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News at Brighter Green

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

Narrated by former Brighter Green intern Whitney Hoot, this video is part of Brighter Green's Food Policy and Equity Program, outlining the social, environmental, and animal welfare consequences of intensifying meat production and rising domestic and export consumption on Ethiopia, home of Africa's largest livestock herd.

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

Brighter Green's program on Food Policy and Equity continues to grow, with a video on the expansion of Brazil's livestock sector now available. The video, narrated by Simone de Lima, professor of psychology at the University of Brasilia and founder of Brazilian animal rights organization Pro-Anima, explores the profound environmental consequences of Brazil's booming livestock and soy industries.

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

As part of Brighter Green's Food Policy and Equity Program, a short video detailing China's rising consumption of animal products is now available. The video is narrated by Brighter Green Associate Stella Zhou, who is blogging from China this summer. More to come soon as we explore further the impacts of the globalization of industrial animal agriculture in China, India, Brazil, and Ethiopia.

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

Last month, Mia MacDonald posted a blog on the Huffington Post, covering Goldman Sach's involvement with factory farming in China. Her piece, "Investment Bankers with Wings: Making a Killing," earned several notable mentions online, from sources such as the PETA Files, Discovery's Planet Green, and Current TV.

Brighter Green in the Huffington Post 5/4/10

Mia MacDonald posted a blog on Goldman Sachs's investment in factory farming in China on the Huffington Post. Read it here. Feel free to add your comments or share with others or link to it.

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

Brighter Green Executive Director Mia MacDonald recently discussed the environmental impacts of factory farming at a Pace Law School Panel, organized by the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund and the Environmental Law Society. Click here for the PDF of this presentation.

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

Brighter Green colleague Anna Lappé's new book is out. Diet for a Hot Planet addresses the climate impact of our food choices, and what we can do to make a difference. Thanks, Anna, for mentioning Brighter Green's work in helping to shape a more just and sustainable food system for New York City!

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

The March issue of Resurgence Magazine, themed "The Future of Food," has published an article by Brighter Green Executive Director Mia MacDonald. Click here for a PDF version of the article, "Eat Like it Matters."

Congratulations to Karin Chien! 3/8/10

Karin Chien, founder of dGenerate Films and Co-Executive Producer with Brighter Green of "What's for Dinner?", has won the Piaget Producers Prize at the Independent Spirit Awards. Karin won the award for her work on The Exploding Girl, and Santa Mesa.

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Welcome to Brighter Green

Brighter Green is a non-profit action tank that works to transform public policy and dialogue on the environment, animals, and sustainability, both globally and locally, with a particular focus on equity and rights.

Recently on Our Blog

Biogas: The Future for China’s Livestock Production?

August 23, 2010 9:16pm

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

August 14, 2010 12:00pm
Brighter Green's Multimedia Analysis: Globalization of Factory Farming documents the spread of western methods of intensive animal agriculture, as well as the social, environmental and animal welfare consequences.

This six minute video highlights the effects of large-scale cultivation of soybeans for farmed animal feed and cattle and other livestock production on some of Latin America's most important biomes.

The Complexities of Livestock in Ethiopia

August 13, 2010 2:13pm
Brighter Green's Multimedia Analysis: Globalization of Factory Farming documents the spread of western methods of intensive animal agriculture, as well as the social, environmental and animal welfare consequences.

This short video focuses on Ethiopia, and that country's multi-faceted and challenging relationship with livestock in the context of food security, climate change, development deficits, and ecological stress.

China's "Garbage Pig" Problem

July 29, 2010 10:13am

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?

July 22, 2010 8:48am

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.

More From Our Blog

Upcoming Events

Africa Animal Welfare Action Conference

Africa Animal Welfare Action Conference
Monday, September 6 - Thursday, September 9
Nairobi, Kenya
Brighter Green attends the 2010 Africa Animal Welfare Action Conference, the theme of which is ""Tackling Animal Welfare in Africa for Development." Executive Director Mia MacDonald will speak about Brighter Green's research on Ethiopia's livestock sector and strategies for incorporating animal welfare and rights into policy action on climate change, food security, and economic and social equity.

See All Events

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

Group Picture of Girls' 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

Foodprint NYC

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.

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