Current Stories
Editor's Top Picks
Failing septic systems vs. OR planning laws
Ashland Daily Tidings
11/17/2009
A smelly and potentially dangerous problem with failing septic systems in Jackson County, OR, soon could be resolved for up to 1,603 rural property owners, with a blanket exception to state planning goals that make it difficult to provide sewer service outside urban areas.
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Study: Farm animals devouring the world's fish
Vancouver Sun
11/17/2009
Consumer campaigns that promote sustainable seafood fail to address the fact the world's fish resources are being gobbled up by chickens, pigs, fish, and other farm animals, a study involving the University of BC concludes.
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The mother tree
The Tyee
11/18/2009
How fate and fortitude in BC's Similkameen Valley combined to give us a new apple so good it had to be called Ambrosia.
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Record number of Montanans seek food aid
Missoulian
11/17/2009
In the past year, record numbers of western Montana residents have turned to local food pantries and shelters for help. Agencies at the forefront of this unwelcome trend believe more people can't find work in this tight labor market and can't afford regular meals.
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New permits for Idaho's animal feeding operations
Boise Idaho Statesman
11/16/2009
Cattle feeding lot owners will have to submit a nutrient management plan for review under new rules proposed for Idaho by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
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Where does that school lunch come from?
USA Today
11/17/2009
The story of how food with a history of making kids sick continued to get into schools illustrates broad failures in government programs meant to provide safe, quality meals for America's children, a USA Today investigation found. Parents and schools often have no idea where the food comes from.
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Hunger in US at a 14-year high
New York Times
11/17/2009
The number of Americans who lived in households that lacked consistent access to adequate food soared last year, to 49 million, the highest since the government began tracking what it calls "food insecurity" 14 years ago, the Department of Agriculture reported Monday.
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Hunger a growing problem in America
Washington Post
11/17/2009
The nation's economic crisis has catapulted the number of Americans who lack enough food to the highest level since the government has been keeping track, according to a new federal report, which shows that nearly 50 million people -- including almost one child in four -- struggled last year to get enough to eat.
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Jellyfish swarm northward in warming world
Seattle Times
11/16/2009
Scientists believe climate change and the warming of the ocean has allowed some of the almost 2,000 jellyfish species to expand their ranges, appear earlier in the year and increase overall numbers, upending fishing practices and terrorizing beachgoers around the globe.
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Chefs serve salmon with a message
Anchorage Daily News
11/15/2009
Chefs at more than a dozen Seattle restaurants are serving salmon dishes with a message on the side - a warning that the creature's future could be threatened by a giant gold and copper mine proposed for Bristol Bay in southwest Alaska, home to the world's largest sockeye salmon runs.
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To serve (food) and protect (the soil)
Missoulian
11/15/2009
The call for local food is loud and growing. At the same time in Missoula, some of the land that produces those vegetables, that meat, is more valuable once it's been developed. Now three local forces are at work on that problem that's led to the incremental loss of agricultural lands.
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Innovator and writer looks ahead
San Francisco Chronicle
11/15/2009
The founder of the Whole Earth Catalog lives on a tugboat with shrubbery on top and solar panels in front of the steering wheel. And yet he makes no apologies to the cow he just washed down with a frosty cup of ice cream. Stewart Brand's new book, "Whole Earth Discipline," thrusts him in the middle of the global climate debate, and not in an easily digestible way.
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Portland project forages for urban edibles
Oregonian
11/15/2009
For many Portlanders, and increasingly others across the nation, fruit picking parties are a way to incorporate the bounty of our city into their diets. The idea behind this type of urban foraging is to use food that's all around us but often overlooked.
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Views: Bellying up to environmental change
Washington Post
11/15/2009
We know more than we've ever known about the innards of the global food system - that food can both nourish and kill, that is production can both destroy and enhance our environment. So it's hard to avoid concluding that eating cannot be purely personal. What I eat influences you. What you eat influences me. Our diets are deeply, intimately and necessarily political.
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Water package lacks clout to reverse Delta's decline
Sacramento Bee
11/15/2009
The momentous reform of California's water system signed into law last week is largely toothless where it matters most: Action to reverse the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta's environmental decline.
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Low prices bode poorly for Christmas tree farms
Oregonian
11/12/2009
Darcy and Cory Miller have seen many market fluctuations during the nearly three decades that they have grown and sold Christmas trees at Oregon's Deep Creek Tree Farms in Eagle Creek. But never one as brutal as this.
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Panel backs no-fishing zones off CA coast
Los Angeles Times
11/11/2009
A state panel approved landmark fishing restrictions for Southern California, creating a patchwork of havens for marine life while leaving some waters open for anglers. Catches of rockfish, cod, lobster, sea urchin, squid sea bass, yellowtail and swordfish have been in steep decline, and fisheries scientists have argued some species could disappear entirely without no-fishing zones where breeding stocks can recover.
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First microbreweries, now micro-canneries flourish
Oregon Public Broadcasting
11/10/2009
You've heard of micro-breweries. How about "micro-canneries?" They specialize in locally-caught, hand-packed albacore and salmon. A growing number of commercial fishing families are choosing to can their catch themselves.
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OR activist fights to improve gaps in food system
Oregonian
11/10/2009
Sharon Thornberry has dedicated her life to getting nutritious food into the hands of poor families, parlaying the practicality and humility that comes naturally to an Iowa hog farmer's daughter into a career as a community organizer fighting rural hunger with the Oregon Food Bank.
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WA agencies agree on responsibilities for clean water, livestock
Tri-City Herald
11/09/2009
Two state agencies responsible for livestock and clean water have a new agreement they say will allow them to be more effective regulators.
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Can Montana's local food system be saved?
Billings Gazette
11/08/2009
There was a time when 70 percent of what Montanans ate was produced in state. They grew watermelons in Whitehall, green peas in Bozeman, beans in Glendive. Now there's a push to return to those days, but it's been so long since Montana fed itself, the burning question is whether it still can.
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Views: A 100-mile dieter dishes
Portland Oregonian
11/09/2009
Asked to accept a two-week challenge to eat only foods grown within 100 miles of my house, I thought "How hard could that be?" Never have I eaten more healthfully. Never have I craved white flour and sugar more. Never have I spent so much on groceries. Never will I do it again.
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Canada plans inquiry into disappearance of BC sockeye
Vancouver Sun
11/06/2009
Canada will stage a judicial inquiry into the collapse of sockeye salmon runs on the Fraser River, which have been in a two-decade decline and hit a 50-year low in summer 2009. It has prompted concerns that sockeye are heading for a population failure on the scale of the collapse of Atlantic cod.
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Democrats push climate bill without GOP
New York Times
11/05/2009
Democrats on the Environment and Public Works Committee pushed through a climate bill on Thursday without any debate or participation by Republicans. The move suggests that President Obama and bill supporters will have serious problems assembling the votes needed to enact it when it comes to the Senate floor, probably not before next year.
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Views: A CA water deal at long last
San Francisco Chronicle
11/06/2009
For decades, California's water wars have flared unabated - cities versus farms, north against south - while half measures left the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta drained and decimated. A solution involving all sides was only a dream. Until now.
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