We are getting many questions about President-Elect Biden’s transition priorities. Hygeia has no seat at the pertinent tables, but is in touch with many people that do. What are the most important components of the transition that the Biden-Harris team are focused on now? Easy answer. Combating the pandemic. Bucking up public health science. Getting […]
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A thoughtful new piece published online by Aeon calls for a reboot of how the nation’s livestock farmers do business. Grassland 2.0 calls for our livestock farmers to also become grass farmers. It is a re-invention of a very old wheel: the idea that animals and pasture can work together as a kind of ecosystem. […]
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Last week the USDA unveiled it’s new Agriculture Innovation Agenda, a “sustainability” plan with the goal of achieving a 50% reduction in the environmental footprint of US agriculture by 2050, as Politico reports. Sonny Perdue announced the new policy at an annual agency gathering in Virginia on February 20, 2020, or 02/20/2020 – an appropriate […]
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The winner of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism’s John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism was announced this week. InsideClimate News beat out the New York Times and ProPublica to take the top spot for their series “Harvesting Peril: Extreme Weather and Climate Change on the American Farm.” “Harvesting Peril describes how the […]
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The European sustainable development think-tank IDDRI has a 10 year plan to get the continent on a track towards sustainable agriculture, while producing ample food to provide a healthy diet to 530 million Europeans. Their fascinating new report is entitled “An agroecological Europe in 2050: multifunctional agriculture for healthy eating. Findings from the Ten Years […]
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It’s not just leaves that have been falling this season, the past months have seen several intense climate change reports drop on us too. First up was the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an exhaustive report on what it will take to keep warming under a critical limit, “Global Warming of 1.5° C.” […]
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A dark new climate report was released on Black Friday, a day usually reserved for the kind of news someone wants overlooked. The Fourth National Climate Assessment was produced by 13 federal agencies including the Department of the Interior, EPA, NOAA, and the Department of Commerce. Together with experts from non-governmental science institutions, they make up […]
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Americans enjoy the cheapest food in the world. The American food supply is among the most expensive in the world. Both statements are true. How can that be? America is the richest country in the world, so when the cost of food in the U.S. is measured as a percentage of average per capita income, […]
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Climate change is a looming threat for all farmers, but some crops in particular are “in the crosshairs” of this global environmental crisis. NPR reports in their “The Salt” food and farming series that five crops in particular may face the biggest challenges. They highlight wheat, peaches, coffee, corn, and almonds. See below for a […]
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In the latest study revealing the extent of declines in global insect populations, researchers working in Puerto Rico’s Luquillo rainforest have documented a “bottom-up trophic cascade” triggered by large declines in the biomass and abundance of arthropods, the family of animals that include insects and spiders. Populations of insectivorous predators like lizards, frogs, and birds […]
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