• Investigations
  • Opinion & Analysis
  • Cartoons
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Language
    • 中文
    • русский
    • Español
  • National News
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Elections
  • Civil Liberties
  • Environment
  • Health & Lifestyle
  • Media & Culture
  • MyMPN Announcements

Your Dinner Vs. The Planet: The High Cost Of Meat

February 11, 2015 By Farhaanah Ali 3 Comments

Is it necessary for humans to eat meat at the scale we currently do?

Taking note of the sheer number of vegetarian and vegan diets practised everyday it is clear we do not need meat, even if we enjoy eating it. D’Silva, in her journal, written in 2000 for Compassion in World Farming Trust, wrote that cutting out “the costly inefficient factory farmed animal ‘protein converter’” would increase the amount protein we can get straight from the source. This would mean more people could be fed on less food, a positive step in reducing world hunger.

There are a number of potential health issues that may arise with the over-consumption of meat every day and for every meal; obesity has already become a big issue in America, and Europe is catching up. Nierenberg wrote in 2003 that eating meat every day is a more recent phenomenon — until the industrialisation of the process, meat was generally only eaten on special occasions and, even then, largely by the rich.

Filed Under: Environment, Health & Lifestyle Tagged With: agriculture, American Legislative Exchange Council, Asia, climate, Climate change, Compassion in World Farming Trust, confined animal feeding operation, cows, Danielle Nierenberg, diet, drought, England, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, farming, food, Gasland, Global Food Security, goats, greenhouse gas, health, industrial agriculture, Jonathan A. Foley, Joyce D’Silva, land, land grabs, land use, local food, locavore, Maiak factory, meat, methane, nitrous oxide, pollution, ranching, sheep, sustainability, UK, United Kingdom, vegetarianism, water

Gardens Of Hope: Can Seed Libraries Be Saved From ALEC?

January 9, 2015 By Kate Lanier 6 Comments

Back in August, we learned of a crack-down in Pennslyvania due to certain activity at the Joseph T. Simpson Library in Mechanicsburg, activity so serious the state dispatched “a high-ranking official and lawyers to a meeting with the library.” Whatever had happened at this otherwise innocent-looking location to warrant such a response?

It seems the Simpson Library was in violation of the Pennsylvania Seed Act of 2004. A member of the Cumberland County Commission, where Mechanicsburg is located, quickly raised her voice and exclaimed, “Agri-terrorism.” Other Commissioners, however, more calmly wondered why the state had taken such interest in the local seed lending library, one among some 340 community libraries across the country at that time which had small seed-sharing programs.

Seeds brought to the library are carefully labeled, placed in small paper or plastic envelopes, then filed, typically using those wooden card catalogs of yesterday. Library patrons check out or “borrow” seeds and take them home to grow in the spring. If the seeds result in a good harvest, gardeners collect some seeds from the plants they’ve grown and replenish the library’s holdings the following fall.

Filed Under: Environment, Health & Lifestyle, National News Tagged With: agri-terrorism, agriculture, ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, big agriculture, biodiversity, California, climate, Climate change, Colombia, corn, Cumberland County, Cumberland County Commission, David Svik, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Duluth, Duluth City Council, Duluth Library, Europe, food, gardening, gardens, genetic engineering, GMO Food, hay, Indonesia, industrial agriculture, International Year of the Soil, land grabs, libraries, library, library science, local food, locavore, Maryland, Mechanicsburg, Minnesota, Minnesota Agriculture Department, Navdanya, Nebraska, Nebraska Legislature, Oregonw, oseph T. Simpson Library, Pennslyvania, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Pennsylvania Seed Act of 2004, Pre-Emption of Local Agricultural Laws Act, rainwater collection, Richmond, Roger Reinert, San Francisco, seed library, seed swap, seed-lending library, seeds, small farms, soybeans, UN Food and Agricultural Organization, United Nations, University of San Francisco, Vandana Shiva, water, wheat

Attack Of The Land-grabbers: Land Grabs Beyond Africa

December 30, 2014 By Burkely Hermann Leave a Comment

Before going further, it is important to recognize that land grabs are not only happening in Africa and, while there is a “global rush to lock up African farmland” by state-owned companies and private investors, different investors have different motives. [21] One group of investors are Arab investors, who have the appeal “that Islam has made significant inroads in Africa, creating cultural and religious links” in their land grabs.

