Brighter Green

Factory Farming of Chickens in India

(Justine Simon) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:12:16 EST

Brighter Green's Multimedia Analysis: Globalization of Factory Farming documents the spread of Western methods of intensive animal agriculture, as well as the social, environmental and animal welfare consequences of these actions.

This five minute video chronicles India's adoption of poultry factory farming.

Got Agribusiness?

mia@brightergreen.org (Mia MacDonald) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:18:51 EST

U.S. Expo pavilion: coming soon, brought to you by...

The U.S.’ pavilion (read: large exhibit space) at the upcoming World Expo in Shanghai in April needed to be funded. Statutes prevented government dollars from being used for the $61 million endeavor. So, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had to unleash her considerable expertise in soliciting donations. China was keen that the U.S. not snub the event (admittedly, it would have looked bad if the world’s superpower hadn’t been able to raise the cash). Her main targets, not surprisingly were U.S. corporations doing business in China—and wanting to do more. Wal-Mart, Dell, 3M, and Boeing signed up quickly. But agribusiness also wanted in and got in. Cargill, one of the world’s biggest feed and food producers, is a pavilion sponsor, as is Yum Brands, the parent company of KFC and Pizza Hut. Both are active in China and keen to extend their reach and, of course, their market share.

Expo, which takes place every five years, is a trange hybrid of world’s fair and trade show, featuring technological innovations along with lots of hype about countries’ “forward-looking” policies and practices. I attended the last Expo in 2005 in Aichi, Japan. There the theme was “nature’s wisdom.” Lots of high-tech, energy saving innovations were on display, along with a floor show, what I'd describe as a robot ballet, which offered a glimpse of the streamlined, efficient, automated future that might await. (The nearby just opened Nagoya airport alone made me wonder whether high-tech was really the U.S.'s future, as I returned to rickety JFK.) This time around, in Shanghai, the Expo theme is “better life.” Cargill’s developed its strategy to riff on the theme; not especially high-tech, but potentially effective.

According to a company press release: "During the Shanghai 2010 World Expo, Cargill volunteers will invite Chinese rural children to visit Expo 2010 as part of Cargill's plan to promote the Expo's " Better Life" theme to the countryside as well as cities. "The development of Cargill is deeply rooted in rural communities," said Norwell Coquillard. "�Cargill's participation in the Expo will help promote a 'Better Life' not only in cities, but also in the countryside with our active engagement in rural areas." Does this mean more feed-intensive factory farms? And more KFCs selling “nuggetized” grain-fed (with Cargill feed?), intensely confined chickens.

Ellen R. Eliasoph, Co-Chair of the U.S. pavilion, remarked (without irony, and according to the Cargill release; italics ours): "We are proud to welcome Cargill as a Pavilion Partner of the USA National Pavilion. Cargill has a rich heritage in agri-business and food dating back to 1865 and a long history in China. Cargill's corporate focus on sustainable development of agriculture and food safety management is an excellent fit with the primary themes of the USA National Pavilion: sustainability and health."

Another peculiar news story from the annals of agribusinesse: some of the largest U.S. food corporations are pledging funds to Haiti earthquake victims: Hormel, Cargill, Yum Brands, and even McDonalds, which is donating 50 cents from the sale of Big Macs at its outlets in Latin America during a few days in January. Pork magazine has the story (as if there isn’t an irony there). Of course, to many observers, Haiti is an object lesson in the dire consequences of losing national food security to the exigencies of industrial agriculture and the global marketplace. Haiti, it’s fair to say, has been hungry for years.

Ringing in the Chinese New Year

mia@brightergreen.org (Mia MacDonald) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:52:41 EST

Mr. Wang buys pigs for his farm

Lunar New Year celebrations continue. Also known as the Spring Festival, it's the most important Chinese holiday, for which millions of Chinese travel across their vast country by road, (increasingly fast) rail, boat or plane to reach their home villages and families. In the south-central province of Jiangxi, in Jishui County, Wang Ronghua, the livestock entrepreneur who's featured in Brighter Green's documentary, "Meat World: China," has been working hard. "Other people enjoy festivals," he says, "but we have more work to do....I work day and night for the New Year festival. We even have to slaughter pigs at night."

Interestingly, just before the New Year festival, the Chinese government indicated that a new survey on the sources of China's water pollution had found vastly more pollution than even two years ago. The main reason: for the first time, agricultural waste was included; 13.2 million tons of agricultural effluents were counted, including from factory-style livestock operations, smaller farms and crop production. “Everybody knew there was a problem with agricultural pollution in China," said Steven Ma, of Greenpeace's Beijing office. "But now there are numbers.” Big numbers.

