Executive Director Mia MacDonald has joined the Board of Directors of Green Belt Movement International-North America. Founded in 1977 by Nobel Peace Laureate and Brighter Green colleague, Wangari Maathai, the Green Belt Movement (GBM) promotes a bottom-up, holistic approach to development and environmental conservation.

The piece by Mia MacDonald, originally published in "Sanctuary," the newsletter of Farm Sanctuary, makes clear the connection between animal agriculture and environmental degradation, and spotlights city-level "green food" resolutions.

Presentations from Brighter Green and the Green Belt Movement's Copenhagen side event are now available. Click to view PDFs from Brighter Green's Mia MacDonald, Dupoto Forest and Wildlife Association's Samwel Naikada and The Green Belt Movement's Fredrick Njau. Interested in more? Here's Mia's blog on the side event.

Richard Greene, host and producer of a daily show on Air America, interviewed Mia MacDonald last night at the Klimaforum about "Meat World: China" and Brighter Green's work on the globalization of industrial animal agriculture.

Brighter Green's screening of Meat World: China took place last night at the Klimaforum in Copenhagen. The turn out was great, with the venue filled to capacity, and a lively discussion taking place afterwards. Read more about the event in Mia MacDonald's blog.

Citing parts of Samuel Naikada's presentation at the "side event" co-sponsored by the Green Belt Movement and Brighter Green on December 11 at the Copenhagen climate summit, the COP 15 Post (a daily paper on the summit proceedings in English) has published an article on Wangari Maathai, and climate change in Kenya.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development's Reporting Services has picked up on Brighter Green's and the Green Belt Movement's side event on Livelihoods, Forests, Livestock and Climate, at the Copenhagen climate conference. Read the full article here.

In addition to posting here, Brighter Green's Executive Director Mia MacDonald is also blogging from the Copenhagen climate talks for Nobel peace laureate Wangari Maathai's Green Belt Movement. Read her blogs here.

Brighter Green has posted three new draft summaries (PDF)—of Ethiopia, Brazil, and India—of its forthcoming papers on the challenges to public health, environmental conservation, and animal welfare faced by these countries as they attempt to increase their production of meat and dairy.

Fall is winding down, and Brighter Green is getting ready for the UN climate talks in Copenhagen, beginning on December 7th and running for two weeks. Executive Director Mia MacDonald will be at the climate summit in Copenhagen, beginning on December 10th. Brighter Green was approved to attend as an "observer organization" (UN speak for NGO attendees). Read on to learn about our what we're planning for Copenhagen and our current projects.

Jonathan Safran Foer's best-selling new book Eating Animals cites as a reference Brighter Green's policy paper "Skillful Means".

Brighter Green Research Associate Justine Simon is back from the Massachusetts Climate Action Network, and her presentation on the climate impacts of our diets - particularly in terms of meat and dairy consumption - is now available in PDF form.

Brighter Green Associate Stella Zhou's presentation from the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival is now available in PDF form. At the conference, Stella discussed China's embrace of factory farming and the missing role of farm animals in present-day public health discussions.

Stella Zhou was interviewed by the International Herald Tribune about her experiences in China for an article on meat consumption and its impact on climate change.

Mia MacDonald, Executive Director of Brighter Green, describes the effects of intensive animal agriculture on climate change and fossil fuel use in a video of a powerpoint lecture at New York University, convened during Climate Week NYC, September 25, 2009.

Executive Director Mia MacDonald has joined the Board of Directors of Green Belt Movement International-North America. Founded in 1977 by Nobel Peace Laureate and Brighter Green colleague, Wangari Maathai, the Green Belt Movement (GBM) promotes a bottom-up, holistic approach to development and environmental conservation.

The piece by Mia MacDonald, originally published in "Sanctuary," the newsletter of Farm Sanctuary, makes clear the connection between animal agriculture and environmental degradation, and spotlights city-level "green food" resolutions.

Presentations from Brighter Green and the Green Belt Movement's Copenhagen side event are now available. Click to view PDFs from Brighter Green's Mia MacDonald, Dupoto Forest and Wildlife Association's Samwel Naikada and The Green Belt Movement's Fredrick Njau. Interested in more? Here's Mia's blog on the side event.

