Hazon Food Conference

I would be amiss if I did not put a plug out for the Hazon Food Conference coming up Dec. 24-27 in California. It is a great conference in a great location - right on the ocean. Like all of Hazon's events, the Food Conference builds a strong, joyous Jewish community in a weekend. It is also packed with educational opportunities (I am speaking, for one) across a range of topic areas. I like to go to the experiential cooking instructors, the political advocates and the farmers. I also go to network and meet people from the West Coast which has a much stronger sustainable food culture than we do. If you are interested, sign up quick!

NPR, Yahoo! and the Washington Post

Boy, the message about the issues with industrial farming are finally making and making and making prime-time. On Wed 12/9, not one, not two, but three major sources of information had segments on the issues.

NPR had a segment on industrial dairy farms in New Mexico, the resulting ground water contamination, and the public's reactions;Yahoo's Healthy Living section had a segment on food experts won't eat including among others, corn-fed beef, farmed salmon, canned tomatoes and microwave popcorn; and the Washington Post Health and Science section had an article on food safety which focused on how industrially produced food makes tainted food hard to avoid.

It is a hot hot issue!

Food and Climate Change

I (along with many scientists) believe that agriculture's affect on the environment is being seriously underplayed and overlooked in Copenhagen as well as by the US government. As you probably already know, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change began in Copenhagen this week. Some folks have already dubbed it a failure because preliminary climate change negotiations didn't work and they believe no accord will be adopted that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I think that it is vitally important to do my part to add to the conversation about agriculture's impact on the environment and climate change. The Cool Foods Campaign has a good list of agriculture's contributions to climate change. They say, "It is imperative that the world shift away from industrial food systems and toward an ecological, organic food paradigm if we are to adequately address climate change." Their list doesn't address industrial animal agriculture specifically, but does recommend a shift away from industrial to sustainable (organic) farming practices.