Jessica Simpson Gets PETA Smackdown for ‘Real Girls Eat Meat’ T-Shirt

Jessica Simpson is an easy target: she knowingly marketed herself as a dumbass. Therefore, the gloves are off when she does breathtakingly stupid things like wear a t-shirt that says ‘Real Girls Eat Meat’. With sagging album sales and straight-to-DVD films, Jessica doesn’t have much room to alienate people, and yet she walked out in public like that where she knew paparazzi would be waiting. For the most part, vegetarians aren’t likely to be offended, since she’s hardly worth the publicity it would give her. PETA, however, can never resist an opportunity to bash a celeb that promotes the slaughter of animals.

Ecorazzi has it:

On Saturday Ecorazzi told you that Jessica Simpson was seen at the LAX airport wearing a shirt that read “Real Girls Eat Meat.” In the post I predicted that “you just know PETA’s gonna spit when they see this.” Well PETA is spitting alright…spitting a whole bunch of plant-based venom.

PETA released a statement saying: ”Jessica Simpson’s meaty wardrobe malfunction makes us thankful that no one is looking to her for food advice. Chicken of the sea anyone? The woman who thought that Buffalo ‘Wings’ came from buffalos would benefit from some good veggie brain food.” Ouch!

All the brain food in the world can’t save this slag. She’s hopeless. Maybe the controversy will get her a tiny section of the cover of a tabloid, though, and that’s probably what she wants.

Link [Ecorazzi]
Photo credit: Just Jared

Student Group Eats a Cat in the Name of Animal Welfare

A group of students in Denmark have had their Facebook profiles suspended after uploading a video of them eating a cat. The students planned the cat-eating performance as a way to call attention to the plight of food animals such as pigs and cows. The reaction from the community wasn’t what they had hoped for; animal rights organizations are attacking the group for the act, calling it inhumane.

From The Copenhagen Post:

Before ending up on the students’ plates, the main course lived a life as a feral cat. It had been shot by a farmer trying to control the number of cats on his land.

In addition to the 30 pictures that have now been removed from Facebook, the group’s profile also included a recipe for a dish called ‘litter box’.

According to the group, the cat was killed humanely and prepared by a professional chef. They said they had received a few raised eyebrows when plans of their meal slipped out, but were nevertheless surprised by people’s reactions and were ‘disappointed’ that the profile was no longer accessible.

‘We wanted people to think about what it was they were putting in their mouths,’ said Laura Bøge Mortensen, a group member and the editor of Citat, a student magazine that carried an article about the meal.

‘It’s hypocritical for us to spend thousands of kroner on our pets, yet buy the cheapest pork from Netto that comes from pigs that have lived a horrid life. And just why is it that it’s worse to eat a cat than a pig?’

I see their point; I am an animal rights advocate myself, and if it weren’t for my husband, I’d be a certifiable crazy cat lady. I can’t imagine ever eating a cat, but I would never eat a pig, cow, chicken or other animal deemed ‘acceptable’ by society, either - and I do think there’s a big disconnect between how we view treatment of domestic animals vs. animals traditionally raised for food. I think their act of protest is a very gutsy, but in the end a bit too much like a PETA stunt - plus, it doesn’t take into account the fact that millions of cats suffer worldwide due to overpopulation.

If you’re wondering what the cat tasted like, the students described it as “a little like chicken, with an aftertaste of fur. Slightly chewy.” Mmm!

Link [Copenhagen Post]
Photo credit: Flickr user allygirl520

220-Acre Greenhouse Planned in Britain

A greenhouse the size of 80 football fields is currently under construction in Kent. It will measure 140 meters long, and take up 220 acres. That’s one big ass greenhouse. Operated by Fresca Group Ltd, the greenhouse will have all the latest technologies and will be controlled by computers. The greenhouse has been named ‘Thanet Earth’, named for the Isle of Thanet on which it’s located, and will grow salad produce such as tomatoes, lettuce, peppers and cucumbers which will be harvested 52 weeks a year.

From The Telegraph:

Operators Fresca Group Ltd., say it will increase by 15 per cent the UK’s crop of salad vegetables most of which currently have to be imported.

It will have its own power generating plants to heat the cavernous greenhouses and the eco-friendly combined heat and power system will as a by-product provide enough electricity to supply half the domestic power needs of 50,000 homes in north-east Kent near to where the £80m complex is being built on the Isle of Thanet.

