industrial livestock production
Industrial livestock operations (aka factory farms) threaten human health, damage the environment, degrade rural communities and compromise animal welfare. This series explores the issue… in all its manure-spewing, pestilent repugnance.
California’s Central Valley and New York’s Suffolk County may be miles away in geography and in culture, but both share the problem of nitrate contaminated drinking water as shown in two separate studies. The question is, how long can this pollution be tolerated?
People often take their drinking water for granted. So is it any wonder that many Americans aren’t aware of the more than 30-year old National Drinking Water Week (May 6-12)? Maybe it's time to start caring more.
For Earth Day we highlight the differences between the environmental challenges of 70s and now through photos taken then and now. Nowadays, it's what you don't see that can cause all the problems.
Should the poultry industry be responsible for policing itself? The presence of banned antibiotics in the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future/Arizona State University feather meal study released last week would seem to suggest not.
In the U.S., we pride ourselves on being the best of the best. However, there is one area where the U.S. leads which should deeply concern us all. Agricultural use of antibiotics.
While each immigrant story carries its own unique lessons for modern life, in the case of the Irish Diaspora, one of the most useful takeaways lies in the tragic role that unsustainable agricultural practices played in leading to the mass starvation and exodus of the Irish people.
The industrial livestock sector's misuse of antibiotics promotes the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, reducing the effectiveness of medicines used to treat human illness, and posing a serious threat to public health.
For over a century, whistleblowers have shown consumers that industrial food production is a far cry from the traditional family farm image invoked by food marketers. But increasingly, those who expose truths that threaten the profits of big business are becoming targets for legal action.
An interview with environmental photographer J. Henry Fair, who shoots industrial scars on the land from a up high in a plane. Fair discusses his photography, voting and environmental responsibility and why which toilet paper you choose is important.
In a precedent-setting decision, a federal district court judge in Washington State ordered a CAFO (aka, a “factory farm”) to monitor groundwater, drainage and soil for illegal pollution resulting from its inadequate manure management practices in violation of the Clean Water Act.
Ever think about how much energy goes into your food? In the U.S., it takes about 10 units of fossil energy to produce one unit of food energy.
Barring any cataclysmic events, here are our predicted trends for 2012 in Food, Water and Energy (Fwenergy, if you will). And while there are no doomsday scenarios, not everything looks rosy for 2012.
Drinking Water Week Blues: Nitrate Pollution from Coast to Coast
Toward a More Energy Efficient Food System
