Vermont is a cool place and it’s getting cooler. The Green Mountain State passed a “ universal recycling law ” (Act 148) that has a number of progressive provisions including mandatory composting. Starting this summer, enterprises that generate two tons or more of food scraps per week – e.g., grocery stores, restaurants and food producers – must divert them from landfills. Because the law is being phased in over several years, residents have until 2020 to comply. After that, food scraps and yard debris ( i.e., leaves and wood scraps) will be banned from landfills. If this sounds a bit...

Years of Living Dangerously airs this Sunday on Showtime. The first episode, which is highly worth your time, investigates different facets of the climate crisis in Texas, Syria, and Indonesia. The Indonesia segment is spearheaded by actor Harrison Ford who journeys deep into the tropical forest not as a swashbuckling adventurer, but more as a sober statesman, to uncover a paradise mostly lost. Along the way, we learn that Indonesia has the world’s highest rate of deforestation. Indeed, NASA scientists have determined that a full twenty percent of annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come...

As a nation, we have become accustomed to paying relatively little for our food as a percentage of overall income. [i] While this cheap food may on the face of it seem like a good thing, it actually comes at an alarming, and astronomical, cost. This is due to the fact that whenever you buy non-organic food, the price you pay doesn’t actually reflect the true cost of production. The true costs of chemical, industrial agriculture are externalized and society is stuck footing a hefty and unacceptable bill. These include the sky-rocketing costs of health care associated with diet-related illness...

If your pediatrician recommends eating more fruits and vegetables, what they really mean is to eat organic fruits and vegetables. Last fall the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) published a report on pesticides that can be summed up in just one sentence: “Children’s exposures to pesticides should be limited as much as possible.” The report, Pesticide Exposure in Children , was published by the country’s most renowned group of children’s doctors, and the Center for Food Safety’s Cool Foods Campaign is in complete agreement with its no-nonsense recommendation. Choosing foods that are...

This past President’ Day my oldest child turned 18 and instead of celebrating his young adulthood with him, I was across the country standing on the National Mall with more than 40,000 strangers. While I may sound like an uncaring mom, the opposite is true. I’d gone to Washington DC precisely because I care so much about the world our children will inherit. This sea of people was at the Capitol asking the President to stop the Keystone XL pipeline and address climate change without further delay. Participating in this rally led me to reflect on the freedoms of speech and assembly that I...

Spread the news! The largest climate rally EVER in the U.S. is taking place on Sunday, February 17th in Washington, DC. Thousands of people are mobilizing for the rally, which is organized by 350.org, the Sierra Club, and the Hip Hop Caucus; the Center for Food Safety’s Cool Foods Campaign is one of dozens of organizations across the U.S. that has signed on to join the march. As moms we care so much – and work so hard – to ensure that our children have a promising, secure future. Climate change threatens every single thing that we parents hope for them. Climate change manifests as extreme...

Para español, haga clic aquí . While election season is upon us, let’s remember that we are already voting every day. Not at the ballot box, of course, but at the grocery store with your dollars, and at home with your fork! As we make daily choices about what we buy and eat, we are “voting” for how we want food to be grown and distributed in our country. Voting is a privilege and with privilege comes responsibility. When it comes to food, what kinds of responsibilities do parents have? Well, we have a responsibility to feed our children healthy and nutritious food. We have a responsibility to...

There has been a parade of headlines lately about the shocking statistic that approximately 40 percent of the food in the United States is thrown away. Even allowing some room for error, this level of waste is staggering on many fronts. For starters, in 2010, 17.2 million households were classified as “food insecure”—a euphemism that spells millions of hungry people in our country. Then, there are people like farmers, farm workers and ranchers who labor exhaustingly to grow our food, so it’s pretty inexcusable that we don’t even eat it. On top of it all, this level of food waste represents...