Sometimes ads do more harm than good: like this energy saving ad that encourages consumerism.
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By Alison Blackmore

On July, 28 2012 Brother Dave Andrews, Senior Representative for Food and Water Watch and a member of Nourishing the Planet’s advisory group, will be honored with the prestigious Distinguished Service to Rural Life Award for his commitment to enhancing the life of rural people. The award is the highest honor given by the Rural Sociology Society, a professional social science association founded in 1937 with the intent of improving the quality of rural life, communities, and the environment.

Brother Dave Andrews, recipient of the Distinguished Service to Rural Life Award. (Photo credit: http://www.holycross brothers.blogspot.com/)

Andrews has worked for over 30 years on sustainable development, food and water issues, and public policy, both nationally and internationally, and has a long-standing commitment to bettering the spiritual, social, and economic lives of rural people.

Since the 1970s, Andrews has dedicated his life to ensuring that the dignity of rural people is respected. As the Executive Director of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference for 13 years, he supported rural Catholic congregations, worked with farm communities to determine the best way to care for the earth, and advocated on behalf of rural people on pertinent food policy issues. Today, as a senior representative for Food & Water Watch, Brother Andrews acts as a liaison to the faith community, motivating people of faith to be thoughtful and deliberate about their choices within the food system. Internationally, he represents farmer and peasant voices at various high-profile summits and meetings, including World Food Summits and the last three World Trade Organization meetings. He frequently attends UN Food and Agriculture Organization international and regional meetings on food security, and works with UN officials to advocate for justice for the most vulnerable laborers in the world’s food system.

For his relentless work on behalf of rural society, both national and internationally, Brother Andrews is well-deserving of this award and the Nourishing the Planet team is honored to congratulate him for his service.

Do you know of other outstanding people or work being done to better rural society? Let us know in the comments section!

Alison Blackmore is a research intern with Nourishing the Planet.

To read more about Dave Andrews’ work, see Meet Nourishing the Planet Advisory Group: Dave Andrews, The GMO Debate Continues, Part 1: Where Would You Like to See More Agriculture Funding Directed?, Food & Water Watch Want You to Know Your Fish, and Answering the Question: What to Eat?

To purchase State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet please click HERE. And to watch the one minute book trailer, click HERE.

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By Arielle Golden

On Friday, in coordination with the World Economic Forum, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs will hold its third annual Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security in Washington, D. C.

The symposium will discuss the current status of food security and agriculture. (Photo credit: Bernard Pollack)

At the symposium, President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and other leaders in the global food security and agriculture landscape will discuss G8 efforts to advance global agricultural development and food and nutrition security in Africa. Participants will range from African heads of state, to international aid organizations, to scientific and academic institutions.

The symposium will focus on four key topics: demonstrating the L’Aquila Initiative from the 2009 G8 Summit, which stated a shared commitment to invest $20 billion over three years to encourage  rural development in poor countries;  presenting select African countries’ development plans; announcing new commitments to these plans; and exploring opportunities for non-governmental plans to complement and amplify action to further the goals of the G8 Summit.

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs aims to influence the discourse on global issues through contributions to opinion and policy formation, leadership dialogue, and public learning. The World Economic Forum works to engage business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

The symposium hopes to elevate G8 topics and announcements among the participants and foster cooperation between the represented groups.

For more information, click here.

Arielle Golden is a research intern with the Nourishing the Planet project.

To purchase State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet please click HERE. And to watch the one minute book trailer, click HERE.

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Just six meters of sea level rise will drastically change coastal habitation and ecosystems. (photo courtesy of NASA)

Small islands are highly susceptible to the consequences of climate change. Rising sea levels will completely submerge certain inhabited islands, and warming temperatures will affect fisheries that such small islands depend on for sustenance and employment. Indeed, the small Pacific island of Kiribati is already negotiating to buy land on Fiji. The smaller, lower atolls of Kiribati are experiencing encroachment, and many villagers have been forced to abandon their homes. Kiribati’s president hopes to purchase 2000 hectares on Fiji so the 113,000 inhabitants of Kiribati can relocate when the sea overwhelms their land.