Richard Greene, host and producer of a daily show on Air America, interviewed Mia MacDonald last night at the Klimaforum about "Meat World: China" and Brighter Green's work on the globalization of industrial animal agriculture.

Brighter Green's screening of Meat World: China took place last night at the Klimaforum in Copenhagen. The turn out was great, with the venue filled to capacity, and a lively discussion taking place afterwards. Read more about the event in Mia MacDonald's blog.

Citing parts of Samuel Naikada's presentation at the "side event" co-sponsored by the Green Belt Movement and Brighter Green on December 11 at the Copenhagen climate summit, the COP 15 Post (a daily paper on the summit proceedings in English) has published an article on Wangari Maathai, and climate change in Kenya.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development's Reporting Services has picked up on Brighter Green's and the Green Belt Movement's side event on Livelihoods, Forests, Livestock and Climate, at the Copenhagen climate conference. Read the full article here.

In addition to posting here, Brighter Green's Executive Director Mia MacDonald is also blogging from the Copenhagen climate talks for Nobel peace laureate Wangari Maathai's Green Belt Movement. Read her blogs here.

Brighter Green has posted three new draft summaries (PDF)—of Ethiopia, Brazil, and India—of its forthcoming papers on the challenges to public health, environmental conservation, and animal welfare faced by these countries as they attempt to increase their production of meat and dairy.

Fall is winding down, and Brighter Green is getting ready for the UN climate talks in Copenhagen, beginning on December 7th and running for two weeks. Executive Director Mia MacDonald will be at the climate summit in Copenhagen, beginning on December 10th. Brighter Green was approved to attend as an "observer organization" (UN speak for NGO attendees). Read on to learn about our what we're planning for Copenhagen and our current projects.

Jonathan Safran Foer's best-selling new book Eating Animals cites as a reference Brighter Green's policy paper "Skillful Means".

Brighter Green Research Associate Justine Simon is back from the Massachusetts Climate Action Network, and her presentation on the climate impacts of our diets - particularly in terms of meat and dairy consumption - is now available in PDF form.

Brighter Green Associate Stella Zhou's presentation from the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival is now available in PDF form. At the conference, Stella discussed China's embrace of factory farming and the missing role of farm animals in present-day public health discussions.

Stella Zhou was interviewed by the International Herald Tribune about her experiences in China for an article on meat consumption and its impact on climate change.

Mia MacDonald, Executive Director of Brighter Green, describes the effects of intensive animal agriculture on climate change and fossil fuel use in a video of a powerpoint lecture at New York University, convened during Climate Week NYC, September 25, 2009.

Executive Director Mia MacDonald gave a presentation on the links between meat consumption and global warming as part of an event hosted by NYU in conjunction with Climate Week NYC. Co-panelists included Jasmin Singer of Farm Sanctuary, and Marisa Miller Wolfson of Kind Green Planet.

Watch our brand new video on the East African Girls' Education, Leadership and Rights Training Initiative. Hear Lucy Mulenkei of the Nairobi-based Indigenous Information Network discuss the program's launch and progress and learn more about the lives of the ten girls who are participating in it.

Welcome to Brighter Green's summer newsletter. We've been busy these past few months, attending events, developing our online presence, and launching our Associates Program. We also have a number of exciting projects underway. Please read on for an update, and thanks for your interest in our work.

Our partner, Tribal Link Foundation, has put up a Facebook Cause page to help raise money for the girls' school fees and living expenses (learn more about the girls and the project here). If you'd like to support this work, please visit here.

Executive Director Mia MacDonald spoke about the Environment and Industrial Animal Agriculture at Farm Sanctuary's annual Hoe-Down in Watkins Glen, NY. A PDF version of her presentation is available for download.

Brighter Green is now on Facebook. Become a fan, get updates of our latest events, and communicate with our network!

Harvard Public Health graduate student Stella Zhou becomes a Brighter Green Associate. Stella's interests include population-level bioethics, animal rights, and the relationship between public health and diet. A Chinese citizen, Stella hopes to use her degree to reinvigorate the bioethics curricula used in Chinese Universities. Brighter Green looks forward to working with Stella and gaining from her fresh insights.

