it! Although I'll be quite disgusted if I see any athletes advocating for BOTH Let's Move and McDonalds.
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| Jill Richardson :: Sampler Platter |
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