As climate change is already evident to the small island nations, a group of their political leaders came together in an attempt to secure the future of their people, and on May 8^th signed the Barbados Declaration.

The declaration is a commitment to “providing all households with access to modern and affordable renewable energy services, while eradicating poverty, safeguarding the environment and providing new opportunities for sustainable development and economic growth.” The declaration also demonstrates the vulnerability of small island nations to climate change, including narrow resource bases, high dependency on imports, generally large national debts, vulnerability to energy and food price shocks, and remoteness. Additionally, the declaration emphasizes the importance of shifting to renewable energy sources. It states  that there is an abundance of opportunities for wind, solar, geothermal, and ocean energy; however, the global community has struggled to make renewable energy cost-effective and efficient for the global poor.

A view of the solar voltaic panels for a renewable energy project in Fakaofo, Tokelau. (photoa courtesy of United Nations Photo via flickr)

Many of the small islands set truly ambitious goals: Tuvalu and the Cook Islands plan to use renewable energy to meet 100 percent of their electrical demand by 2020. Tokelau, an island off New Zealand, plans to be completely energy self-sufficient in 2012, relying on coconut biofuel and solar panels. Other islands will attempt to reduce firewood dependence, build wind turbines, reduce oil imports, and provide electricity to more inhabitants. Thus far, 19 countries have committed to the program voluntarily. Although these island nations show a commitment to renewable energy use and environmental initiatives, if the agreement fails to have enforcement mechanisms, countries may fail to meet their target. This would be disastrous not only for the climate, but even more so for the island nations, who stand to lose everything if they cannot reform their practices.

The Barbados Declaration is certainly a critical step toward encouraging the use of renewable energy and in combating climate change. Yet, it remains to be seen if the declaration will achieve its desired outcome. While the success of Rio +20 cannot be predicted, the declaration argues that Rio+20 this June must produce ambitious outcomes that accommodate the needs of small islands.

By Holly Tassi 

How many times have you gone to a restaurant and not been able to finish your whole meal? Or worse, taken home the leftovers only to throw them out after several days of them sitting untouched in the refrigerator? Thankfully, there is a new social initiative offering a choice to restaurant-goers that provides two benefits: healthier meal portions while simultaneously reducing food waste to support the fight against hunger. While the United States is plagued with both obesity and hunger – Halfsies will now provide a new option of ordering half of a normal portion with the remaining value of the dish being put to better use.

Halfsies aims to reduce food waste while alleviating food insecurity and obesity in the United States. (Photo credit: Bernard Pollack)

About 40 percent of the food produced in the United States is thrown away. And the national food waste habit is growing: as a nation, we waste 50 percent more food today that we did in 1974. At the same time, portion sizes have grown considerably. In the 1970s, around 47 percent of Americans were overweight or obese; now 66 percent are considered overweight. And, at the same time, more than 50 million Americans are hungry.

With a tag line of “Eat Less, Give More,” Halfsies aims to not only fight world hunger, but also educate consumers on portion sizes, a problem that contributes to America’s growing obesity epidemic. The vision of this non-profit is to educate right where people live, eat and work. By offering a half-portion option in participating restaurants, customers are empowered to make a real difference, both in their own lives and in the lives of people in need.

When a consumer chooses to ‘go halfsies’ at a participating restaurant, he or she receives a half-portion of their meal while still paying full price. What restaurants don’t put on the table will be donated to both local (60 percent) and international non-profits (30 percent) to tackle hunger.  Halfsies will take 5 to 10 percent of the donations to cover overhead costs, and any remaining funds will be used for special projects that align with Halfsies’ mission and values such as emergency disaster relief, sustainable agriculture, and women’s rights.