It's the Year of the Tiger. Not great news, though, for tigers. Only about 3,200 are left in the wild, down from about 10,000 during the last Year of the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac. Many more tigers now live in captivity than in the wild. China itself has about 50 wild tigers. About 20 live in the north-east of the country; that population is relatively stable, but, of course, it's tiny. Many more live in a series of "reserves" that are really no more than tiger farms supplying, covertly and overtly, tiger "matter" for products like tiger wine and tiger tonics. The trade in tiger parts -- illegal -- still rages. China is a key point of demand. It's dispiriting, but likely that the Year of the Tiger will dial up demand for tigers themselves, or pieces of them. It could, of course, also focus (again) renewed attention on the tiger's (perpetually) desperate plight for habitat, and a respite from hunting and poaching. The Year, of course, has only just begun. I'm on the look out for resolutions....

Greening the Olympic Games

hoot@brightergreen.org (Whitney Hoot) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:38:56 EST

Will Vancouver win the green medal?

As people around the world watch their favorite athletes skate, ski, sled, and snowboard during the 2010 Olympic games in Vancouver, how many will consider the ecological footprint of this massive event? Believe it or not, sustainability is a core tenet of these games; the three pillars of the Olympic Movement are sport, culture, and environment. However, what do these “pillars” mean for the games themselves, and how participants and observers reflect on their environmental impacts?

For the first time, the gold, silver, and bronze medals distributed to Olympic champions contain metal recycled from electronic waste. Although each medal contains only a small fraction of recovered metal (1.52% in each gold medal), this sets a precedent of sustainability and innovation for future Olympics. On Tuesday, the Olympic Village in Vancouver—called Millennium Waters—became the second neighborhood in the world to receive LEED Platinum Certification. During the games, this community houses about 2,600 competitors and coaches; afterward, Millennium Waters will become a “mixed-use residential and commercial neighborhood” with both high-end and affordable housing, featuring natural building materials, solar panels, and toilets run with rainwater.

When bidding began for the 2010 Olympic games, the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) emphasized achieving “green games” as one major objective—their goal was to host the first carbon-neutral Olympics. Earlier this week, VANOC announced plans to offset 300,000 tons of GHG emissions through “carbon reduction projects.” However, the estimated total emissions of the 2010 games is 330,000 tons, with 220,000 tons resulting from air travel to and from the games. So, even with concerted efforts, VANOC’s offsets still fall short of a neutral carbon footprint.

At this point, it seems that individual citizens—athletes, coaches, spectators, and anyone watching the games from home—should step up to neutralize the remaining 30,000 tons of carbon. If you’re at the games, be especially mindful of your personal carbon footprint: walk or ride your bike around Vancouver. If you’re watching the games from your living room, why not have an all-vegetarian Olympics viewing party? We can’t forget that the Olympics aren’t just about sports—it’s hard to win games if you're missing a pillar.

Photo credit: Tyler Ingram

Meat World: China to be Screened at Apple Store, Beijing

(Justine Simon) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:44:55 EST

"Meat World: China" director Jian Yi will be at the Sanlitun, Beijing Apple Store on February 19th 2010, to showcase his recent films. Jian Yi is among a handful of filmmakers invited to discuss the use of Apple Products in their work. Clips of "Meat World: China" will be screened at the event, and Beijing musician Xie Zheng, and Vegan Hut restaurant owner Yu Li, both of whom are featured in the film, will be present at the screening. Tell your friends and colleagues in Beijing.

Photo by Jacqueline Hodges

Biodiversity's Dollar Value

(Justine Simon) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:39:59 EST

Costa Rica's "live" waters

Costa Ricans elected their first female President, Laura Chinchilla, last week. This appointment can be added to the long list of Costa Rica's accolades; the abolition of its standing army, free health care and education for all, its status as the happiest country on earth, and of course, its much lauded progressive environmental policies.

Costa Rica's Constitution establishes that "Every person has the right to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment," and reserves the right to denounce any infringing acts and collect monetary compensation. For a country rich in natural resources, Costa Rica has made good on this pledge to its citizens: The Pachero administration, citing reasons of environmental protection, opted to not exploit the rich oil deposits off its Atlantic Coast; the Constitutional Court upheld the cancellation of a multi-million gold mining permit with Canadian Vannessa Ventures on the basis of environmental degradation; and in 1999 a Costa Rican prosecutor sought damages against transnational corporation Geest Carribean for illegally logging more than 700 hectares of forest surrounding Tortuguero National Park - making it Costa Rica's first formal attempt at quantifying the value of lost biodiversity.

Rather than relying on mineral extraction and timber trade, Costa Rica has since pursued tourism as its primary source of foreign investment. While large hotel chains do exist throughout the country, Costa Rica has become a forerunner in the ecotourism movement. I just returned to New York from a week's stay in one such venture: a solar powered (more than 90% of Costa Rica's energy is from renewables) bamboo bungalow, that used at most 55 watts of energy each night to run an energy efficient fridge, a couple of CFL bulbs, and a ceiling fan.

