Last Chance, by NWF President and CEO Larry Schweiger, Is a Call To Action

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:47:35 GMT

Image by hawkins.matt via flickr. I spend a lot of my time as an advocate. To be able to champion a cause and educate others about the importance and necessity of action at this critical time, I must first educate myself about the reality of the challenges we all face. I need to keep it real. The wake-up call Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, reminds all of us what our challenge is regarding climate crisis and the survival of all species in his newly released book, Last Chance: Preserving Life on Earth. Climate crisis is not a destination in our future. It is happening now. I don't like the too-well-proven conclusion that I come to: We must act dramatically or lose civilization as we know it. A bold, overused, uncomfortable statement, I know. But in all my reading and research, this is the book that wakes me up in the middle of the night--not in fear, but with profound clarity: It is time to focus. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

On Global Climate Change: Demand 350, Demand Organic

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:05:20 GMT

Last weekend the president of the Maldives held an unusual cabinet meeting. Underwater. The president asked his ministers to learn scuba diving for their unusual in-the-sea meeting, where they used hand signals and wrote on slates to communicate in an aquatic environment. The Maldives ministers called for rapid greenhouse gas reduction to a concentration of 350 parts per million. Here at the Rodale Institute we're working to answer that call by researching regenerative agriculture techniques to meet that goal. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Organic Farming Could Stop Global Climate Change

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 08:30:52 GMT

Organic soils such as those seen here could sequester 40% of global carbon emissions. Image source: Rodale Institute stock.

Global Climate Change Chaos
We've overshot sustainability. Three hundred fifty parts per million (350 ppm) is the recommended safe threshold for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Today, at 386 ppm, we're over the limit. There is evidence that we will see ice-free summer Arctic a hundred years before IPCC estimates and we have already seen flooding in Iowa's city that would never flood and massive fires in the American west. An ice-free Arctic full of dark water will absorb more heat and change global climate patterns. Burning forests emit massive amounts of carbon dioxide, producing a deeper greenhouse effect. To avoid further expensive climate chaos we must deploy the most creative and innovative technology in the world to rapidly pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. And regenerative farming is it.

... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Dear Big Ag: World Hunger Is Not for Sale

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:51:51 GMT

Photo via stock.xchng by dimitri_c The objectives of this week's Global Harvest Initiative symposium, which focused on coordinated efforts to address world hunger, were compelling. World hunger already affects 1 billion people and the numbers are projected to climb. Unfortunately, thanks to big agribusiness sponsors ADM, DuPont, John Deere and Monsanto, the event ultimately amounted to nothing more than glitzy green packaging for the same old unnecessary gift of chemical dependence for the world's farmers. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Why GMO Foods Have Failed at Producing Healthy Food for More People

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:05:25 GMT

Photo via stock.xchng by cindybear5. For a technology that has sucked up billions of research dollars and prolonged agriculture's dependence on chemical inputs, GMOs (genetically modified organisms) have yet to justify their role in a world desperate for more sustainable ways to produce healthier food for more people. In a recent report by the Union of Concerned Scientists entitled "Failure to Yield," a summary of on-farm production levels of genetically modified crops showed less than marginal gains in actual yield. In fact, the review concluded that "no currently available transgenic varieties enhance the intrinsic yield of any crops." ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Genetically Modified Food: Why We Need More Information

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:30:11 GMT

Photos via stock.xchng by fcarrero99 and Gergerger7 Recently, there have been renewed suggestions that organic agriculture should abandon one of its foundational principles and accept genetically engineered crops for the good of the world. While there may be nothing inherently wrong with contemplating a theoretical overlap between biotech crop genetics and organic farming systems, there's not a compelling set of reasons to do so either. Although the chemical-based systems that genetically modified food crops virtually always presuppose could be cleaned up with organic techniques, organic agriculture's recently recognized benefits for improving food security don't depend on a boost from genetically modified food technology. And there's no clear reason to degrade organic standards to accept the downsides that come with biotech-produced crops as they are currently managed. Some allege that the principled barrier between biotech and organic is merely a sticking point of "hard core resistance" within the organic community. However, this argument diverts attention from real questions as to the net value of this pairing. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Why Genetically Modified, Drought-Resistant Seeds Are a Waste of Time and Money

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:18:24 GMT

Photos via stock.xchng What's all the to do about the concept of a genetically modified seed that would carry a drought-resistant gene? Do we even need one? I say no for three reasons. First, how can the poor, who truly need to be able to grow their own food, afford this "technology"? With the millions of dollars involved in the cost of research, development, testing, and approval, it is unlikely that any company would develop this trait and not charge handsomely. The world's poorest farmers will surely have to pay a high price that they can ill afford. Meanwhile, proprietary rights will be closely held, watched, and if history is any indication of this industry's behavior, legal action will be taken against seed saving or re-propagation. When it comes to agribusiness feeding the hungry, benevolence will be forsaken to self-interest and corporate profits. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

On Waxman-Markey Climate Change Bill, Aren't We Forgetting Something?

