Brighter Green & Global Forest Coalition Briefing Paper for International Day for Biodiversity 5/22/13

Brighter Green at The Seed in NYC 5/19/13

Blog Post on the U.S. National Climate Assessment in the Huffington Post and Civil Eats. 5/2/13

Brighter Green collaborates with Global Forest Coalition at the World Social Forum 3/29/13

China Dialogue Publishes BG Blogs 2/13/13

Katerva Award Winners Announced 2/12/13

Brighter Green Hosts a Successful East African Girls' Leadership Initiative Fundraiser 12/7/12

Mia MacDonald's Blog Post on COP 18 Featured in the Huffington Post 12/6/12

Brighter Green Participates in COP 18 Side Event 12/3/12

Brighter Green attended COP 18 Climate Change Conference in Doha, Qatar 12/2/12

Brighter Green Joins Climate Action Network 11/16/12

What's for Dinner? in Veg News Magazine 11/5/12

Sustaining Agro-Forests

Women gathering food in a forest

Last week, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization held its first International Conference on Forests for Food Security and Nutrition in attempts to raise awareness of the contribution of forests to food security, economic development, and ecosystem services; an issue mostly overlooked by policymakers.

With edible plants, fruits, mushrooms, insects, and wild animals, forests are a substantial food source for more than a billion people. Ensuring forest conservation is vital in helping meet United Nation Millennium goals of reducing world hunger by 50 percent by 2015.

In addition to nutrition, forests play other significant roles in rural societies.

Meat prices continue to rise

Chinese meat display

The United States Department of Agriculture reports that food prices will continue to rise in 2013. Factors that led to this price increase are multifaceted and complex, with the 2012 United States drought and mass cattle culling, other weather events, biofuels, and a global increase in meat demand being major contributors. Sources are localized as well, for instance, in China rising prices are also due to the loss of farmland and farm labor to urbanization, and land degradation-caused grazing restrictions.

Meat and the Avian Flu

Woman working at China chicken farm

China's latest avian flu outbreak, H7N9, has led to at least 126 infections and 24 deaths, with one confirmed case crossing national borders to Taiwan. The World Health Organization has stated this flu strain is a "serious threat" and among the "most lethal so far." Some are questioning if we have the ability to develop an adequate vaccine before widespread person to person transmission occurs. Scientists are still determining the source of the original mutant strain, but assert intensive poultry factory farm operations are likely to blame.

Updates on the Avian Flu, and Will It Foster Changes in China's Animal Farming System?

Birds in China

It has been a month since the first case of the human-infected influenza A (H7N9) was reported. By May 1st, the virus had been diagnosed in 128 people and has killed 27 people since March. Recently, a booklet called Don't be Scared of Birds was published in China to inform the public about influenza A (H7N9) and how to protect themselves from it, although many details of the virus remain unknown.

Rethinking Agriculture: National Climate Assessment Provides (Another) Reason

Agriculture and Earth in the balance?

[Note: this blog was published originally on the Huffington Post.]

It's Earth Week, a good time to celebrate the natural environment and also examine some of the ways we use -- and abuse -- Earth's resources and climate. Food systems are an important area for scrutiny. New agricultural ideas and actions are essential amid rising climate stress, a growing human population, widespread degradation of ecosystems, and rampant food insecurity; nearly one billion people regularly don't get enough to eat.

Pastoralists in Kenya, rice farmers in India, and industrial feedlot operators in the U.S. are contending with increased frequency of drought and erratic weather. But agriculture isn't just affected by climate change. It's also a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs).

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. agricultural sector was responsible in 2011 for 7.2 percent of U.S. GHGs. This doesn't include emissions from indirect agricultural activities, like clearing grasslands or forests to create farmland, or the fossil fuels burned when transporting agricultural products.

SUPPORT BRIGHTER GREEN'S WORK

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FOOD POLICY & EQUITY:

Climate Change & Globalization of Industrial Animal Agriculture

This series of policy papers and short videos forms the foundation of Brighter Green's Program on Food Policy and Equity. The papers document the globalization of industrialized animal agriculture in Brazil, China, Ethiopia, and India through the lens of climate change. They also explore additional environmental, food security, equity, livelihood, and animal welfare impacts of this phenomenon.

SUSTAINABILITY & COMMUNITY:

East African Girls' Leadership Initiative

"I would like to help Maasai women become economically empowered so that they can fight for their rights," says seventeen-year-old Hellen Naipanoi Kipaili, a participant in Brighter Green's collaborative Girls' Education, Leadership, and Rights Training Initiative. 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. Learn more about the girls and the program here.

FOOD POLICY & EQUITY:

What's For Dinner? Documentary

Many people in the developing world are eating more meat, dairy, and eggs, and industrial-scale production facilities (factory farms and feedlots) are increasingly common. Brighter Green's exploring these issues in China, including through the medium of film. Read more about our documentary, "What's For Dinner?", from filming in Beijing, Jiangxi, and Guangdong, China to our film festival screenings.

FOOD POLICY & EQUITY:

Brighter Green Videos

Double click to view full screen

Countries in the Horn of Africa, including Ethiopia, are experiencing the worst drought in 60 years. This video explores Ethiopia's meat and dairy industries and the climate change and food security consequences of each.

FOOD POLICY & EQUITY:

Sangamithra Iyer's Blog Series

Read Brighter Green Associate Sangamithra Iyer's blog series examining where recent writings on a changing India intersect with Brighter Green’s work on animal agriculture, food security, and climate change.

Brighter Green at COP 18 in Doha

Mia MacDonald and Eve Feng represented Brighter Green at the 2012 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change annual meeting in Doha, Qatar. Read more about Brighter Green's work at the conference and the issues being negotiated on here

CLIMATE CHANGE, LIVELIHOODS & RIGHTS:

Brighter Green at COP 17 in Durban

Mia MacDonald represented Brighter Green at the 2011 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change annual meeting in Durban, South Africa. Read Mia's blogs from the conference here.