As impressive as these ventures are, there are always improvements to be made. Our bungalow for instance was equipped with two flush toilets, despite repeated requests to conserve water and reminders that we were visiting during the dry season. When asked why dry compost toilets weren't installed, the resort's owner promptly replied: "We're Americans, and we flush our toilets." I spent the majority of the trip floating in the crystal clear, perfectly warm ocean, receiving many warnings about the "live" nature (read: heightened bacteria levels) of the water and the ear infections that would surely ensue from all the monkeys and birds in the area. I couldn't help but wonder if all the flush toilets, and the cattle pasture-lined coast had anything to do with this bacteria.

Though I could only speculate about the source of water pollution, one thing became abundantly clear as we started the seven hour drive back to San Jose along the coast: another important source of Costa Rica's foreign capital is the selling of vast amounts of its land to foreigners. From gated monstrosities to more modest plots, For Sale signs in English followed us all the way back to San Jose. Though Costa Rica was the first country to develop payments for environmental services, providing monetary compensation to landowners for preserving forests or even reforesting, the fact remains that the compensation available for clearing and selling land is significantly higher. Under the current system of PSA or pagos por servicios ambientales, Costa Ricans receive $210 per hectare over a five year period to keep the trees on their land standing. The typical market price however, for a cleared plot of land is $15 800 per hectare. As demand for their spectacular land grows, Costa Ricans will continue to assess the value of their country's rich biodiversity. In this country that is perhaps closest to an environmental utopia, it's sobering to see that money still often, ultimately talks.

Native New Yorkers, the Four-Legged Kind

hoot@brightergreen.org (Whitney Hoot) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:08:05 EST

If habitat destruction continues, we may see even more coyotes on Manhattan streets.

Is that the neighbor's dog barking in the apartment upstairs, or should you look out the window for something a little wilder? On Sunday morning, Columbia University Public Safety spotted three coyotes in front of Lewisohn Hall, on Broadway and 116th Street. One of the coyotes was sighted again later in the morning, but no arrests were made--these wild dogs are still roaming free. The Chief of Public Safety warned community members to report any sightings, but not to approach the animals. This isn't the first coyote sighting in Manhattan this year, and it certainly isn't the first encounter between humans and those "other" urban dwellers who usually remain hidden in public parks, subway tunnels, and in the recesses of urban minds that have forgotten what nature looks like.

It's only February, but the NYC Bureau of Communicable Diseases reports that 32 rabid raccoons have been captured in Manhattan since the beginning of 2010. The Throggs Neck housing projects in the Bronx have also been infiltrated by unwanted visitors: skunks. One lifelong resident reports,"If it was just rats and roaches, I could take care of it myself. But these are wild animals." When does an animal cross the line, from being a standard feature of the natural landscape to becoming an urban pest, wild vermin? Really, we're the ones encroaching on them: As housing developments, shopping centers, and golf courses (like the one near Throggs Head) continue to proliferate in New York suburbs, animals like skunks, raccoons, foxes, and even coyotes are displaced from their natural habitat. Manhattan may not seem like the obvious choice for wild animals, but at least there aren't any bulldozers or apartment complexes in Central Park.

In New York City, nature doesn't have many rights; man is king here. How many New Yorkers will be willing to defend the rights of raccoons and coyotes to live in "our" parks, eat "our" garbage, and roam "our" streets? Probably not many. These animals truly are native New Yorkers, but without the accent, no one seems to recognize them.

Photo credit: Alan Vernon

Fertilizer Futures

mia@brightergreen.org (Mia MacDonald) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 10:52:10 EST

Industrial pig farm under construction, south-central China

Mergers and acquisitions in the global fertilizer industry are on the rise, even as those among steel companies are slowing. Why? And why does it matter? According to Reuters, China's demand for meat will continue to grow, even as its demand for steel levels off. "The revolution of the stomach moves at a slower pace," the author informs us, adding that merger activity among fertilizer giants went "hog wild." Perhaps not the most original metaphor, but the point is made. China is the world's largest consumer of potash, a form of potassium that's used principally for fertilizer, along with animal feed. Predicting the future in a pile of potash? Focus on feed -- and the inputs to produce it. "As long as China's taste for meat increases," the article concludes, "fertilizer companies should continue to eat one another up." The absent referent? The planet, being eaten up, too.

The Visibility of Vegetarianism: Show me the herbivores!

hoot@brightergreen.org (Whitney Hoot) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:44:32 EST

Would you rather change your car or change your diet? Why not both?

As climate skeptics become more heavily outnumbered, concerned citizens are trading in their SUVs for hybrid cars, exchanging incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescents, and sorting their garbage into separate piles for recycling, compost, and waste. However, if you ask the average omnivore to give up meat for the environment, you should be prepared for a strong reaction. Human beings are very attached to their meat habits; as Americans, most of us eat meat every day, some with every meal—we consume an average of 200 pounds of meat, fish, and poultry per person every year!

