Brighter Green Video on Ethiopia's Complex Relationship with Livestock Now Available 8/31/10

Brighter Green Video on Brazil's Soy and Meat Economies Now Available 8/31/10

Brighter Green Video on China's Meat Consumption Now Available 7/12/10

Huffington Post Blog Generates Discussion on the Web 6/2/10

Brighter Green in the Huffington Post 5/4/10

Mia MacDonald's Presentation from Pace Law School Now Available 4/21/10

Hot off the Press: Diet for a Hot Planet 4/14/10

Article by Mia MacDonald Featured in Resurgence Magazine 3/9/10

Congratulations to Karin Chien! 3/8/10

Biogas: The Future for China’s Livestock Production?

Biogas plant at a large-scale chicken production facility in China connected to the national grid

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Unlike the highly industrialized U.S. livestock sector, which consists mainly of a small number of large-scale farms, the livestock sector in China is still fairly fragmented, taking mainly three forms. The first is small-scale, household backyard production, which has been the tradition here for thousands of years. Each household raises several head of pigs and some poultry. The second is specialized household and commercial production—whether one specialized farmer or several households keeping hundreds of pigs in one production district. The third is large-scale intensive and standardized production. Large-scale usually means having more than 500 pigs or over 5,000 chickens in one farm.

Although household backyard production still makes up most of the livestock sector, specialized and large-scale production is quickly taking over. In China, large-scale production is favored, and is linked to standardization because it’s considered easier—when compared with scattered household backyard production—to control inputs and outputs, enforce environmental regulations, and control disease outbreaks. This kind of production is not equivalent to the U.S. large-scale, factory-style farming, since the U.S. model of large capital investment and intensive use of land make it impractical for the Chinese.

Challenges Facing Brazil's Amazon and Cerrado

The Complexities of Livestock in Ethiopia

China's "Garbage Pig" Problem

Pigs at a local dump feed off of waste

In China’s poorer provinces, "garbage pigs" can be seen roaming through dump sites, feeding on leftovers from households and restaurants. This practice has existed in certain parts of China for over 20 years now, usually stemming from small households that are most vulnerable to rises in feed prices.

In 2006, China passed the Animal Husbandry Law of the PRC that prohibits the use of swill and dump waste as animal feed, arising mainly out of public health concerns. Swill and dump waste are typically loaded with health-threatening microorganisms and other pollutants, that can cause serious diseases in pigs, resulting in pandemics. When humans consume this pork, (which they do often, as "garbage pigs" are prone to grow more fat, catering to local tastes) they can also fall ill.

Water for All?

A sign outside the World People's Conference on Climate Change

Behind closed doors, world leaders are currently debating a draft resolution that recognizes the right to water and sanitation as a basic universal right. For the two billion people living in water-stressed regions, and the three billion with no running water within a kilometer of their homes, access to clean water seems an obvious component of the rights to an adequate standard of living, which the United Nations does recognize. However, the resolution, put forward by Bolivia, has irked heads of a number of wealthy countries around the world, including the US, UK, Australia, and perhaps most notably, water-rich Canada.

It comes as little surprise that Bolivia is the driving force behind this critical issue. Cochabamba, a Bolivian city to the southwest of La Paz, was the center of a water war ten years ago, as farmers, factory workers, and cocoa growers descended on the Andean city to protest the privatization of Cochamaba's water system. The multinational corporation Bechtel, had won the rights to Cochabamba's water in 1999, after the World Bank and then President Hugo Banzer placed Cochabamba's public water system on the market. Less than a year after this deal was brokered, Bechtel increased the cost of Cochabamban water by as much as 60 percent, pricing out a majority of the city's population. Three months of protest later, the people of Cochabamba emerged as victors, having pushed Bechtel out of their city and regaining control over their municipal water system.

Africa Animal Welfare Action Conference

Stella Zhou Reports from China

Brighter Green Associate Stella Zhou is spending the summer in China, where she will be researching the growth of intensive animal agriculture, as well as urban attitudes towards changing diets and rising meat consumption. Read her blogs written from various regions of China.

World People's Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth Rights

Brighter Green's Whitney Hoot attended the World People's Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth Rights held in Cochabamba, Bolivia from April 19-22, 2010.
Read more about the conference, whose ultimate goal was to bring Indigenous voices into the climate change debate.

What's for Dinner?

Can people in the developing world eat as much meat and dairy as people in the industrialized countries without destroying the planet? And do they really want to? We’re exploring these issues in China through the medium of film. Read more about the film, from shooting in Beijing, Jiangxi, and Guangdong, China to post-production.

UN Climate Change Conference

Brighter Green's Executive Director Mia MacDonald attended the United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP15) held in Copenhagen, Denmark from December 7-18, 2009.
Read more about what Brighter Green did there, and how the talks unfolded.

India's Poultry Industry

Brighter Green has produced a short video that documents the rise of poultry factory farming in India, as well as the social, environmental and animal welfare consequences of this production.

East African Girls' Leadership Initiative

Brighter Green's collaborative Girls’ Education, Leadership and Rights Training Initiative is underway with an initial cohort of 10 girls from Maasai communities in Kenya and Tanzania. The program’s intent is to invest deeply in a small number of girls with significant potential but who are trapped by their families’ poverty. Meet the girls as they begin their studies in boarding schools in Kenya. Watch a video here.

Climate Change and Food

Brighter Green is supporting ongoing efforts to see passage of the Foodprint NYC Resolution. As reported in the New York Times, the resolution calls for the city to create a more local, climate friendly and healthy food system. Check out this video to learn more.