The greenhouses have been designed so crops can be grown suspended from the 8m-high ceilings so they are easier to pick and they will be grown in nutrient enriched water rather than soil.

Greenhouses of this size are fairly common in Europe, but this is the first time it’s been attempted in Britain. Kent was chosen as the site because it gets so much sunlight throughout the year. The greenhouse will have its own eco-friendly heat and power system that will produce enough energy to supply half the domestic power needs of 50,000 homes in the area.

Link [The Telegraph]

Vegan Bodybuilding: Now They Can Beat You Up

Great, now the vegans are getting pumped up! Hide your leather shoes!

In all seriousness, veganism is awesome for the planet, so what’s not to love (aside from the crazy-eyed ones that plan terrorist attacks over vegan potluck dinners, of course)? I used to be vegan, myself, though after about two years constant dreams of cheese (I kid you not – I dreamed about cheese dip) led me astray.

Anyway, don’t count on every vegan that crosses your path being scrawny. Some vegans are now showing the world that you can be a big, muscle-bound bodybuilder without the aid of meat and dairy. Justin Palermo has tips for vegans who want to get ripped and still stick to their vegan diet:

Vegetarianism, more specifically a Vegan lifestyle has gotten more mainstream attention in recent years and I am writing this article in an effort to show how it is possible to adhere to a Vegan lifestyle and still make great gains as a bodybuilder.

This article is the first of many installments that I will be writing over the course of the year. In this first part I will highlight workouts that will help Vegan bodybuilders build muscle.

Other vegan bodybuilding articles can be found on BuzzFeed. You can also get more info at VeganBodybuilding.com and VeganBodybuilding.org.

Link [BuzzFeed] + [Bodybuilding.com]
Photo credit: Flickr user roonb

Organic to Go Brings Green Fast Food to the Masses

When you’re on the road or grabbing a quick bite for lunch during the workday and want to eat healthy and organic, you don’t have many options. I must admit that, in times of desperation, I’ve stopped for a veggie burger at Burger King, which isn’t even all that healthy. The lack of fresh, healthy food that’s cheap and portable is a problem for many people on the go. Luckily for people in California and the Seattle area, they’re about to get plenty of it from new company Organic to Go, which aims to take the Whole Foods prepared-food concept out of grocery stores and into cafes where people can sit down to a fast and healthy meal.

From The Washington Post:

The average lunch customer is probably different from a decade ago, when standard fast-food fare would have done just fine. People who eat meals out increasingly want more nutritious food.

“People are realizing that it’s more important what they are eating,” said Nicolas Jammet, co-owner of Sweetgreen. “Concepts like Organic to Go and us bring it down to the everyday level. I think it’s good that people are starting to eat better. There is a lot of room for these kinds of concepts, and we welcome them because it expands overall interest.”

Burrito chain Chipotle was perhaps the first big quick-service food outlet to catch on in the mainstream by using natural foods. The company is the country’s largest restaurant buyer of naturally raised meats. The sour cream thrown onto burritos is free of synthetic growth hormones. “They are setting the bar very high,” Killifer said.

Green fast food is rad. Please, let this catch on nationwide. McDonalds is never going to go away, but that doesn’t mean we have to give them our business.

Link [The Washington Post]

Food Manufacturers Ban Food Dyes in Europe to Protect Kids, but Not in the U.S.

We place a lot of trust in food companies. When you think about it, most people don’t bother to ever read the ingredients in the food they purchase, let alone go look them up to see what exactly they’re putting into their own bodies – and those of their children. The bottom line is, food companies are concerned with profits – not safety. You may associate major brands with quality, but that doesn’t mean they’re doing everything they can to ensure that the best possible ingredients go into your food. And I’m not even talking about fresh, organic ingredients – I’m talking about stuff that won’t harm you.

Numerous studies since the 1970’s have shown that food dyes are linked to hyperactivity and other disorders in children. The FDA has disputed these claims for decades, stating that the dyes undergo safety testing, but the fact is that the FDA doesn’t test the dyes themselves – they leave it up to manufacturers to do animal testing to see if dyes cause harmful effects.

From The Lohasian:

Although the FDA reports that some individuals are sensitive to Yellow #5 and break out in hives, the agency does not agree with the conclusions about ADHD or asthma or for that matter hyperactivity (that has been asserted in dozens of studies over the years). Recently the issue resurfaced when a consumer advocacy group known as the Center for Science in the Public Interest called for the FDA to outright ban their use.