Halfsies turns the simple act of going out to eat into a charitable giving opportunity. Started by four friends from Austin, Texas, Halfsies plans to kick off pilot programs in their hometown this spring and move into NYC later this year. They are also planning for a national launch in 2013. Halfsies is still working through the details with the restaurants, such as the software to be used for easy ordering and tracking and how different meals will be treated.

Through local and global initiatives, Halfies aims to see food waste in American cut in half, local poverty levels drop, and a significant impact made in the lives of people living with hunger and poverty, both in the United States and around the world. By creating a simple process, Halfsies gives restaurant-goers the opportunity to make an easy choice that benefits themselves, their community, and their world.

For more details visit www.gohalfsies.com

Holly Tassi is a research intern with the Nourishing the Planet project.

To purchase State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet please click HERE. And to watch the one minute book trailer, click HERE.

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When most people consider sustainability, they think of environmental sustainability, not the elements of a sustainable society, including fair access to jobs for all.  As a global society, we are obsessed with growth and increasing production. However, increased production can have its drawbacks. For example, as productivity increases, technology begins to replace the labor force, leading to increased unemployment. As unemployment rises, purchasing power decreases. Production and service utilities move abroad in order to take advantage of cheap labor, which causes localized job losses. With the loss of jobs and purchasing power, employers become reluctant to expand employment in such uncertain times. Sound familiar?

This cycle of insecurity and falling employment is one that currently plagues much of the world. Therefore, the question arises, how can societies develop an employment system that is equitable and economically and environmentally sustainable? Nicholas Ashford and Ralph Hall offer a multitude of suggestions in their new book, Technology, Globalization, and Sustainable Development: Transforming the Industrial State. Some of the solutions they propose include taxing excess profits, integrating labor into production and services once again encouraging leasing and sharing programs, taxing corporations that shift production abroad, and relieving payroll taxes.

Some of these strategies have already been implemented, with varying degrees of success. In Germany, for example, massive job losses were prevented by providing subsidies to workers and shortening their work hours. This prevented Germany from suffering the same rate of unemployment as other EU nations in the wake of the 2008 recession. However, data reveals that although jobs were saved, the low-wage and temporary-job sectors were boosted, thereby increasing wealth inequality. Integrating labor back into production and services is often difficult, as people become accustomed to conducting business on the Internet or using technology in place of human-labor—but perhaps not in all cases. Few people I know would complain if a human helped them check out their groceries or check in for their flight, instead of being forced to try on their own with a not-so-friendly touch screen computer.

Now you can scan and bag your own groceries as you shop and then just pay a machine after you're done. Soon groceries stores will only need to employ one person simply to check your receipt as you leave. (Image courtesy of Ben Schumin via Wikimedia)

In this context, however, worker-owned co-operatives have been successful, with the Mondragon Corporation in Spain as the largest example.  Although some worker-owned co-operatives have survived in the current economic climate, it is difficult to imagine a world in which multinational corporations evolve to be more worker-owned—not without some serious interventions by governments at least.

One way governments can help workers is by cutting payroll taxes. This will encourage employment as it allows employers more flexible finances. The United States recently extended its payroll tax cut in an effort to encourage employment and growth. However, the government depends on revenues generated from the payroll tax, and so as it cuts payroll taxes, it must find another revenue stream. One possibility is to shift payroll taxes to pollution or carbon taxes, thereby taxing “what we burn, not what we earn.” Several countries including Russia, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, and Sweden have already transitioned so they tax pollution instead  of increasing payroll taxes. This method is both logical and economically viable.

Other tax reforms can contribute to a sustainable employment regime. For example, taxing technology could produce government revenue while still encouraging technological innovation and employment. There are already small fees on some technological conveniences, such as online orders and payments. Perhaps taxing airport kiosks, self-checkouts, and other forms of convenience that replace jobs is a solution? But then again, this transitions the cost of technological innovation onto the consumer, so probably wouldn’t deter this technological shift. Also, taxing corporations that move their productions overseas would encourage localized growth and employment.