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:06:53 GMT

Image via stock.xchng by lusi Constructing a new home is no simple task. Negotiating contractors, laborers, electricians, plumbers, landscapers, and designers is a massive effort in coordination. Working in concert makes attention to detail critical, as one missed opportunity could mean problems with your house in the future. Every single person plays a role in ensuring the home is built on a solid foundation. But just as you can't build a house on sand, the American Clean Energy and Security Act is missing a sound foundation. And the current draft, known as the Waxman-Markey climate bill, overlooks crucial scientific evidence. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

In Defense of the Cow: How Eating Meat Could Help Slow Climate Change

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:27:44 GMT

Photo via stock.xchng by bouwm019

Should we be eating more beef in order to slow global warming? It sounds counterintuitive, but it may be so: Cattle could be part of the whole ecological equation to solving climate change and restoring healthy, bio-diverse ecosystems. I am a vegetarian, but I maintain there is a place for grass-fed beef on family menus-and pasture-raised cattle in global warming solutions. Cows can help more than harm if they are sustainably raised. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

There's No Such Thing as Local vs. Organic Food

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:12:37 GMT

Photo via stock.xchng by ortonesque Let's clear up one issue: There is no such thing as local vs. organic. When it comes to consumer choice, we should be buying local and organic, though for mostly different reasons.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Greenhouse Gases Could Be Used To Grow Organic Food

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:55:25 GMT

In 2008, global food demand is testing the capacity of petroleum-dependent, export-focused commodity agriculture. This system has not served developed nations as food prices soar-inflamed by biofuel demand and fuel prices-and has especially hurt developing nations already struggling with food security issues. The modern-farming paradigm has also resulted in nutrient overload in our waterways from the use of synthetic nitrogen, degradation of our soils and animal health and welfare concerns. Most disturbing is modern agriculture's contribution to global warming. New data from U.S. government research shows that with agriculture using chemical fertilizers and herbicides, the U.S. food system contributes nearly 20 percent of the nation's carbon dioxide emissions. On a global scale, figures from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) say that agricultural land use contributes 12 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

How To Stop Global Warming and Hunger At the Same Time

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:20:44 GMT

Timothy J. LaSalle is CEO of the Rodale Institute, a 60-year-old non-profit organization dedicated to researching sustainable farming and educating farmers and consumers about the food we eat. He will be contributing posts to TreeHugger as a guest blogger on an ongoing basis. There is no question that a perfect storm of factors - from rising oil prices to the growing climatic impact of global warming - are creating a silent tsunami of global hunger. There is also no question that the world's most vulnerable disproportionately live in Africa where food aid has failed to keep ahead of the hunger curve.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

TreeHugger Welcomes Guest Poster Tim LaSalle of Rodale Institute

Sun, 04 May 2008 01:06:48 GMT

As Rodale Institute's first CEO, Tim LaSalle champions a science-based hope for a regenerative food system that will mitigate climate change and prevent famine. He has challenged audiences around the world, including Al Gore's Generation Management Investment, United Nations Environment Program, and the National Wildlife Federation. He is also a frequent contributor to Huffington Post and Treehugger. Tim LaSalle grew up on a dairy farm and worked his way through college milking his cows. This milk money also allowed him to obtain a master's degree in genetics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. LaSalle applied his knowledge of dairy and genetics as a professor at California Polytechnic State University in addition to starting and operating a conventional dairy farm. While teaching at Cal Poly, LaSalle became involved with the California Agriculture Education Foundation. As a professor in the program and ultimately the president and CEO of the Foundation, he arranged educational leadership programs in more than 80 countries with heads of state, as well as ministers of environment and agriculture. What LaSalle experienced during his international travel and engagement with exemplary leaders led him to challenge the conventional agriculture mindset he'd grown up with, worked with and taught. He saw the need for new systems to regenerate devastated natural ecosystems. As part of that quest, he has provided transformational leadership at the Environmental Center in San Luis Obispo, the Savory Center for Holistic Management, and Northwest Earth Institute. He went back to school and earned a doctorate studying the deep psychological roots of human participation in environmental destruction, and how individuals can awake to the task of repairing the planet. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Recent Posts by TreeHugger's Timothy J. LaSalle, Rodale Institue, Kutztown, PA