|
|
Behind the Reporting of Our James Beard–Nominated Story "Diving—and Dying—for Red Gold"
The path to telling this story wasn't a smooth one, recounts freelance contributor Alice Driver in her recent Substack blog post. "I applied for funding to report the story and was rejected. I also pitched the story to several magazines . . . after a clear stream of rejections, I decided to move forward with the story."
When Driver approached Civil Eats with the piece, we instantly saw it as an important part of our investigation of Walmart and the Walton Family Foundation. "A good story finds the right home, but in this media landscape, it takes a lot of work," says Driver.
We're glad she persisted.
~The Civil Eats Editors
Read the full story.
|
|
|
Our independent, investigative journalism about the U.S. food system is supported by members and donors like you.
|
|
Become a Member for $6/mo.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Far From Home, the Curry Leaf Tree Thrives
|
BY MARY-ROSE ABRAHAM • May 8, 2024
|
When I was a child in the 1980s, my family traveled nearly every summer from our home in Los Angeles to the other side of the world. We spent monsoon-drenched weeks on my grandparents’ farm in southern India’s Kerala state.
On the last day of one of our trips, there was one final item to be packed. A housekeeper knelt under a towering 20-foot curry leaf tree and dug up one of the dozens of saplings at its base. She wrapped it in a wet towel and secured it in a plastic bag. My parents stowed it in a shoe in their suitcase, and we flew back home without encountering any inspections.
Once they transplanted the sapling into a pot, they kept it warm inside the house and
watched over it carefully. But it never took to the mild, dry climate of Los Angeles, and it wilted a few weeks later. After two more saplings met the same fate, my parents gave up.
But another stowaway did make the journey successfully.
Read the full story.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A Guide to Climate-Conscious Grocery Shopping
|
BY CHRISTINA COOKE • May 7, 2024
|
Between considering the impact of your food choices on your health and on the well-being of the planet—and accounting for the very real constraints of time, money, and accessibility—shopping for groceries can often feel daunting.
Purchasing food exclusively at farmers’ markets or local co-ops and buying 100-percent organic, animal- and earth-friendly products is not a realistic option for most people. So what do you prioritize? And when values conflict—like when a product is nutritious but hard on the environment (in the case of almonds) or produced humanely but packaged poorly (like Animal Welfare Approved milk in a plastic carton)—what do you do?
Sophie Egan, author of How to Be a Conscious Eater: Making Food Choices that Are Good For You, Others, and the Planet and former director of the Health and Sustainability Leadership at The Culinary Institute of America, offers advice for how to shop for the benefit of yourself, others, and the environment—without feeling guilt for the compromises you have to make.
In a recent interview with Civil Eats, Egan emphasized some key, big-picture concepts to keep in mind as you strive to align your food-shopping choices with your values.
Read the full story.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Changing How We Farm Might Protect Wild Mammals—and Fight Climate Change
|
BY RUSCENA WIEDERHOLT • May 6, 2024
|
Tom Farquhar planted several large plots of beneficial flowers around his vegetable farm in Montgomery County, Maryland. The idea was to control pests at the Certified Naturally Grown operation by increasing the number of beneficial predator insects and spiders. And the method worked: “We don’t have too many big insect problems,” he
said of his farm, formerly a conventional corn and soybean operation.
But the crop-free plantings have had another effect, Farquhar explained. They have also increased the number of mammals on the farm. Strips of trees, bushes, grasses, or flowers around agricultural or pasture fields can house higher numbers of small mammals than cropland. Additionally, the diversity of Farquhar’s crops and the chemical-free nature of his farm also attracted and supported small mammals, he said.
Because small animals can damage crops, the farm fortunately also has predators such as foxes, hawks, and eagles helping keep them in check. “The coyote is now a resident in our area, and that was never true until recently,” said Farquhar. “Maybe in the last 10 years, [coyotes] began to come in, and they also will eat the small mammals. So, we got nature happening out there in a big way.”
While industrial farming feeds the multitudes, it is also a main
driver of biodiversity loss across the country. More than 18 percent of North American mammals are decreasing in population, and nearly a quarter of the more than 400 mammal species in the U.S. are listed on the endangered species list.
Read the full story.
|
|
|