The organization went on to point out how the British government is finding success pressuring manufacturers to phase out use of such dyes. Late last year, Mars banished artificial colors from its well-known Starburst and Skittles candies sold in the UK. Northfield-based Kraft did the same in early 2007 with its British version of Lunchables.

“This is about listening to consumers,” said Kraft spokesman Michael Mitchell.

Thus far, U.S. consumers haven’t spoken up enough to cause big manufacturers to drop the dyes. Kraft’s decision for safer dyes was based on public demand.

So basically, what it comes down to is that American consumers aren’t demanding safe food products for their children, and that’s a shame. Companies like Kraft, Mars and others can get away with using artificial dyes here – which make foods look more ‘vibrant’ than natural colorings – because people don’t seem to have a problem with it. If the FDA isn’t going to protect your kids, and food companies aren’t either, it’s up to you, folks – demand that these companies change their ways for the sake of your children. As The Lohasian puts it,

…how is it that for thousands of years children managed to remain nourished and happy without blue cereal ? What is the battle here really all about other than protecting manufacturers and the chemical companies manufacturing the dyes. What benefit do our kids really get from purple drinks, other than creating a threshold of unhealthy perceptions on nutrition. Do dyes need to be linked to hyperactivity to be considered bad for our kids?

Get more info about food dyes from the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Link [The Lohasian] + [CSPI]
Photo credit: Flickr user *Micky

The Banana is Heading Toward Extinction

Did you know that the variety of banana that we eat today isn’t as tasty as the one our parents and grandparents enjoyed prior to 1960? That’s right, we’re missing out on better bananas. Sad. Well, enjoy the variety we have left, because it’s next.

From The Scientist:

The banana we eat today is not the one your grandparents ate. That one - known as the Gros Michel - was, by all accounts, bigger, tastier, and hardier than the variety we know and love, which is called the Cavendish. The unavailability of the Gros Michel is easily explained: it is virtually extinct.

Introduced to our hemisphere in the late 19th century, the Gros Michel was almost immediately hit by a blight that wiped it out by 1960. The Cavendish was adopted at the last minute by the big banana companies - Chiquita and Dole - because it was resistant to that blight, a fungus known as Panama disease. For the past fifty years, all has been quiet in the banana world. Until now.

Apparently, Panama disease is back, and Cavendish bananas aren’t resistant to the new strain. There is no cure, and nearly every banana scientist says that although the disease is currently spreading through Malaysia and hasn’t yet hit Latin America, where our bananas come from, it’s only a matter of time. Dun dun dun!

Soon, the only choice we have left may very well be a genetically modifided (GMO) banana. In order to survive the Panama disease, it will have to be carefully created in a biotech lab.

What I think is most amazing about this story is that there are banana scientists. Who knew?

Link [The Scientist]
Photo credit: Flickr user Sister72

College Green: The University of New Hampshire Will Get 85% of Its Electricity From Landfill Gas

I went to the University of New Hampshire in my first year of college way back in 96/97. It’s a great campus and I’ve been excited to read about their forays into sustainability over the years.

Here’s a wonkish video outlining UNH’s green initiatives, including their use of landfill gas that will provide 85% of their energy needs. Although I remember the food being good when I was a skinny 18 year old freshman eating in the dining halls, I missed out on their recent embrace of Slow Food- locally sourced minimally processed natural foods.

Go Wildcats!

Via [Environmental Leader]

Photo credit: Flickr user craptastic

Jamie Olivers Pulls the Curtains Up on Eggs: It’s Not A Pretty Picture for Baby Boy Chicks

There’s nothing like a good hard dose of brutal reality to start the week.

Do you eat eggs for breakfast? (I don’t)

Do you eat things with eggs in them? (I do)

If you’re like the vast majority of people, you buy your eggs in a grocery store. Maybe you buy the cheap ones in the styrofoam container though if you’re reading this site it’s likely you dole out an extra buck or two for cage free organic eggs- but either way you slice it, you’re an egg buyer.

Those eggs are squeezed out by female chickens living in giant warehouse farms. Putting the ethical issues around that aside for the time, take a second and think about all those hundreds of millions of female chickens, all those little chicken vaginas squeezing out our eggs. Where did all the boy chickens go?

They’re killed.

