Blog
Fit for a King: On the Future of Food (A Book Review)
The following article by Leslie Hatfield was reproduced, word-for-word, from www.EcoCentricBlog.org. You can see the original article here. Advocates of locally sourced, sustainably produced food are often portrayed as elitists (most often by those with a vested interest in the agricultural status quo) and granted, it doesn’t get much more elite than His Royal Highness Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales. Last May, just a day after his son William’s eagerly anticipated marriage to Kate Middleton, Prince Charles flew to Washington D.C. to give a speech at the Future of Food Conference, in which he outlined the social and environmental problems associated with...
Read MoreChipotle’s Back to the Start
Chipotle is doing its part in working toward a more sustainable kind of living. Their video “Back to the Start” shows the evolution of our food system through one farmer’s adult life. It shows how his small family farm tried to compete with a large industrial farm. When they couldn’t keep up, they switched back to free range and organic. With this video, Chipotle is tapping into the emotional aspect of the farmer, typically unseen by people eating their product. The way food is grown has a huge impact on the environment and our River. Industrial farming produces large amounts of waste and has an overall large carbon footprint, whereas small family farms...
Read MoreFertilizing to death
The Mississippi River is the largest watershed in North America. It has a major affect on the millions of people that come in to contact with it every day; more than 50 cities rely on the River for their daily water supply. As the Mississippi River flows through the heart of America, it picks up thousands of pounds of fertilizer and empties it into the Gulf of Mexico. Many people living along the Gulf’s coastline rely on the fish and other sea life living the Gulf. With the excess fertilizer in the water, algae is able to grow very rapidly, causing an algal bloom. When the algae dies, it sinks to the bottom of the Gulf, using up all available oxygen. If the fish are...
Read MoreWhat is a River without love?
A River without love is a River walled in. It is confined, away from the children that usually fish, swim and play in it. Its banks are free of birds but full of pollution. Without love, a River is just dirty water, like your sink after washing your hands. But a River that we love? We call that River many names, names imbued with special meaning by their journeys through our hearts and out of our mouths, into the ears of our children and friends. A River we love is one that we know not only by name, but by sight, by smell, by touch and even just by memory. When we close our eyes we can feel its breezes and the soft caress of its scent. It’s where we spend our holidays...
Read MoreUpper Mississippi River Essay Contest
1 Mississippi, in partnership with Prairie Rivers Network, invite you to enter the “Our Upper Mississippi River: Connection, Inspiration, Transformation” Essay Contest There is no shortage of words to describe the Upper Mississippi River;* its waters are epic, dynamic, romantic, magnetic, mysterious, replenishing, and so much more. Prairie Rivers Network and 1Mississippi believe inspired and engaged individuals are essential to protect the Upper Mississippi River for today and for the future. Whether you have visited the Upper Mississippi River once, or lived next to it all your life, we invite you to enter our essay contest: “Our Upper Mississippi River:...
Read MoreConservation not a threat to Farm Revenue Insurance
This is a great article by Craig Fox of the Environmental Working Group. Approaching the Stone Arch Bridge in downtown Minneapolis. Here’s a link to the original article. Full text below. When the farm bill fight gets rolling again in Congress, one question will be at the heart of the debate: Is it fair to ask farmers to take a few basic steps to protect soil and clean up waterways in return for the billions of dollars that taxpayers spend each year to provide them with cut-rate crop insurance? Congress has long attached conservation requirements to farm subsidy programs, including to crop insurance in 1985. In 1996, however, lawmakers cut that string. The big...
Read More
2011 1Mississippi.net