What is clear is that the traditional employment mechanisms have failed in the current economic crisis. Though labor reform may be difficult, having enough job opportunities for all is absolutely critical for a sustainable and prosperous society.

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By Patricia Baquero

Along its 760-kilometer course, from the Shewan highlands in southern Ethiopia, down to Lake Turkana in Kenya, the Omo River supports half a million Indigenous People from more than two dozen different tribes, including the Bodi, Karo, Muguji, Mursi, Elmolo, Gabbra, Rendille and Hamar in the Lower Omo valley and around Lake Turkana. For generations, the Indigenous People have farmed sorghum, maize and beans along the lower Omo and around Lake Turkana region, depending on the annual flooding cycle of the river. The natural ebb and flow of the Omo River provides water for agriculture, livestock, and fishing.

The Gibe III Dam, currently under construction, could exacerbate water scarcity and conflicts in the region. (Photo credit: Mark Angelo)

But since the 1970s, droughts have increased in frequency and length, bringing famine and displacing thousands of people. Water scarcity and conflicts over water resources are also likely to worsen when the Gibe III Dam project finishes in 2012. The dam is situated about 300 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa with a capacity of 1,870 MW, and can provide power to 400 million people. Ethiopia is among the countries with the lowest rates of electricity—currently, only 15 percent of Ethiopians have access to electricity, and this access is mainly in cities.

But the dam potentially threatens the lives of the Indigenous farmers and fishers from the Omo-Turkana region. According to the African Resources Working Group (ARWG), the Gibe III dam will reduce the lake’s depth by about seven to ten meters in its first five years, adding to the effects of climate change, which has likely reduced the depth by about five to eight meters already. The dam will disturb the natural flooding cycle of the Omo River, eliminating the seasonal floods and the nutrients deposited along the river.

Artificial flooding from the dam will last 10 days, replacing the natural gradual flood which usually lasts for several months. The International Rivers organization states that the artificial flood will be incapable of reaching all the areas that the natural annual flood feeds and will not support the current agricultural and fishing productivity.

According to the project’s Public Consultation and Disclosure Plan, only 93 members from four Indigenous communities were consulted from around 500,000 affected Indigenous People located downstream of the dam, and it occurred after construction of the dam had already begun. The Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) are not accessible for the majority of the affected people and are not even in the languages spoken by them, violating domestic laws and international agreements that require consultation among the affected people, allowing them to give free, prior, and informed consent to developments and the use of their land and other resources.

Friends of Lake Turkana (FoLT), a Kenyan organization representing Indigenous groups in northwestern Kenya, is carrying out a campaign to highlight the potentially harmful consequences to biodiversity, livelihoods and food security that the Gibe III dam would cause to the lake and its ecosystem, to the Kenyan public, legislators, diplomatic missions, donor agencies, and development partners.

Although the dam constructors promise benefits, including electricity, for citizens, the cost to the Indigenous People and the environment might be too high a price to pay.

What do you think? Should the construction of this dam continue even if it is bringing electricity to some at a cost to others? Let us know in the comments!

Patricia Baquero is a research intern with Nourishing the Planet.

To purchase your own copy of State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet, please click HERE. And to watch the one minute book trailer, click HERE.

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By Laura Reynolds

Name: Nancy Romer

Affiliation: Brooklyn Food Coalition

Bio: Nancy Romer is the General Coordinator at the Brooklyn Food Coalition and a psychology professor at City University of New York’s Brooklyn College. She was instrumental in organizing the first Brooklyn Food Conference in 2009, and established the Brooklyn Food Coalition in the same year after becoming inspired to transform the way people produce, distribute, and consume food.