The two more popular ways of culling male chicks are gassing and mastication. Gassing involved putting them in a little room and pumping inert gas in to drive out the oxygen. The chicks suffocate, sucky- but on the scale of things one of the less painful ways to go, at least compared to the other popular method of mastication which involves throwing the chicks into a big set of metal grinders where they are mashed up and sold as cattle feed. How would you like to have THAT job?

In this video, controversial British TV chef Jamie Olivers has the balls to confront the ugly truth about eating eggs- you have to do a lot of killing to get ‘em. Watch him gas some chicks.

Jamie Olivers is the same guy who slaughtered a baby lamb on his show. We need more of this. Vegetarians should love this guy- by flipping the hazy screen off that’s been blocking the hard truth behind eating meat, he’ll drive scads of people into the warm embrace of tofu, seiten, and TVP. If you’re going to eat meat you should at least see how it’s done- watch your animal of choice flop around as it bleeds out.

Or in the case of eating eggs- watch the little yellow peepers gasp as they suffocate to death.

Peep.

Photo credit: Flickr user [Royalty-free]

Woody Harrelson Will Live on a Remote Island and Fast for 40 Days

More Woody Harrelson news! This guy is quickly becoming my favorite eco-celeb because he’s genuine and kind of kooky, which makes writing about him more fun. Woody is known for being extremely dedicated to environmentalism, animal rights and the vegan lifestyle. In the past, he’s done some fairly eccentric things, like the 38 day green juice fast and flying his vegan shoes and belt to Cannes after forgetting them at home. Now, he’s planning the most extreme display of weird Woodyism yet.

From Now Magazine via Ecorazzi:

Woody Harrelson plans to live on a remote island and eat nothing for 40 days - to see how the experience affects his brain.

The actor, 46, will go ahead with the experiment as soon as he gets a break in his work schedule.

‘I’ve always wanted to do it,’ he says.

‘I know it’s going to be really hard. But can you imagine it? Eating nothing for 40 days? Swimming and surfing every day in a remote place? Where does the mind go?’

Yoga-loving Woody loves isolated places.

I can only imagine what would happen to my brain after 40 days. Hell, after five days I would be hallucinating. I’d start salivating, Homer Simpson style, over visions of plates of hot food and mugs of coffee. Good luck, Woody!

Link [Ecorazzi] + [Now Magazine]
Photo credit: Flickr user gohsuket

Consumption of High Fructose Corn Syrup Not Affected Much by High Corn Prices

It’s no secret that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has taken over America. It’s in nearly all processed foods. When my husband and I set out to eliminate high fructose corn syrup from our diet last year, we were surprised to see how many things it was hidden in. Luckily for those of us who want to avoid it, it’s mostly in stuff that’s not good for you anyway: cereals, condiments, juices and soft drinks. Consumers are getting more aware of the fact that HFCS is linked to obesity and diabetes, and recently asked Hansen’s ‘Natural’ Soda (emphasis mine) to stop using it. Despite more people trying to avoid it, though, HFCS isn’t going away, even though recent increases in the price of corn have lowered sales slightly.

From The Ethicurean:

Hansen’s says that 30% of consumer calls it received were asking for a change from HFCS to a more natural sugar. “Consumers asked and we listened,” is how one executive put it. This response is a refreshing change from the typical corporate doublespeak along the lines of “public pressure had nothing to do with our decision, it was planned long ago.”

Of course, cane sugar production is not without its flaws — workers are mistreated, fertilizer overapplied, ecosystems damaged, and so on, as an episode of the Deconstructing Dinner radio program explains in detail.

However, Hansen’s switch, along with record high corn prices, has me wondering if consumption rates of HFCS are changing, and if so, how fast.

There is a slight decrease of a few percentage points per year. Between 2006 and 2007 — when there was a 12% price increase — consumption dropped only 3.4%. Unfortunately, data for 2008 are not available, so we can’t tell whether the latest price rise is having similar effects on consumption.

The most likely reason for the relatively small decrease in consumption is that HFCS makes up only a tiny portion of the retail cost of even the most HFCS-intensive product like soft drinks. The February 2008 issue of Amber Waves estimates that a 2-liter bottle of soda contains 15 ounces of corn in the form of HFCS. At the 2007 average price of $3.40 per bushel (about 56 pounds of shelled corn), the value of corn in the soda is only 5.7 cents. So a 20% rise in the price of corn results in a raw material cost increase of only about a penny, an increase that the giant soft drink companies or fast-food chains can certainly absorb for a little while.