A piece by Mia MacDonald on China's response to factory farming was the featured article on today's China Dialogue, a bilingual Web forum for news and analysis on China and the environment. Click here to read the article in English and leave a comment. The Chinese version of the article and a comment forum is here.

Click here for Sangamithra Iyer's biography. One of her interests is tracking the global rise of meat, egg and dairy consumption and its environmental and social implications. She'll be documenting factory farm facilities and trends in India in the coming months, as well as the food economy in Korea from the perspective of an organic berry farm. Read her first blog, from Korea, here.

A resolution (PDF) to reduce New York City's collective and individual climate "foodprint" is introduced today to the City Council. Press conference and rally 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 1, on the steps of City Hall. All are welcome to attend.

Brighter Green Executive Director Mia MacDonald is blogging from the Nobel Women's Initiative conference in Guatemala. Click here to read her daily posts.

New links have been added to the Resources section of this website that encompass some of the challenges that China is facing in its encounter with factory farming.

Executive Director Mia MacDonald spoke on a panel entitled, "Eating Green: Food and Climate Change," at The Future of Food: Transatlantic Perspectives conference. See PDF of Powerpoint presentation here.

Mia MacDonald has a blog on attending the Nobel Women's Initiative Conference in Guatemala, May 10–14. Click here to read it.

The latest issue of the "Backgrounder" policy newsletter series published by the Institute for Food and Democracy (Food First) is an excerpt from Brighter Green's Skillful Means: the Challenges of China's Encounter with Factory Farming. Click here to read or download the Backgrounder, "China and Industrial Animal Agriculture: Prospects and Defects."

Executive Director Mia MacDonald spoke at the May 2, 2009 Brooklyn (NY) Food Conference as part of a workshop panel, "Climate Change and the World's Food Supply." Her presentation is available as a PDF.

Author, activist, Nobel Prize laureate and Brighter Green colleague Wangari Maathai's latest book, The Challenge for Africa, was recently released by Pantheon. Maathai offers a compelling analysis of the problems facing Africa and the promises of the continent's future. For an interview with Maathai about "Challenge" from NPR's "Talk of the Nation" on April 23, 2009 click here. More about "Challenge" and Maathai's recent U.S. book tour are available on the Green Belt Movement website.

"Taking Root: the Vision of Wangari Maathai," a documentary film by Lisa Merton and Alan Dater about Nobel peace laureate and Green Belt Movement founder Maathai's life and work will be broadcast on most PBS stations April 14, 2009.

Welcome to Brighter Green's spring '09 newsletter and thank you for your interest in our work. Here's what we've been up to, and what we're planning.

The six person delegation of pastoral community activists and one radio reporter who travelled to Basecamp Maasai Mara in southern Kenya to exchange experiences has reported back. "It was very enlightening and beneficial to the participants," writes Daniel Salau of SIMOO. "We hope this will be the beginning of long-term partnership." The delegation's report offers details of what this peer-to-peer learning visit entailed, and what sustainable development looks like on the ground.

As a result of disseminating Skillful Means: the Challenges of China's Encounter with Factory Farming more widely within China, Brighter Green has gathered some interesting perspectives on how the links between climate change and animal agriculture are being framed by the Chinese government and interpreted by China's people.

To mark the Chinese Year of the Ox (or Cow), Brighter Green undertook a broader dissemination of its policy paper, Skillful Means: the Challenges of China's Encounter with Factory Farming to Chinese media, bloggers, academics and activists.

An interview with Mia MacDonald on Brighter Green's study, Skillful Means: the Challenges of China's Encounter with Factory Farmingconducted by Take a Bite out of Climate Change founder Anna Lappé, appears today on Grist, the online environmental news and feature site.

Brighter Green's initiative, piloted with partners in the U.S., Kenya, and Tanzania, launches this week, with the participation of 10 girls from Maasai communities. "All the girls have now secured places in schools and look forward to start classes in the next one week."

Brighter Green colleagues from Maasai (pastoral) organizations in Kenya are set to embark on a study tour. A six-person, gender-balanced delegation will travel February 10-12 to eco-lodge Basecamp Explorer Masai Mara in southern Kenya to exchange experiences and learning.

