Eating as Though the Environment Mattered

Bruce Friedrich's Eating as Though the Environment Mattered discusses the major impacts different diets have on the environment.The article highlights the damage caused by meat production and consumption including that "eating meat causes more global warming than everything else combined" and that "the meat industry causes global poverty." Read the whole article on the Huff Post GREEN blog.

Huff Post GREEN

No More Bees Means No More Food!

The Salt on NPR explains that the declining bee populations could have a catastrophic affect on crops, ergo no more bees means no more food! In many ways, bee pollination is synonymous with and totally necessary for life itself.  Listen to the story Bee Deaths May Have Reached a Crisis Point for Crops and find out how you can help save the bees for your sake and the sake of generations to come. Below is a chart that shows the percentage of bee colony fatalities in the United States, highlighting a 9.2 pt. increase in mortality during the 2012-2013 season.

Winter Loss Survey, Bee Informed

A Vegan Diet Could Save Your Life

Mark Bittman Talks "Vegan Before 6"

This article on the Huff Post: Healthy Living blog talks about how becoming a part-time vegan or a "vegan before 6" can help with a variety of health problems including losing weight and lowering cholesterol levels. Mark Bittman abstains from eating any kind of animal product or processed white flower foods before dinner, and he claims to have dramatically improved his health in the process. Would you consider becoming a part-time vegan in order to lose weight or improve your overall health and well-being? Personally, I was a vegan for about two years and I found the diet constraints to be a little challenging. Now, I still eat a mostly vegan diet with the exception of really good fancy cheese, dark chocolate, and the occasional fried egg. Bittman's "vegan before 6" doesn't sound like it would be too difficult to ease into, and the health benefits seem to be significant. To learn more about what it means to be a vegan, visit Vegan.org.



Justin Timberlake - Bring It On Down 2... by IdolxMuzic

Huff Post GREEN: Industrialized Factory Farming

Huffington Post GREEN: First Ag-Gag, Now the Name Game

Paul Shapiro, the V.P. of Farm Animal Protection within the Humane Society of the United States, wrote this article in the Huff Post GREEN blog about the poor treatment of farm animals under the current system of industrialized animal agriculture, highlighting the pork industry in particular. Shapiro states that the practices involved in factory farming are the root causes behind the failing industrialized animal agribusiness. Instead of trying to improve the conditions of factory farms, businesses are electing to cover up the ill-treatment of farm animals through "Ag-Gag" laws and other methods of public deceit. Read the full article by clicking on the link above.


This video shows a debate that CNN hosted about the issue of Ag-Gag laws.

L.A. Vegan Beer Fest

L.A. Vegan Beer & Food Fest

Harrisonburg, Virginia is a long way from Los Angeles, California, but I stumbled upon this advertisement for a Vegan Beer Festival and I just had to share it. So if you find yourself on the west coast on May 4th, check out the wide selection of yummy vegan food options and local vegan beer. Do your part in reducing methane emissions from industrialized animal farms and try some Southern Fried Vegan BBQ! Also, let me know if you know of anything like this locally in the comments.

Eat Sustainably Today!

Millan.net Animations

When you pick out your lunch today, keep in mind all of the creatures, great and small, human and animal alike, that your food choices might affect. Make sustainable, earth friendly food choices!

World Food Programme

Freerice.com

Another important aspect of food sustainability and environmental security is making sure that people around the globe have enough food to eat. The World Food Programme is an organization that works to fight worldwide hunger. One way that you can help bring food to the people who need it the most is to simply play a word game on Freerice.com. You are given a word and you must decide the correct definition from a list of choices. For each word you get correct, ten grains of rice are donated to the United Nations World Food Programme. So in addition to buying healthy and sustainable foods for yourself, reach out to others in need and help them get enough nutritional food to eat. Also, check out the World Food Programme website to find out about more ways that you can make a difference.

Food Politics

Happy 5th Birthday: Pew Commission

Foodpolitics.com

Marion Nestle, author of the book Food Politics, shares valuable insight about the politics involved in food production and distribution in her blog. Check out this link to an article about the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, specifically the report Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America. Nestle was a member of the Commission herself, and she explains in her article that the  most concerning aspect of industrialized farming is the "overuse of antibiotics and the shocking environmental impact of vast amounts of animal waste."

A Bushel of What?: Orzo Salad

A Bushel of What?: Orzo Salad: Yesterday was my birthday. I celebrated by hanging out with my two favorite boys (one little, one big) and doing nothing special, in particu...


Above is an excerpt from a food blog called A Bushel of What? The site has a number of yummy looking recipes that incorporate different organic and sustainable ingredients. Check out this recipe for an orzo salad.

Farmers vs. Frackers

Organic farmer Greg Swartz explains that nearby fracking operations are causing serious environmental issues on his Willow Wisp Organic Farm near the Delaware River in northern Pennsylvania. Fracking has also been linked to a number of detrimental health problems. Watch the video to learn more about the serious risks that fracking operations pose on both the environment and human safety.

Visit the Ecocentric blog for more information about Greg Swartz's farm and the issue of fracking.