Unfortunately, American companies are hooked on HFCS, and that’s probably not going to change anytime soon even if prices continue to rise. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that people did begin to switch to sugar instead of using HFCS: unfortunately, that opens a whole other can of worms, since Big Sugar has its own problems. Weaning ourselves off of the use of so many sweeteners would be a great step, but in sugar-crazed America, that just ain’t gonna happen.

You can see all of The Ethicurean’s charts and data here.

Link [The Ethicurean]
Photo credit: Flickr user graham

Holy $#@%! The Average American Family Wastes 122 lbs of Food Every Month

Being freegan never looked like such a good idea. The average American family of four produces 122 pounds of waste each month, and most of that goes straight to landfills. That total doesn’t count food wasted by farms, processors and wholesalers. It adds up to a whopping 1,464 pounds per year. That waste includes lots of stuff that’s perfectly good, and the rest could at least be composted. Remember that the conditions in landfills prevent things from biodegrading like they would out in the open. This kind of waste causes our landfills to pile up, fast.

Christ on a bicycle, this is insanity. I knew we were a wasteful culture, but, wow. Most of us can recall our mothers telling us to eat up because there are starving children in Ethiopia, but damn, clearly what we really need to be doing is buying less in the first place – or giving the stuff we can’t eat to those in need. It’s truly sad to see so much waste when there are so many people struggling for a morsel of food every day.

Click here to see a higher resolution copy and read the details. Crazy!

Link [Groovy Green]
Photo credit: The New York Times

Holy Oprah! Talk Show Host Goes Vegan

Wow. Just wow. OPRAH, worshipped by millions of American women (and some men, too), has joined Team Vegan. This is huge, y’all. Could veganism get a better spokesmodel? Could anything get a better spokesmodel? I mean, she features a product on her ‘favorite things’ show and packs of rabid Oprah fans raid stores devouring every trace of it.

Ecorazzi’s got the scoop:

After the first day of being vegan she wrote: “So this first day wasn’t hard at all. For breakfast, I had steel-cut oatmeal with fresh blueberries, strawberries, chopped walnuts and a splash of soy milk and some agave nectar. For lunch, chunky mushroom soup with wild rice and pecans. As a snack, a handful of roasted almonds. And for dinner, a baked potato drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper with a salad of shredded lettuce, cranberries, pine nuts and tiny orange slices with a vinegar and oil dressing.” Delicious!

Now granted as of right now Oprah plans on only doing this for 21 days as part of a cleanse, but I only planned on being vegan for a week and that was 7 years ago. And good news — so far it looks like Oprah has been pretty impressed. She revealed: “Wow, wow, wow! I never imagined meatless meals could be so satisfying. I had been focused on what I had to give up—sugar, gluten, alcohol, meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese. “What’s left?” I thought. Apparently a lot. I can honestly say every meal was a surprise and a delight, beginning with breakfast—strawberry rhubarb wheat-free crepes”

Damn, is this fantastic for animals everywhere. We can only hope that her crazed fans follow suit and at least give it a try. If nothing else, this elevates veganism into the public consciousness in a positive light.

We’ll just have to see if it holds, and undoubtedly vegans worldwide will be watching as well. Woe to Oprah if she tries to pull any veganwashing. Have you ever met a militant vegan? They’re fucking nuts!

Link [Ecorazzi]
Photo credit: Flickr user Willowtree2005

Ooh, What’s That Smell? Gazans Using Falafel Oil to Power Taxis

Gaza is currently under fuel sanctions, making it difficult for taxis to continue business as usual. Luckily for them, people in the region love them some falafel (fried mashed, spiced chickpeas), and the oil can be used to power the vehicles. It makes for some rough running and isn’t great for the cars, but it works, and right now Gazans don’t have much choice.

Treehugger has it:

According to Reuters, Gaza’s taxi drivers say the used falafel oil works much better than the fresh stuff smuggled in from the Gaza-Egypt border. They either beg for it from falafel vendors, or buy it from the vendors who are hawking it for a profit.

“It makes the cars smell like a kitchen — you feel like falafel is following you,” said Ahmed al-Beltaji, crinkling his nose. “Next week they’ll be putting water in there.”

Beltaji runs a falafel stand near a taxi station and started selling his falafel oil leftovers in April. Others are turning to other creative measures –– using cooking canisters to power their cars, or are traveling by donkey or bicycle.