So, why is vegetarianism such an unwilling sacrifice for most people? We don’t need meat to live or be healthy; I’ve abstained from meat for 10 years and I’m still standing. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, about one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to the production and consumption of livestock, a larger portion than the entire transportation industry. Many vegetarians base their dietary practices on personal beliefs, ethics, and health reasons; now, herbivores may use ecological considerations to support their choices. If you drive a Prius instead of a Hummer, no one will argue that you are lowering your ecological footprint and pursuing a greener lifestyle. As a vegetarian, I’ve often been met with criticism; many people want to know why I bother, since I’m only one person. However, if we don’t believe in the power of individuals to make change, then what can we believe in?

During the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, increased attention was given to food choices and their connection to climate change, largely thanks to the followers of Ching Hai, the leader of a Buddhist activist group that promotes vegan and vegetarian lifestyles. Throughout the conference, Ching Hai’s followers braved freezing conditions to distribute meat-free sandwiches and hot vegan drinks to COP-15 attendees and other protesters clustered by the entrance to the Bella Center. The activists—dressed as chickens, cows, and pigs—certainly increased the visibility of vegetarian interests at the conference. The question is whether their “alarmist pamphlets” and “outrageous claims” did more harm than good. As vegetarians, we must find a way to organize effectively, without seeming radical. We have power as individuals, but much more strength on a global scale if we can form effective coalitions that present vegetarianism as a healthy, ethical, ecologically-responsible life choice.

When the Prius was first introduced, it was lapped up by environmentalists and bleeding hearts; now, over 1.2 million models have been sold globally. At first, this hybrid car was mocked in the media and popular culture. South Park dedicated an entire episode to the affected mannerisms of Prius drivers, from speaking with their eyes closed to enjoying the aroma of their own flatulence. Sometimes I think meat-eaters have similar views of vegetarians; they view us as preachy, pretentious, and self-righteous. With new data about the ecological costs of livestock production, we may be able to prove them wrong and find a place for vegetarianism and veganism in mainstream culture.

Photo credit: Gregory Williams

Pig Pericope: Copenhagen and Athens Redux

mia@brightergreen.org (Mia MacDonald) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:02:30 EST

Not on pottery

Pericope (pronounced /pəˈrɪkəpi/) (Greek περικοπή, "a cutting-out") in rhetoric is a set of verses that forms one coherent unit or thought, thus forming a short passage suitable for public reading from a text....

Denmark has a year-round pig population of about 13 million, more than two pigs for every Dane and the highest pig density in the world, according to a report co-published by Friends of the Earth Denmark. Denmark's pigs, almost all consigned to factory farms, are fattened on soy imported from Argentina (where deforestation has accelerated as has the "soyanization" of Argentinean agriculture) plus home-grown corn. Welfare standards are low, giving Danish pork a price advantage in the marketplace, and export levels are high. Pork comprises half of all Denmark's agricultural exports. I didn't spot any live pig at the recent Copenhagen climate talks.

Foot long Danish hot dog sandwiches, though, were popular with delegates at the Bella Center in the closing days of the summit. Long lines snaked from kiosks selling them, along with vegetable soup, GHGs be damned. And it turns out the non-governmental Klimaforum '09 was held in a part of Copenhagen known as Kodbyen, or, in English, “meat city.” It’s where Copenhagen’s slaughterhouses were located before they were repurposed as offices, lofts or sports facilities.

Ancient pigs: I spotted a pig on a thousands year-old piece of pottery in an Athenian museum. A porcine Pericles? Part of a pericope? Or a likely sacrifice to an angry Olympian god? Perhaps a clue: a 5th century Greek potter was known as the "pig painter." No pig painters in Copenhagen last December, at least not that I could see. But there was at least one pig sculptor. Outside conference venues in the first days of the climate talks, a big, pink model pig mounted on a truck promoted vegetarianism. Organizers also sought to remind delegates that human beings and pigs share approximately 90 percent of their genes. See photo of the Swiss-made "gruntzmobil" here.

Photo: Douglas Xiao

Winged Migration?

mia@brightergreen.org (Mia MacDonald) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:22:51 EST

50 million year resident

Floating, whether on water or air, sounds pretty appealing, doesn't it? But floating as a way for whole species to migrate sounds pretty far-fetched. Nonetheless, that's the conclusion of new research on why Madagascar, the island nation off the east coast of the African continent, has such a range of unique mammal species, all of them on the small side, like lemurs, those petite primates with the long noses and tails. Scientists now think that lemurs and other small mammals "rafted" to Madagascar, today the only place they're found, about 300 mile across the Indian Ocean from Africa on floating vegetation. This was more than 50 million years ago, and such migrations, accidental or intentional, continued for 30 million years. The flow of ocean currents during back then, unlike now, made such a journey possible.

