Everybody Eats: The Unifying Power of Food via WorldChanging
By Sharon Hoyer
There probably isn’t a single issue of sustainability and health that consistently strikes as passionate a chord as the production, distribution and preparation of food. It makes sense—what we take into our bodies is a very tangible part of our constitution; if we truly are what we eat, than what we choose to eat sends a powerful message about our relationship with the world.
Perhaps this is why the food movement so successfully unites people from all hues of the political spectrum. Case in point: the cover of last month’s American Conservative was a treatise on how food movements like Locavorism and Slow Food exemplify conservative values.
In "Food for Thought," John Schwenkler makes the case that good food—food unmitigated by government subsidies and...
Columbia Professor Dickson Despommier has generated a fair amount of attention with his concept for "vertical farms," stacked, self-contained urban biosystems that would -- theoretically -- supply fresh produce for city residents year round. The New York Times showcased outlandish artists' conceptions of what such farms might look like. Colbert did his shtick. Twelve pilot projects are supposedly under consideration, in locations as far-flung as China and Dubai.
The concept has captured the imagination of at least the sliver of the public (including the editors at Worldchanging), who laments the enormous resource demands of our food production system and yearns for something easier on the land, easier on our aquifers, and less demanding of fossil fuels. Vertical farms seem to... 
British opposition to genetically modified crops is on the rise, prompting security concerns at research laboratories across the country.
Nearly all 54 U.K. pesticide-resistant crop trials attempted in the past eight years have been attacked, according to media reports. Protesters are destroying the experimental crops to prevent biotechnology companies from spreading genetically modified organisms (GMOs) more widely in Europe and the developing world.
As protests become more fierce in the United Kingdom and more accepted in other parts of the world, this mounting attention highlights stark differences in the acceptance of GMOs.
The research sites are the latest battlefield in the fight over GM crops. The biotechnology industry and several government leaders say the crops may... 
Dell, Jones and Olken say we can already see that higher temperatures reduce growth by more in poorer countries:
This paper uses annual variation in temperature and precipitation over the past 50 years to examine the impact of climatic changes on economic activity throughout the world. We find three primary results. First, higher temperatures substantially reduce economic growth in poor countries but have little effect in rich countries. Second, higher temperatures appear to reduce growth rates in poor countries, rather than just the level of output. Third, higher temperatures have wide-ranging effects in poor nations, reducing agricultural output, industrial output, and aggregate investment, and increasing political instability. Analysis of decade or longer climate shifts also shows... 
Earlier this week, on a spring day in April, John Stubblefield walked past the blue tanks of striped bass, Atlantic sea bream, and cobia stored inside a Baltimore, Maryland, laboratory. "In this tank, it's spring in May. This tank it's spring in September," he said.
At the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute's Center for Marine Biotechnology, Stubblefield and his fellow researchers are not only altering nature, they are creating what may be the next generation of seafood.
The experiment uses city-supplied water and a complex microbial filtration system to raise a few hundred fish completely indoors. Yonathan Zohar, the center's director and the study's leader, said it is the first indoor marine aquaculture system that can re-circulate nearly all of its water and... 
We've written a lot about getting your food in cities in, well, unconventional manners: forget urban farming, we're talking about engaging in urban foraging and guerrilla gardening, harvesting free fruit or taking up the 100 yard diet.
For me, the value of these ideas is less that they offer practical tools for filling dietary needs (though local food is, by and large, a good idea), than that they offer provocative insight into the cultural distances we've created between ourselves and the sources of our sustenance.
But a couple friends of mine have kept ribbing me about meat: where's the protein in the diet of urban omnivores?
So, for their sake, I offer two pieces full of insight, from right here in Seattle and up the road in Vancouver:
The 100-Mile-an-Hour Diet:
A car isn't... 
Earlier this year, we were asked to come up with an idea for a design conference that presented a solution around the theme of food. The problem we chose to address was climate change -- specifically the impact of climate change on agriculture. Our solution was an imagined organization that would offer online resources, network-building tools and seeds to farmers who needed to adapt their practices as their land changed due to warming. It was a fictional concept, envisioned as something that might exist a decade from now, but the predictions and speculations it was based on are real and already exist, developed in response to current environmental trends. And there are real organizations out there already establishing resource banks, collecting citizen observations, and setting in... 
Farmers typically live modest, if not downright poor lives, working unforgiving swathes of land to earn their keep and fill their plates. We romanticize the farm life from the fast-paced and crowded vantage point of the modern city, but the romance only goes so far. The reality of ceaseless hard labor and unpredictable profits makes a stable office job nice and comfy, which is why farmers have been moving cityward for ages, leaving the agricultural life behind and seeking more lucrative occupations. True, there's been a resurgence of interest and enthusiasm for urban farming, but the reason for starting and maintaining urban farms still generally have more to do with either health benefits, gourmet cachet or plain survival, than with an entrepreneurial opportunity. Except, maybe, in... 
Nothing is more personal than food. It forces us to make decisions every day that have real and immediate impact, which means learning about what we're eating and figuring out how to make good choices is essential. As environmental issues move to the forefront of public consciousness, the meaning of a good choice doesn't just have to do with a food pyramid or a nutrition label, but with knowing where your food came from, how it got to you, and who was involved in that process. Food is one of the primary subjects with which we deal when talking about backstory, since it's one of the most accessible means of understanding the life of an item prior to its arrival in your hand. In many ways, food is also one of the best and easiest places to push for a change in that backstory, whether... 