Within this group are Saudi investors, who began a push, thanks to the support of the royal Saudi government and its dictator King Abdullah II in 2008, to “acquire cropland abroad and grow food for export to the homeland.”

Some of these land grabs include the acquisition of land in Ethiopia, in 2009, to grow rice and in Sudan to grow wheat, corn, and soybeans for export to Saudi Arabia. [26] For the land grab in Ethiopia, every day a group of 1,000 locals pick, pack, and load “hundreds of tons of fresh production onto waiting trucks. After reaching the capital, Addis Ababa, the product is flown to a handful of Middle Eastern cities, entirely bypassing Ethiopia, one of the hungriest places on the planet” as Nancy MacDonald describes it.

Filed Under: Civil Liberties, Foreign Affairs Tagged With: Abu Dhabi, Africa, agriculture, Bangalore, Bank of America, Beidahuang Land Cultivation Group, Benin, Black Earth Farming, Black River Asset Management, BlackRock, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, China, Credit Suisse, Daewoo Logistics, Democratic Republic of Congo, Derrick Jensen, Deustche Bank, Dow Chemical, Ethiopia, farming, farms, Human Rights, Hyundai, India, indigenous, industrial agriculture, Islam, Joel K. Bourne, Karaturi Global, Kenya, land, land grabs, land rights, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, MENA, Michael Klare, Middle East, Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation, Moldova, Mozambique, Nancy MacDonald, New York City, Orion magazine, Paul Kantira, Philippines, Qatar, Rana Kapoor, rice, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, soy, subsistence farming, Sudan, sugarcane, Susan Payne, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Zimbabwe

Next Page »
The file does not exist View/Post/small_loop.php

About MyMPN

MyMPN is MintPress News' community site. Anyone can participate by writing a diary and commenting on others' diaries.

Content posted to MyMPN is the opinion of the author alone, and should not be attributed to MintPress News.

MyMPN will cease publishing on January 15, 2017. Thank you for your support of our work.

  • More about MyMPN
  • Report site problems and bugs
  • MyMPN Comment Moderation

Follow Mintpress

RSSTwitterFacebookGooglePlus

Our Latest Posts

In The Age Of Trump, Peaceful Revolt Is Our Only Option

By Kevin Patrick Kelly January 11, 2017

Hafizah Geter Gives Moving Poetic ‘Testimony’ At Medgar Evers College

By José Negroni January 10, 2017

Gonzo Journalism Rejects The Myth Of The Neutral Media

By Dr. Milena Rampoldi January 9, 2017

Aleppo: How The US Manipulates Humanitarianism For Imperialism

By Steven Chovanec January 6, 2017

Why One ‘Remain’ Voter Now Supports A Hard Brexit

By Tara Lighten Msiska January 5, 2017

Hawaiian Kingdom, American Empire: An Interview With Professor Keanu Sai

By Dennis Riches January 4, 2017

War Against Rape In Karachi: Advocating For A Rape Free Society

By Dr. Milena Rampoldi December 30, 2016

What’s In A Name? From ‘Al-Qaeda’ To The ‘Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia’

By Nu’man Abd al-Wahid December 29, 2016

Popular Tags

activism Africa American imperialism Barack Obama Canada capitalism Climate change democracy Democratic Party Donald Trump Egypt election 2016 energy fracking history Human Rights inequality Iraq ISIS Islam Islamic State Israel journalism MENA Middle East mining nuclear oil Palestine police poverty prison propaganda racism Republican Party Russia Saudi Arabia Syria terrorism Texas United Kingdom United Nations Wall Street War water

Sign up for our Daily Newsletter

Copyright © 2022 Mint Press, LLC