Matthew Huber, who's a palaeoclimate modeller (who knew there was such a specialty?) at Purdue University in Indiana, explains: "What the model suggests is that occasionally, say one month in 100 years, the currents were strong enough to allow a raft, for example a large log, carrying a family of lemurs to make the journey in about three weeks." It's fascinating to consider this ancient migration route even as climate change is encouraging biologists to explore "assisted migration" for species whose habitats become inhospitable as temperatures shift. But the world's land masses are far more crowded than they were 50 million years ago. We're here, after all. If habitat loss or climate shocks required evacuation, and if the currents allowed lemurs to raft again today, would they find a new home? Maybe if they could fly.

Haiti's Cycle of Debt, Poverty and Destruction

(Justine Simon) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:32:44 EST

An assistance camp set up by the Brazilian army

Though the full extent of Haiti's earthquake Tuesday is yet to be truly understood, the images emerging from the country are heart-wrenching: bodies are piled outside an overflowing Port-au-Prince morgue, men, women and children sit, waiting - bandaged and stunned, a series of makeshift tents has sprung up to shelter the city's homeless - to replace the somewhat-less makeshift houses that many of them previously inhabited.

It was the current disaster in Haiti that framed last night's conversation at New York's Society for Ethical Culture, among Amy Goodman, Raj Patel and Naomi Klein. Together the three painted a picture of a Haiti impoverished by foreign economic decisions - from the early insistence that Haiti pay reparations to French slave owners for its country's independence, to modern day IMF loans whose conditions included reduced tariff protections for Haitian rice - turning it from self-sufficient in rice production to virtually dependent on American "Miami rice."

Like many developing countries around the world, Haiti's poverty is complexly intertwined with its environment, with the destruction of the country's forests lying at the heart of many of its woes. Haiti today experiences one of the worst rates of soil erosion, as the majority of Haitians, unable to afford alternative fuel sources, rely on trees for firewood and charcoal. Aside from rendering the soil increasingly difficult to farm, the soil erosion magnifies the effects of natural disasters such as this earthquake or the series of hurricanes that hit Haiti in 2008, as houses crammed on to unstable foundations collapse and mudslides gush downhill.

And yet the roots of this deforestation, and the belief that trees are more valuable cut down than standing, can be traced back to Haiti's early history, as its countrymen felled their rich mahogany forests to help make payments to France. In the two hundred years since then, little has changed, and we continue to see countries around the world destroying their natural resources to pay off debts. As Klein mentioned last night, Bangladesh is pushing forward shrimp farming in a bid to make crippling World Bank loan payments, and is, as a result, destroying its coastal mangrove swamps and making the low-lying country more susceptible to monsoon flooding.

As the images of Haiti continue to pour in and we ask ourselves how we can contribute, Patel and Klein have a couple of suggestions. They urge us to let our media sources know that we are interested in their coverage of Haiti, and to pressure them into providing comprehensive coverage of the events currently unfolding. They also remind us that now is the time to be vigilant. As Klein outlines in her book "The Shock Doctrine," unpopular policies such as the introduction of loans and privatization of basic amenities are increasingly pushed through in the wake of natural disasters. While Bill Clinton mentions the opportunity to rebuild a more stable, greener Haiti, as this disaster's silver lining, Patel and Klein warn us to keep note of who profits. As it turns out, their calls are not unheeded. Less than 24 hours after the earthquake hit, the Heritage Foundation published a blog noting the present opportunity to "re-shape Haiti's...economy." In response to readers' outraged comments, the Heritage Foundation promptly removed this section.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Corporate Control Over Chinese Soy

(Stella Zhou) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:11:02 EST

Soy originates from China, which is now a net-importer of the bean.

Henry Kissinger said, "Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people."

I was reading the other day that China is importing a large amount of soybeans from the U.S. and Brazil, to use as animal feed to meet its growing demand for meat. Kissinger’s words ring true when it comes to China's current relationship with soy - a relationship that reminds me of an ancient Chinese story, the classic Strategies of the Warring States.

During the Spring and Autumn Period in ancient China, there was a powerful state named Qi, with two neighboring states named Lu and Liang. The king of Qi first issued an order that his subjects must wear clothes made of silk. He also ordered that his state could only grow grains, no mulberry trees whose leaves are used to feed silkworms. The demand for silk thus soared in Qi. Seeing this, Lu and Liang stopped their grain production and shifted to plant mulberry trees so as to produce silk for profit. Years later, however, the king of Qi changed his order. He ruled that his subjects could only wear cotton clothes and forbade his state from selling food to the neighboring states Lu and Liang. Having abandoned the original agricultural production, Lu and Liang collapsed because of famine and civil disorder. Qi thus easily conquered the two states.