An interview with Mia MacDonald by Brighter Green colleague, Anna Lappe, about China and the rapid rise in and dairy production is now up on Take a Bite Out of Climate Change. That's Anna's savory, savvy site that charts the intersection of food and global warming. She asked some great, and tough, questions. Read the full interview here, and Brighter Green's China paper (in English or Chinese), below.

Brighter Green's policy paper, Skillful Means: the Challenges of China's Encounter with Factory Farming, is now available in a Chinese translation, as 中国农业工厂化所遭遇的挑战. Read the press release describing the report in Chinese here, and the full report here.

Executive Director Mia MacDonald gave a presentation (PDF) on the links between food and global warming at a conference in Manhattan co-sponsored by the United Federation of Teachers' Humane Education Committee and Science Committee, and the NY Coalition for Healthy School Food.

A new issue of Environmental News - Indigenous Peoples' Perspectives is just off the press from the Indigenous Information Network, with support from Brighter Green

An oped by Mia MacDonald on the challenges posed by China's rapid adoption of industrial-style animal agriculture appeared in the Institute's environmental news portal, "Eye on Earth." The piece also appeared on the Environmental News Network.

Welcome to Brighter Green's fall newsletter and thank you for your interest in our work. Here is what we've been up to.

The challenges for China's people, and environment, extend beyond the Olympics, and are encapsulated in Brighter Green's new report (PDF). For a summary in Chinese, click here.

Executive Director Mia MacDonald gave two talks in Portland earlier this month on the links between the globalization of industrial meat production and the global environment, public health and food security.

Click here to listen to a podcast of an interview with Mia MacDonald on KINK radio in Portland.

Mia MacDonald appeared on Thom Hartmann's Air America radio program today to discuss a world without meat -- and the world we actually live in.

Farm Sanctuary by Gene Baur was number 12 on the Los Angeles Times' hardcover bestseller list for the week ending March 30, 2008.

On Friday, April 25th, join Francis ole Sakuda and Daniel Salau of Simba Maasai Outreach Organization (SIMOO) in Kenya as they discuss the realities of climate change and solar and wind power for indigenous communities in Kenya and elsewhere. Co-sponsored with the Sierra Club NYC Group and Tribal Link Foundation.

Executive Director Mia MacDonald gave a presentation on Monday, April 7, at the University of Chicago entitled: "Meat World?: Current and Future Scenarios."

Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food, by Gene Baur, co-founder and president of Farm Sanctuary, has just been published by Simon & Schuster, with Brighter Green's participation.

Mia MacDonald, Brighter Green's Executive Director, has been elected to the Executive Committee of the New York City Group of the national environmental organization, the Sierra Club.

Brighter Green has gathered reports, media articles, policy papers and other materials on factory farming and its impacts on the world's environment, public health, animals, poverty and food security. Click here to visit the Resources section.

The following op-ed, co-written with Hope Ferdowsian, director of the Washington Center for Clinical Research, a division of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, appeared in the The Oregonian on Sunday, December 30, 2007 (circulation 370,000).

Just in time for the UN climate change meeting taking place in Bali, Indonesia, December 3-14, comes the inaugural issue of Environmental News, produced by the Nairobi-based Indigenous Information Network through a partnership with Brighter Green.

Executive Director Mia MacDonald spoke about the globalization of industrial meat production on Saturday, November 3rd at an all-day conference co-sponsored by EarthSave Chicago and the University of Chicago's Vegan Society.

Mia MacDonald of Brighter Green and Gene Baur of Farm Sanctuary describe their vision for food, farming and agriculture as the 2007 U.S. Farm Bill is debated.

Brighter Green and Farm Sanctuary's white paper on the farm bill was the subject of an article in Connecticut's Record-Journal.

Coverage by Web-based news and information sources.

Drovers, "America's beef business source," features environmental and animal welfare recommendations.

Brighter Green and Farm Sanctuary's 2007 farm bill white paper leads agribusiness publication news.

Collaborative analysis published: The 2007 Farm Bill: A New Vision for U.S. Agriculture, Food Production and Healthy Eating