I can eat some falafel like nobody’s business, but I can’t imagine that it would be too pleasant to constantly smell it while you’re driving, considering that it’s mixed with turpentine. That could get you over an addiction to the delicious fried goodness pretty quickly. I also love that one of their alternatives to riding in taxis is to take a donkey. Imagine if this caught on in American cities: seeing Wall Street businessmen in their suits and ties gripping their briefcases while clinging to the back of an ass. How fantastic would that be?

Link [Treehugger]
Photo credit: Reuters

On-Campus Food Getting Greener (and Hopefully Tastier)

First there was the cool invention of reusable take-out trays by a college student, and now schools across the country are starting programs providing sustainably grown meals in on-campus dining halls and cafes. College students around the country are demanding green options, and they’re getting it.

From Wiretap Magazine:

“Students get it,” said Anna Lappé, a sustainability food expert, author and the co-founder of the Small Planet Institute who often speaks at campuses around the country to promote sustainable eating. “The most common question I get from students is, ‘We know we need to be promoting sustainable food — what can we do?’” She usually responds to the question with examples of what other schools have done, which is no short list.

Julian Dautremont-Smith, sustainability expert and associate director at the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Learning, or AASHE, says that one thing his organization does is connect like-minded students at schools across the country so they can compare notes and learn from each other.

This is a great example of the power of college students rallying together and making a demand, and it working. I can’t believe how far college cafeteria food has come in the short amount of time since I was an on-campus student! I was picking through barely edible, oil-soaked nastiness and making far too many trips to off-campus fast food joints as a result. I wish I would have started something like this at my own school – but then again, I went to a tiny private college funded by conservative Southern Baptists who thought that being an environmentalist meant I was a rabid, dangerous eco-terrorist. The climate is changing in more ways than one – people are so much more open to ‘green’ choices now. Take advantage of it!

Contact the AASHE through their website for information on how to get a similar program started in your school.

Link [Wiretap Magazine]
Photo credit: Flickr user klynsis

Sean Hannity Dips Into the Desperation Well And Tries To Pin High Food Prices on Al Gore to Great Hillarity

Great Flying Spaghetti Monster. The pain! I am doubled over in pain from laughing so hard. I picked up on an item from the ‘raz about Faux News laying the blame for record high food prices on…

get this…

Al Gore.

Oh, the delicious pain of it all. The Republican party is in full retreat, they are losing Congressional races left and right in traditionally staunch GOP districts, are looking at a major drubbing in November, and are seeing huge demographic shifts to the left among young people, Hispanics, and even conservative Christians. Fox News ratings are down, right wing talking heads are being canceled every other week, and shilltards like Sean Hannity are reduced to using increasingly pathetic hit pieces like this, complete with scary music and ominous voice overs. Hannity and his dwindling audience of dead-enders are on the downslope of an eight year extreme right neo-con jihadic ciclejerk.

You can watch the hilarious video here.

Here’s a snip from the article that points out a few of the errors Fox News made in the report:

Hannity is correct that increased demand for biofuels is part of the problem. But there are other factors, too, that the “We report. You decide” network conveniently omitted. According to Time magazine, there are three other factors: One is the chronically low productivity of farmers in the poorest countries, caused by their inability to pay for seeds, fertilizers and irrigation. Another is the growing demand for food and the third, which Hannity would probably rather die than admit to, is climate change. Time reported that recent droughts in Australia and Europe cut the global production of grain in 2005 and ‘06. New York Times columnist and economics professor Paul Krugman says that high oil costs play a big role, too.
Hannity also failed to mention that U.S. policies subsidize the conversion of food into biofuels and are also to blame. Time criticizes that policy but notes a possible win-win solution: “There may be a case for biofuels produced on lands that do not produce foods–tree crops (like palm oil), grasses and wood products–but there’s no case for doling out subsidies to put the world’s dinner into the gas tank.”
Hannity went on to quote Gore in 1998 saying he was proud to “stand up for the ethanol tax exemption.” But Hannity didn’t mention that more recently — in 2006, for example — Gore endorsed cellulosic ethanol over corn-based ethanol.

Enjoy the last dying breaths of the Neo-Con revolution while it lasts. I, for one, look forward to looking deep into its eyes as they haze over in anticipation of the coming darkness.