The ancient wisdom takes a different form but shares the same essence as the modern “battle within the world food system”. Facilitated by technology, intensive practices and subsidies, today's use of food as a weapon can be seen most clearly through food aid, which usually destroys traditional agricultural practices and re-orients production towards exportation. Free-trade policies only worsen the situation, as local agricultural production is unable to compete with cheap imports.

China is known to be the origin of the soybean. Before 1995, China was self-sufficient in soybean production and also a net exporter of soybean. However, after 1995 and especially after 2001, China’s domestic soybean production shrank and its imports skyrocketed. Today, China has completed its transformation from major producer and net exporter of soybean to the world’s largest importer of soybean. Coincidentally, 1995 was the birth of the World Trade Organization and 2001, the year that China became an official member of the WTO and began to experience free trade restrictions on its agricultural products.

China's 2004 soybean crisis further hastened its transformation to a net soybean importer. China lacks an independent national information system for soybean market speculations. So, decisions are made solely based on the Chicago Board of Trade's figures (CBOT). The end of 2003 and early 2004 marked a sharp turnover of soybean futures price from 2,300 yuan/ton (equivalent to about 330 USD/ton) to 4,400 yuan/ton (equivalent to about 630 USD/ton) as the USDA predicted reduced yield because of bad weather.

As a result, Chinese companies purchased over 8 million tons of soybean in early 2004 from the U.S., for fear of further hikes in soybean prices. However, one month after the purchase, the soybean price plunged to less than half of 4,400 yuan/ton (equivalent to less than 315 USD/ton). News coverage in China from that time reported that the U.S. government and the soybean industries manipulated the soybean price and thus created the whole crisis. This event led many soybean processing companies to declare bankruptcy.

The crisis, however, turned out to be a great opportunity for U.S. corporations. The Chinese soybean market is now dominated by four players: Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus. During the 2004 soybean crisis, these four companies bought the bankrupt processing companies at low prices and now hold all the decision-making power in regards to the purchase of soybean.

So now the scene on the ground is: domestic non-GM soybean producers are hoarding their soy, whose lower oil content makes it less valuable to oil processing companies, processors in the Northeast are either declaring bankruptcy or moving to the coastal East to cut back on transportation costs, and processors in the coastal East are importing vast quantities of GM soybean mainly from the U.S. and Brazil. It’s estimated that in 2008, foreign companies or joint ventures funded 70% of China's oil processing factories, and multinational corporations controlled 80% of the country's soybean processing capacity.

Maathai's Meatrix

mia@brightergreen.org (Mia MacDonald) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 12:28:52 EST

Wangari Maathai at the Copenhagen climate summit

New Year, fast review. As 2010 gets going, I thought it was worth looking back -- well, just a couple of weeks -- to the Copenhagen climate talks and what Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai said about meat at the side event Brighter Green and Maathai's Green Belt Movement co-sponsored there. Here's her answer to a question from Lasse Bruun of Compassion in World Farming about why, despite all the evidence about the negative consequences, climate and more broadly ecological, people want to eat so much meat (and policy-makers don't seem to want to address the issue):

Globally when we have more money in our pockets, we want to eat more meat, even three times a day, which is why we have a crisis. Mia [that's me -- Wangari, I and two other colleagues were panelists] is a vegetarian, I’m a semi vegetarian�it must be psychological, this desire for meat. People say, ‘I can afford it. You hear that all the time.’ [Perhaps] we need to go back to where we were and not eat so much meat.

New Year, new Meatrix. Thanks, Wangari.

On Beauty, and Time, Too

mia@brightergreen.org (Mia MacDonald) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:26:14 EST

Wheels Turning

I’m spending a few days in Athens and it’s hard here not to ponder a concept like beauty, particularly after visiting the Parthenon. Why is something beautiful? Is it because we’re taught that it is (like classical Greek architecture), or because it simplyis, even if it’s hard to know why? What about an old square, like those I saw recently in the old Swedish city of Malmo, laid out hundreds of years ago? What makes that much more pleasing to walk in than, say, a generic modern shopping mall? Even when the snow is persistent and there’s a modern machine in the square, too: the Wheel of Malmo (a ferris wheel with heated capsules)? It just is. I don’t claim to have a coherent theory of beauty, or the discernment to know it all the time.