Nancy Romer is the General Coordinator of the Brooklyn Food Coalition. (Photo credit: Encore.org)

The Brooklyn Food Coalition is hosting its annual Brooklyn Food Conference this Saturday, May 12, at the Brooklyn Technical High School. Over 5,000 people are expected to attend the conference, including the prominent speakers Vandana Shiva, world-renowned environmental activist; Lucas Benitez, Co-Director of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers; and several others. Events and workshops such as “The Future of New York City Food Policy” and “Faith and Feeding the Hungry” will run from 8:30am until 6pm. The conference will also feature cooking demonstrations, film screenings, kids’ activities, and an expo of non-profit and for-profit organizations.

With community gardens and farmers markets sprouting up all over the place lately, why do we still need events like the Brooklyn Food Conference?

We need the Brooklyn Food Conference, and other events that draw together all the actors working to reform the food system, because we need to change policy. We now have a range of activities, like farmers markets in certain neighborhoods, that can improve the lives of individuals or communities—but we still need far-reaching, major changes in policy that will spread these improvements across New York and the country. It is clear that the will to change policy is not going to come from the top; we need a heavy lift from the bottom to tell policymakers what we need and demand from our food systems, and the Brooklyn Food Conference is a major step in sending that message.

We also need the Brooklyn Food Conference because it is an opportunity for everyone working in food system reform to meet each other, to communicate, and to celebrate the work we are doing and the progress we have made. It is important to celebrate the positive, along with focusing on all the work we still need to do!

What aspect of this year’s conference are you most excited about?

My favorite part of the Conference is seeing all the faces of the people working in the food-system reform movement. It is so empowering and wonderful to see that all of these people—community gardeners, food worker organizers, food cooperative members—are changing the food system in their own way. But an important part of meeting with all of these activists is getting them out of their ‘silos,’ or the specific areas in which they are working. We need to work as a movement, not as factions with independent goals, because we are all working toward a healthier, fairer, and more sustainable global food system.

What do you see as some of the most pressing challenges to local or regional food sovereignty today?

The biggest problem in the food system is the control of local, regional, state, and national governments by multinational corporations. If we could wrest control over our food choices back from the corporations, the opportunities for sustainable food systems are endless. The city of New York provides around 1 million meals every day; if city agencies could determine where they sourced the food for those meals, and could choose regional small- or medium-scale farmers as their go-to source, that alone would make a huge difference in strengthening the local food system, as well as the local economy. The same goes for processed and cooked foods—if local suppliers of these foods were given preference over multinational suppliers, New York’s economy would be given a huge boost.

There are a number of other ways we can achieve healthier food systems. Some of them seem tangential to food, but they are all in fact very pertinent: ban fracking, save our farmland, create laws that require non-interference in workers’ organizing, and outlaw advertising of junk food to kids and adults alike. We need to move away from our dependence on factory farms, and doing that requires a huge combined effort from all sectors of the food-system movement.

Does anything in New York or elsewhere give you hope for a more fair and sustainable food system in the future?

Of course! I see reasons for hope every day. Young farmers are seeing farming as a viable career option, more food cooperatives are springing up everywhere, people are buying local and organic, parents are becoming food activists for their children’s health, entrepreneurs are rejecting the large corporate world and starting their own small businesses instead.

Perhaps most importantly, politicians are becoming aware that local food system reform is a way to address climate change. Climate change isn’t just the elephant in the room for policymakers—it is the room. They are struggling to find ways to combat climate change quickly, and building strong local food systems is one of the best ways to do that. New York State Senator Daniel Squadron has proposed a bill to ban the use of antibiotics in animals sold for food in New York. Because so many factory farms rely on antibiotics to keep their animals healthy, this bill would effectively ban the sale of factory-farmed meat in the state of New York. It is extremely encouraging to see that people are recognizing that we can build our economy with food initiatives that are healthy for the people, animals, and the planet.

 What encouraging signs do you see in your local or regional food system?

Laura Reynolds is a research intern with Nourishing the Planet.

To purchase your own copy of State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet, please click HERE. And to watch the one minute book trailer, click HERE.