Links [Fox News Video] & [News Hounds] via [Ecorazzi] via [Green Daily]

Chow Down on Insects to Help the Environment

Doesn’t the sound and texture of insect exoskeletons being crushed between your teeth make your stomach growl? Especially when their crispy outsides break open and you get that gush of mushy innards all over the inside of your mouth. Some people describe the grayish, greasy meat of the giant water bug as “perfumey, tastes like salty apples”.

Sorry if I just ruined your lunch, but, eating insects is being called a great new way to help the environment. David Gracer, a composition teacher at a Rhode Island community college, has made it his goal to persuade Americans to eat insects in an attempt to “shake up how we all think about our food supply”.

Discover Magazine has it:

Gracer wants people to move away from getting their protein from traditional livestock such as cows, pigs, and chickens because raising livestock has a huge negative impact on the environment, regardless of whether the animals belong to subsistence farmers in developing countries or a Western industrial conglomerate (see “Warning: Contains Pork By-Products,” page 40). A United Nations report released in 2006 calls the livestock sector “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.” The report notes that, among other adverse impacts, livestock production is responsible for 18 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions. (That’s more than what is produced by transportation worldwide.) And the problem is only going to grow, with global production of meat reaching 465 million tons by 2050, double the amount produced in 2000.

Other benefits of insect eating include the fact that raising them has a low impact on the environment, and that they’re low in fat. Somehow, though, I can’t see even the poorest of the poor in America being desperate enough to bite into a cockroach patty sandwich. Considering that America has a narrow view of what is deemed acceptable to eat, broadening our horizons enough to include insects on the menu is probably no more than a pipe dream. More power to those who can stomach it!

Link [Discover Magazine]

Photo credit: Flickr user Barnaby

Mmm, Roasted Plains Pronghorn Antelope! To Save a Species from Extinction, Serve it for Dinner

When you’re deciding what to cook for dinner, your first thought might not be Tennessee fainting goat, the Makah ozette potato or the Carolina Flying Squirrel. First of all, they’re endangered, which you’d think would mean we should not be eating them. Second, we’ve become accustomed to eating a somewhat narrow range of ‘acceptable’ foods even though choices for nutritious, edible meals abound far beyond what’s typically found in an American refrigerator.

Gary Paul Nabhan is compiling a list of endangered plants and animals that were once commonly eaten in America, but are now threatened or extinct in grocery stores and restaurants. From the New York Times:

Mr. Nabhan’s list, 1,080 items and growing, forms the basis of his new book, an engaging journey through the nooks and crannies of American culinary history titled “Renewing America’s Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent’s Most Endangered Foods” (Chelsea Green Publishing, $35).

The book tells the stories of 93 ingredients both obscure (Ny’pa, a type of salt grass) and beloved (the Black Sphinx date), along with recipes that range from the accessible (Centennial pecan pie) to the challenging (whole pit-roasted Plains pronghorn antelope).

To make the list, an animal or plant — whether American eels, pre-Civil War peanuts or Seneca hominy flint corn — has to be more than simply edible. It must meet a set of criteria that define it as a part of American culture, too. Mr. Nabhan’s book is part of a larger effort to bring foods back from the brink by engaging nursery owners, farmers, breeders and chefs to grow and use them.

The idea behind this is to increase the demand for such exotic foods, causing an increase in farmers’ desire to grow and raise them. He also wants to preserve America’s rich culinary history, which is fading away as we get used to eating the same things over and over again.

Interesting idea, but can you stomach the idea of eating something like squirrel? The only person I’ve ever known to eat squirrel is a woman who grew up very poor in an extremely backwoods part of north central Florida, and that squirrel was usually roadkill made into soup. Is your mouth watering yet?

Links [New York Times] & [Environmental Graffiti]

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons & Wikimedia Commons

Fun Photos: “Food” in the Shape of the Container it Lives In

Spam. Frozen corn. Cranberry sauce in a can. Jello. Dried noodles in a cup. What do all of these things have in common? They’re food items that take the shape of the container they live in. Doesn’t it make you hungry? Mmmm. Spam. Oh, the amazing things you can find on Flickr. The internet is a wonderful place.

See the whole series

This reminds me of something gross I once saw on the Consumerist as part of their ad vs. reality post series: this strangely cylindrical serving of garlic parmesan fries from Applebee’s. Yum! Although, isn’t that about what you should expect when you go to Applebee’s?

Link [Consumerist]
Photo credit: Flickr user zach kowalczyk

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