In the Northeast England town of Middlesbrough, a summer-long community project is about to ensue, during which over 1,000 town citizens will demonstrate the potential for a self-sustaining food supply through small-scale urban agriculture. The project is a part of dott07 (of which Worldchanging ally, John Thackara is Program Director ), a year-long series of community projects, events and exhibitions focused on achieving regional sustainability and exploring how design plays a part in the process. The Urban Farming component employs design through a collection of garden containers of various sizes placed throughout Middlesbrough, which effectively install an edible landscape in the town's public spaces. That landscape also becomes interactive and encourages community engagement as... 
Most of the time when we think of Fair Trade products, we think of supporting small farmers outside the US who struggle to earn livable wages and to receive adequate payment for their goods. But a coalition of farmers in the Midwest wants to encourage the same kind of committed support we give to imported Fair Trade products for goods farmed domestically. Wholesome Harvest raises organic meat on a network of forty farms throughout the Midwest and sells it in supermarkets (and online) through processors who've been approved by their members. The goal is to provide absolute traceability, transparency and access to backstory for their customers -- a particularly important set of values in the meat industry, where bacterial contamination is more common than in produce, and often can't be... 
by Worldchanging Los Angeles local blogger Jennifer Murphy Last week we adopted two more chickens from Path to Freedom. We've had backyard chickens for almost three years now. It's been a rewarding experience. They are easy, entertaining and inexpensive to keep. Like home-grown vegetables, home-raised chickens connect our family to the cycles of the earth, make us more self-sufficient, and provide delicious healthy eggs for the table. As homeschoolers, we've found many learning opportunities arising from these feathery friends running around the yard. We got our original chickens from Path to Freedom too. Those two were in need of a home after being raised by the school next door as a science project. Now the Dervaes are hatching and raising chicks themselves to sell as part of their... 
A group of computer scientists and economic geographers in the UK put their heads together over the last few months to address a challenge in food systems design. As they see it, the Fair Trade movement faces obstacles to widespread adoption due to an ongoing divide between Northern consumers and Southern producers, as well as a lack of direct, specific information for customers about particular products. Their Fair Tracing Project proposes to enhance the growth of equitable global trade systems by adding digital tracing technology to individual items so that they can be tracked, and their stories recorded, as they move from farm to table. At each stage of the product’s journey, information may be added and/or edited and, if the information is stored digitally on the internet, may... 
For better or worse, most people acquire eating habits as kids that remain ingrained into adulthood. Of course plenty of you out there grew up on Doritos and now live on sprouts, but the majority tend to stick with what we know. Therefore, the best way to create a healthy adult is to teach a kid to eat right. At Doors of Perception this week, we've been focused on addressing food issues through design. One great project we learned about is Kinderkookkafé, an eatery in Amsterdam where food is cooked and served by children. Debra Solomon told us about Kinderkookkafé by sharing a dining experience from the previous week, when her friend, 2.5-year-old Tula, invited her to lunch. Tula prepared a meal for Debra all by herself, having learned cutting and cooking techniques from her adult... 
by Worldchanging SF local editor, Matthew Waxman: Roots of Change, “collaboratively and systemically” working to create a sustainable California food and farming system by 2030, recently launched a statewide campaign to make the vision a reality: “Our Common Vision.” The campaign has started with seven meetings across California. Meetings are open to everyone -– whether you’re a “foodie,” a food systems manager, a farmer or grower, a restaurant operator, or just someone who likes to eat food. The fifth “Our Common Vision” meeting is tomorrow, March 2nd, in San Francisco, from 1:00-4:00pm at Nextcourse, One Fort Mason. It’s recommended participants arrive 30 minutes early. And though this is a last minute notice, those wishing to attend should still RSVP (scroll... 
Anna Lappé attends the first international Forum on Food Sovereignty in Mali. With more than 600 participants from 98 countries, the meeting will gather some of the most important social movements working for food rights global. If you’ve ever heard the myths that all Africans are hungry for genetically modified foods, that U.S. food aid has unilaterally helped small farmers around the world, or that indigenous farming and fishing practices couldn’t possibly provide enough food to feed the peoples in developing countries, you have heard different stories than those of the farmers, pastoralists, and fisherfolk gathered here in Mali this week. I’m writing this missive from the very dusty outpost of the foreign journalist and communications team for the mostly volunteer-led... 
Does local food matter to sustainability? Ethan, in his post on food miles, asks some provocative questions about whether the carbon footprint of food raised in distant countries is really as bad or even as important as local food advocates claim. He makes some good points, and draws to our attention some interesting new research which may show that the environmental impacts of food shipment are a very small portion of the overall ecological footprint of the food we eat. In particular, one New Zealand study (PDF) has drawn a lot of attention by making a strong case for NZ lamb being less energy intensive than European lamb, even after the transportation impacts were included. This may not be the best example from which to take larger conclusions. For one thing, as I've written... 
A few years ago, as Alex Steffen and I were getting to know each other, we both attended the Pop!Tech conference in Camden, Maine. One of the speakers had circulated yellow and green plastic cards to the audience, and asked us to vote on various propositions by holding up one card or another. The questions were meant to be divisive and ethically difficult. One asked whether we thought it was justifiable to introduce Nile Perch into Lake Victoria, likely unbalancing the ecosystem, but providing much-needed protein for local fishermen. I put up a yellow card to indicate that I thought it was justifiable and caught Alex looking at me, green card in his hand. We raised eyebrows at one another and went on to the next question. There are a lot of situations where environmentalists and...