But ugliness? That’s much easier. And what marred two old squares in Malmo in close proximity was the visage of Burger King, all bright lights, blaring logo, vivid reds and yellows. Another Burger King—same look, same food—greeted me at the Malmo train station, just a few minutes walk from the old squares. All were ugly. Each seemed out of place, unnecessary, an intrusion. (And, of course, there’s lots of hidden ugliness at the center of burger business. How can there not be? One of the most recent: E. coli and salmonella found in beef used by Burger King and other fast food chains that had been treated with ammonia, said to kill nearly all the pathogens) I wondered why certain building codes in Malmo hadn’t, if not restricted fast food establishments entirely, at least curbed their garishness on the lovely old squares. Perhaps, though, garishness, too is in the eye of the beholder. When I arrived in London from Malmo, I was astonished to see this across a modified archway: “Welcome to London Victoria�Home of the Whopper” with the Burger King logo, bold and illuminated, at the center. I could only laugh ruefully to myself. Ugliness unseen? Fugitive beauty? Branding trumps both? I’ll leave it there. Happy New Year.

Vegetarianism: A Personal Choice with Interpersonal Consequences

hoot@brightergreen.org (Whitney Hoot) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 07:54:09 EST

What's the carbon footprint of a can of vegetable broth, compared to chicken stock?

As always, I skipped the turkey and gravy this Christmas. However I was able to partake in every other part of the meal—the roast potatoes, the stuffing, the brussel sprouts, the homemade oat bread. Because I won’t eat meat, my family avoids products such as chicken stock, opting for vegetable broth instead. Every other guest who consumed our holiday feast is an unabashed omnivore, but no one seems to mind making a few allowances for me, the lone vegetarian at the table. The rest of the year, when I’m home from college, family meals are often meat-free. We eat grilled vegetables with rice or vegetarian chili or spaghetti sans meatballs. It’s easier to prepare one meal than two, so herbivore-friendly entrees make sense.

I’ve been a vegetarian since I was ten. Before I revamped my dietary practices, my family ate meat with dinner every night. We also prepared my grandmother’s famous cornbread stuffing using chicken stock and cooked it inside the turkey. Thankfully, my family has always been supportive of me and is willing to make adjustments so I won’t be left out (or left hungry). These are small changes, but they are meaningful. After declaring myself a strict vegetarian, more than once I’ve been met with, “Why bother? You’re only one person. How much difference will it make if you don’t eat meat?” It’s true that I am only one person, but I certainly know a lot of other people. Like any other member of society, my actions impact those around me. We are all individual social actors involved in series of events and interactions that shape human behavior. I doubt I’ve single-handedly converted anyone from meat eater to abstainer, but I’m certain that I’ve made others more conscious of their meat consumption. My friends may find my assertions and quips a little annoying, especially when I gently inform them that 10 billion animals are slaughtered annually in the US, just as they reach for another chicken wing, but my only intention is to help them become more informed citizens and consumers.

I believe that as the correlation between meat production and climate change becomes more prevalent in the media, vegetarianism will gain a stronghold in the public discourse. Human beings, especially Americans, are very attached to their T-bone steaks and quarter-pound burgers; the average American consumes 200 pounds of meat, fish, and poultry per year. However, human beings are also attached to breathable air, relatively stable climates, and current sea levels. If we want to keep these things, we’re going to have to change many of our behaviors, from driving gas-guzzling SUVs to eating large, frequent portions of animal products. Our own consumption habits are certainly personal choices, but they have wide-reaching consequences for global societies.

This is why I’m a vegetarian. I don’t think my eating habits will change the world, but I know that they will have an impact on it, however minute. My goal is to make this impact greater, by being an activist at all times, whether I’m working at a nonprofit or sharing a meal with family and friends. And even if my reach as “only one person” is limited, I know I’ll be conserving at least 200 pounds of meat and a few cans of chicken broth this year.

Photo credit: Maggie Hoffman

Big Fish, Big Trouble: Silver Carp in the Great Lakes

hoot@brightergreen.org (Whitney Hoot) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:25:26 EST

The silver carp is produced in global aquaculture more than any other species.

Although the Great Lakes boast a $7 billion/year fishing industry, there is one fish that's not welcome here: the Asian carp. The invasive silver Asian carp can weigh up to 100 pounds and eat 20 percent of their weight each day in plankton; they're capable of interrupting natural biological systems and interfering with chemical processes. This fish has not been sighted in the Lakes themselves, but they were tracked to the century-old man-made canal that connects the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River watershed. Some scientists predict that if the silver carp infiltrate Lake Michigan and attain breeding populations, "the fish would ultimately upend the entire ecosystem in the lakes that make up a fifth of the earth's freshwater surface." Other scientists claim that we cannot accurately foresee how silver carp will grow and reproduce in the Great Lakes ecosystem.

This is another example of the unexpected environmental consequences of human actions. The canal between the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan was built over a hundred years ago; it has served as a channel for human beings, a route for trading, a medium for sewage transport, and a passage for unwanted nonnative species, such as the silver carp and zebra mussels. Today, the canal remains controversial. Barges carry almost 17 million tons of material on this waterway annually; if the canal's yearly load was transported via land, an additional 1.3 million trucks would be needed. Once again, human interests and the natural environment are clashing. How can we prevent the silver carp from infesting the Great Lakes and potentially destroying the entire ecosystem, without risking the important economic gains from the Lakes' resources and industries?