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Check out our latest op-ed about food waste, published in the Los Angeles Daily newspaper, one of the largest circulating newspapers in the country with a daily print circulation of 188,000.

In California, every year 6 million tons of food ends up in landfills. One reason so much food is wasted is that most Americans refuse to eat the less-appealing cuts of meat. But utilizing a variety of meat products can be a more sustainable way of cooking and eating that can ultimately reduce food waste. Many Los Angeles restaurants are now serving some of the most unusual, yet delicious dishes that highlight every part of the animal, to critical culinary acclaim.

Click here to read the full article.

 To purchase State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet please click HERE. And to watch the one minute book trailer, click HERE.

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As we described last week, there is a growing consensus that the time is right for a global shift to sustainable energy solutions. The Worldwatch Institute, in partnership with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), is taking a leading role in facilitating this shift through the creation of the Renewable Development Index.

Countries enacting renewable energy support policies or targets as of 2011 (source: IPCC SRREN, 2011)

Countries worldwide are recognizing the significant role that renewable energy can play in their national development. As of early 2011, nearly 100 countries had set targets for wind, solar, biomass, and other renewable energy sources. Governments aim to utilize these technologies to meet a host of development priorities, including reducing carbon emissions, expanding energy access, enhancing energy security, and creating new jobs and industry opportunities. At both the national and sub-national levels, they are using a variety of policies and measures to support centralized and decentralized renewable energy installations and to work toward achieving wider national development goals.

Despite the many forces working in favor of renewables, growth within the sector remains constrained. Although renewable energy technologies accounted for roughly half of the newly installed power generation capacity during 2010, they were responsible for only 16 percent of global final energy consumption and close to 20 percent of electricity generation that year. Government support policies, adopted by 118 countries as of early 2011, continue to be one of the most significant forces driving renewable energy deployment.

To more efficiently harness the potential of renewables to meet national goals, decision makers must have a better understanding of the effectiveness of support policies in overcoming existing barriers. Countries continue to face challenges in the renewables sector, including gaining public acceptance and buy-in, mobilizing financing, attracting investment, building local capacity, and facilitating collaboration between the public and private sectors.

Worldwatch is partnering with IRENA to help governments develop policies aimed at best utilizing their renewable energy potential as a way to meet national growth and development goals. As a first step, the project seeks to identify barriers constraining renewable energy deployment. It will then develop strategies that can help policymakers overcome those hurdles. Finally, the project aims to develop a set of renewable energy indicators, with the goal of helping countries assess the effectiveness and efficiency of renewable support programs. Because there is no one-size-fits-all policy for promoting renewable energy, fully inclusive indicators can help to inform the policy community in a more objective manner.

In the development arena, well-designed high-level indicators, such as the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index (HDI), have been influential in shifting the discourse away from one based solely on domestic economic growth, providing the basis for a deeper understanding of national progress toward overarching development goals. The Renewables Development Index aims to achieve a similar goal in the energy arena, steering the discourse away from conventional fossil fuel energy usage and toward cost-effective and more environmentally sound approaches to meeting global energy needs.

Worldwatch has actively engaged key actors from leading institutions in the international energy community on this initiative. Through a series of interviews, meetings, and workshops, the Institute’s Climate & Energy team will facilitate the development of this new and influential tool.

When completed, the analysis based on this small and concise set of renewable energy indicators will provide governments with a powerful new instrument to better inform domestic policymaking, implementation, and monitoring processes. The indicators can be used for steering investments, refining policy choices, optimizing the impact of limited financial resources, and understanding the outcome of policy results supporting renewable energy development.

This Renewables Development Index will fill an important void in the landscape of sustainability indicators and will help countries in their important transition to a sustainable energy future.

Evan Musolino is a Climate and Energy Research Associate at the Worldwatch Institute, an international environmental research organization. Alexander Ochs is Director of the Climate and Energy Program at Worldwatch.

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