This Georgia rancher might be our best hope for a sustainable future
Ride shotgun on this game-changing farm in “One Hundred Thousand Beating Hearts,” streaming now on Salon Premium
Regenerative Farming Trailblazers: How Reintegrating Livestock and Restoring Soils Can Lead to More Resilient Farms
https://blog.ucsusa.org/marcia-delonge/regenerative-farming-can-lead-to-more-resilient-farms
Wrapped in a Sea of Plastic
Half a century of this “uncontrolled experiment” is fast becoming as serious a problem as climate change
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/03/31/wrapped-sea-plastic
U.S. Asks China to ‘Immediately Halt’ Ban on Foreign Waste
Last year, China—the world’s largest importer of waste—announced it no longer wanted to take in other countries’ trash so it could focus on its own pollution problems.
https://www.ecowatch.com/us-china-foreign-waste-2553215414.html
US Electricity: Natural Gas & Coal Fall, While Renewables Continue to Rise
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) does not reduce carbon emissions – no carbon trading system will – and it actually protects and entrenches fossil fuel development, instead of fighting it.
https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/carbon-markets-foolish-climate-policy-big-banks-can-love
Scotland’s floating wind farm is showing how powerful offshore wind can be
Brazilian School Districts Make Historic Switch to 100% Plant-Based Meals
https://www.ecowatch.com/brazil-schools-plant-based-meals-2553155526.html
NHL Goes Green ‘to Ensure Hockey Thrives for Future Generations’
https://www.ecowatch.com/nhl-climate-change-ice-sustainability-2554505394.html
Buried, altered, silenced: 4 ways government climate information has changed since Trump took office
EPA accused of urging staff to downplay climate change after memo leaks
Scientists say an internal Environmental Protection Agency document encourages the use of misleading statements about scientific certainty
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/29/epa-climate-change-memo-downplay-scientists
Ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup spray linked to shorter pregnancies
Norway Aims for Electric Planes to Help Slow Climate Change
https://www.ecowatch.com/norway-electric-planes-2551833011.html
Good news about renewables: but the heat is still on to cut fossil fuel use
New data shows global emissions are at a historic high. Political leaders must now consider imposing serious penalties
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/25/renewables-good-news-heat-on-cut-fossil-fuel-use
Bad news for the climate: Coal burning, and carbon emissions, are on the rise again
The unstoppable rise of veganism: how a fringe movement went mainstream
Health, climate change, animal welfare… what’s driving more people and brands to embrace a plant-based lifestyle? We investigate, and, below, four vegans explain their choice
9 Different Kinds of Salt: Which Is the Healthiest?
https://www.ecowatch.com/9-different-kinds-of-salt-which-is-the-healthiest-1891079937.html
Popular Beer and Wine Brands Contaminated With Monsanto’s Weedkiller, Tests Reveal
In 2016, beer testing in Germany also revealed residues of glyphosate in every single sample tested, even independent beers.
https://www.ecowatch.com/glyphosate-wine-beer-testing-2553632957.html
From ‘Sea to Shining Sea,’ Industrial Ag Fouls America’s Waterways
Given agriculture’s role in destroying our most precious natural resource,
you’d think the U.S. Congress would do everything in its power to protect your water.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/03/22/sea-shining-sea-industrial-ag-fouls-americas-waterways
‘Dead zone’ in Gulf of Mexico will take decades to recover from farm pollution
A new study says that even in the ‘unrealistic’ event of a total halt to the flow of agricultural chemicals the damage will persist for 30 years
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/22/dead-zone-gulf-of-mexico-decades-recover-study
After Maria, Puerto Ricans Cultivate Food Sovereignty While FEMA Delivered Skittles & Cheez-Its
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/21/after_maria_puerto_ricans_cultivate_food
Digging Deep: Harnessing the Power of Soil Microbes for More Sustainable Farming
Berkeley Lab’s ‘farm of the future’ project marries microbiology and machine learning
http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2018/03/14/_more_sustainable_farming/
UK farmers to be given first ever targets on soil health
New bill will be first step by ministers to protect and restore soil as fears grow over a future soil fertility crisis
Can Livestock Help the Adoption of Cover Crops?
https://www.drovers.com/article/can-livestock-help-adoption-cover-crops
General Mills is transitioning 53 square miles of South Dakota farmland to certified organic.
http://www.stormlake.com/articles/2018/03/21/crops-are-changing
DEFENDANTS ACQUITTED BASED ON CLIMATE NECESSITY DEFENSE
https://popularresistance.org/defendants-acquitted-based-on-climate-necessity-defense/
Our Criminal Justice System Serves to Protect the Villains
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/our-criminal-justice-system-serves-to-protect-the-villains/
Texas sinkholes: oil and gas drilling increases threat, scientists warn
Ground rising and falling in region that has been ‘punctured like a pin cushion’ since the 1940s, new study finds
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/27/texas-sinkholes-oil-gas-scientists-report
Egged on by industry lobbyists, Interior Dept. weakens bird protections
Boycott Factory Farm Foods: But Don’t Forget the Fish
In the U.S., 90-95 percent of all dairy, meat and poultry come from industrial-scale factory farms, while more than half of all fish consumed comes from factory-scale fish farms.
https://www.ecowatch.com/industrial-agriculture-problems-boycott-2554509022.html
EPA to Lower Car Emissions Standards
Driving the wrong way: cheap gasoline means demand for gas guzzlers increases
Methane from permafrost melt more than thought
“Our study shows for the first time that the methane-forming micro-organisms in the thawing permafrost have significant influence on the greenhouse gas budget”
https://climatenewsnetwork.net/methane-from-permafrost-melt-more-than-thought/
Hotting up: how climate change could swallow Louisiana’s Tabasco island
With thousands of square miles of land already lost along the coast,
Avery Island, home of the famed hot sauce, faces being marooned
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/27/climate-change-louisiana-tabasco-avery-island
Skepticism greets bill promoting environmentally friendly farms
https://bartonchronicle.com/skepticism-greets-bill-promoting-environmentally-friendly-farms/
U.N. Reports See Lonelier Planet With Fewer Plants, Animals
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/u-n-reports-see-lonelier-planet-with-fewer-plants-animals/
Promoting healthy soil
“It was really a must to change the farming landscape in this area,” recalled Roland. “We were in a really desperate situation, financially and also bankrupting the soil. It was almost imperative that we get rid of summer fallow and keep some cover on the land and build back the organic matter.”
http://www.minotdailynews.com/news/local-news/2018/03/promoting-healthy-soil/
Conservation Funding Expected to Lag Behind When Farmers Need it Most
Government programs that support healthy soils, crop diversity, and wildlife habitat are popular among farmers
—so why aren’t they slated to get more farm bill funding?
Top UN panel paints bleak picture of world’s ecosystems
Scientists call on intergovernmental biodiversity body to boost influence and shift focus to policy development.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-03891-1
Soil is at the heart of sustainable agriculture
https://www.ft.com/content/b4ac996c-3281-11e8-b5bf-23cb17fd1498
Health and Harmony: the future for food, farming and the environment in a Green Brexit