Photo courtesy of Kate Gardiner

Five Minutes for the Climate

mia@brightergreen.org (Mia MacDonald) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:29:37 EST

“[C]rucial meeting with Premier Wen of China, and then 5 minutes to grab a steak,” UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown tweeted during the penultimate day of the Copenhagen climate talks. Less than five minutes: the time it took Dutch Party for the Animals MP Marianne Thieme to tell a packed audience at a screening of her global warming documentary, “Meat the Truth”, at the Copenhagen Klimaforum that all official dinners hosted at COP 15 by the Dutch environment minister were vegetarian. I wonder if Gordon Brown attended any. Five minutes: perhaps that’s what Thieme had to convince the Netherlands’ prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, to address the meat-climate connection during the high-level segment of COP 15. (She was meeting him at 11 p.m. the night of the screening.)

Less than five minutes: the time Thieme had to give a DVD of “Meat the Truth” to government delegates and heads of state she passed at the Bella Center. “Sarkozy was too quick for me,” she admitted. But, she told us, the Dutch government is studying imposing a tax on meat. It’s also apportioned six million euros to explore transitioning from industrial animal agriculture to something more sustainable. Less than a minute: what it took Thieme to wrap up her Q&A session with this: “To get rid of factory farming, that’s what I intend to do.” Estimated completion time: more, alas, than the five minutes it took Brown to eat his steak.

Did Smoke Get in Their Eyes?

mia@brightergreen.org (Mia MacDonald) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:02:31 EST

Climate clearing or combusting?

After an all-night session that stretched into the gray Copenhagen afternoon, COP 15, the climate summit, is over. A 12-paragraph agreement has been "noted," and government delegates, NGO representatives (who'd largely been shut out of the negotiations at the Bella Center in recent days), journalists and assorted others were packing, bleary-eyed, and making moves to leave the city. Few expected the two weeks of intense deliberations to end like this. I'd had several late nights this week, attending panels at the people's climate summit, the Klimaforum, and ruminating with colleagues about the prospects of a climate deal. Last night, as the deliberations stretched on, three of us followed the news on TV until just after President Obama gave his news conference around 11 p.m. He finished and initially we were silent. What had happened? What did it mean? Then the deflation set in; had all led up to this...just this, what Obama called a "first step?" The science of climate change, he admitted, warranted more action, but the political process simply couldn't provide it.

This morning, puzzling over it all along the Copenhagen waterfront, I realized that this lovely, prosperous and very expensive city (a reality felt keenly by NGO delegates from the global South) is bounded by two sets of active smokestacks. They're ugly, visceral evidence of industrial society, spewing pollution into the sky non-stop. I couldn't help but wonder, in the frantic final days at the Bella Centre, had smoke gotten into the heads of states eyes, clouding their judgement? It's something I'll be pondering for weeks, if not months, to come. Despite the lack of a binding climate deal, the UN has declared 2010 International Year of Biodiversity. Perhaps it's apt here to quote President Obama seeking out Chinese premier Wen Jiabao yesterday: "Are you ready?"

Small Farmers�and Farm Futures

mia@brightergreen.org (Mia MacDonald) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:00:26 EST

Henry Saragih, General Coordinator of Via Campesina and Nnimmo Bassey, Chair of Friends of the Earth International, at the Klimaforum.

The small farmers' movement has been well-represented at the Klimaforum (if not on the many government delegations, where it appears agribusiness got the slots), making important points about the need to distinguish between "Big Ag" and small, more sustainable agriculture in the climate (and justice) context. Farmed animals aren't a focus of their agenda, but aren't entirely absent. A press release from Via Campesina, a self-described international peasant movement, includes this:

"Industrial agriculture, represented by large monocultures, plantations and intensive livestock production is responsible for around half of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions�More than 150 Via Campesina farmers have come to Copenhagen to claim that a radical change in the food system has the potential to achieve reductions of between 50-75% of current global emissions. This would include returning organic matter to the soil, developing local markets and reversing intensive livestock production...in order to save the climate we must change the current production and consumption models."

I had a chance today to finish reading the International Herald Tribune I'd been carrying around with me for days. This article caught my eye. It's not directly related to Copenhagen, but it could be viewed through a climate lens—as most things can. Uruguay, a small nation in Latin America, is seeking to capture what it sees as a steady market for grass-fed, free-range beef from its neighbor, Argentina, where feedlots and corn-based feed have become the norm. Uruguay's beef marketing campaign puts "images of grazing cattle and plates of beef with scenes of vineyards and seaside boardwalks." Peculiar. But perhaps no more so than what we're all waiting for from the climate talks in Copenhagen, and around the world.

Image courtesy of Friends of the Earth