Putting obesity out of business
Boston Globe - 7/24/2009.By Ellen Goodman – ... Now that two-thirds of Americans are overweight, the lethal effects of fat are catching up to those of cigarette smoke. We regularly hear the cha-ching of obesity costs in the healthcare debate. And we are beginning to see that Overweight America is not some collective collapse of national willpower, but a business plan. |
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Chilean salmon industry plunges into an abyss of pesticides and antibiotics
Grist - 7/24/2009.By Tom Philpott – Ninety percent of the salmon consumed in the United States comes from factory-style farms – most of it imported. Until very recently, our biggest supplier was Chile – whose salmon industry is in a state of collapse, ravaged by a virus called “infectious salmon anemia.” |
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Farms and Antibiotics
New York Times - 7/23/2009.Editorial – The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that 70 percent of the antibiotics used in this country are fed to farm animals. These animals do not receive these drugs the way humans do – as discrete short-term doses. Agricultural antibiotics are a regular feed supplement intended to increase growth and lessen the chance of infection in crowded, industrial farms. |
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Phosphorus matters II; keeping phosphorus on farms
Energy Bulletin - 7/23/2009. By Marcin Gerwin – “Next to clean water, phosphorus will be one the inexorable limits to human occupancy on this planet” wrote Bill Mollison in Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual more than 20 years ago (1). It is that important that we design phosphorus recycling into our food systems. Phosphorus is an essential element for growing crops and no porridge, chocolate bar or cherry jam can be made without it. |
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