Meat and climate change: it might be the system, not the meat that matters

by: mental_masala

Fri Aug 07, 2009 at 22:25:17 PM PDT

A guest post by Maine farmer Eliot Coleman over at Grist got under my skin today.  With a provocative title -- "Debunking the meat/climate change myth" -- and a maddening lack of focus and specificity, he eventually comes to the point that it isn't meat that adds to the climate crisis, but the industrial agriculture system.

Although much of the piece drove me crazy, I can't argue with his overall conclusion that much of the meat's climate change impact can be placed at the feet of industrial agriculture and our nation-spanning food system. Items like the production of soy and corn using chemical fertilizer (emission of N2O), transporting feed and animals (emission of CO2), use of machines (CO2), and so on, contribute a significant amount to the carbon footprint of meat. 

Organic farmers ask Vilsack to make organic mean organic

by: jgoodman

Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 21:25:16 PM PDT

While the cause of falling milk prices for organic dairy farmers had its beginnings during the Bush administration, Vilsack has inherited the fallout.

Secretary Vilsack listened as farmers told him their stories.  

USDA Needs Strict Organic Standards

by: jgoodman

Sat Nov 29, 2008 at 08:00:00 AM PST

I just finished reading Man Without a Country and Vonnegut specifically made a point to telling us we needed to make that statement often, at appropriate times of course, so we really thought about the present and appreciated the good things in life while we enjoyed them.

I personally think, as we move into the shopping season, that enjoying a good meal with our family and friends is of far greater value, more lasting value than spending money on gifts that may not be needed and are soon forgotten.