Brighter Green Summer Newsletter Published

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.

We’d Welcome Your Support

We’re a small non-profit, committed to low overheads and concrete outcomes. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support Brighter Green’s work. We’ve set up an online contribution page via PayPal; donations can also be made by check or money order. Thank you!

What’s for Dinner?
After three weeks of filming in Beijing, and Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces in southern China, Brighter Green’s groundbreaking documentary on the intensification of China’s meat and dairy industries is entering post-production. Editing will be getting underway soon. Directed by award-winning Chinese independent filmmaker Jian Yi, working with an all-Chinese crew, “What’s for Dinner?” explores how, given the pace at which it’s embracing the industrialized model, China will deal with the inevitable pressures on the environment, animal welfare, public health, and food security that such a system poses. The film also delves into whether, when they learn more, the Chinese will want to continue on this path. Our partners are Karin Chien of dGenerate Films and Susannah Ludwig of Flourish Films.

Brighter Green in Guatemala, Upstate NY

In May, Executive Director Mia MacDonald attended the “Women Redefining Democracy” conference organized by the Nobel Women’s Initiative in Antigua, Guatemala, She represented Brighter Green and Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai, with whom Brighter Green has partnered, and also blogged. In early August, Mia spoke at the Farm Sanctuary Hoe-Down, held in Watkins Glen, New York, where she discussed the environmental impacts of industrial animal agriculture.  

Study of Globalization of Factory Farming Continues
Following the publication of Skillful Means: the Challenges of China’s Encounter with Factory Farming in English and Chinese versions, BG is completing additional case studies on factory farming and animal-based agriculture focused on Brazil, Ethiopia, and India. They will be available this fall and will, like the China study, encompass climate change, resource challenges, food security, animal welfare, and public health. This research will also provide the groundwork for future documentary projects like “What’s for Dinner?”, which grew out of “Skillful Means.” Ideally, we’d film in Brazil, Ethiopia, India, and the U.S. In the meantime, please check out Mia MacDonald’s recent piece on China’s response to factory farming, featured recently on ChinaDialogue, a bilingual Web forum for news and analysis about China and the environment.

Brighter Green Launches Associates Program
Brighter Green is pleased to welcome Associates Sangamithra Iyer, blogging from India this summer, and Stella Zhou, read blog here. Through the program, Brighter Green seeks to include in its work individuals from around the world who possess fresh and vital perspectives to provide critical thinking on policies for the environment, sustainability, equity, food security, and animal welfare and rights.  

Girls’ Education, Leadership, Rights Training Initiative
The ten participants, needy and bright Maasai girls from Tanzania and Kenya, are winding up their second term of high school and preparing for a month-long holiday. The girls are studying hard under the watchful and caring eyes of our partners in East Africa. Their leadership potential is becoming apparent, and the girls are more confident and determined by the day. To ensure the project’s continued success, we are currently raising funds to cover the girls’ school fees and living expenses for the rest of this year. Please consider lending your support. You can learn more about the girls’ lives and soon we’ll be posting a video about the project featuring one of our partners, Lucy Mulenkei of Kenya’s Indigenous Information Network.

Brighter Green Expands Web Presence
Find us online through our frequently updated blog entries, new Facebook page, and online multimedia, coming soon. We have also posted a comprehensive Resource section on our site that provides links to reports and articles on the growth and impacts of industrialized animal farming, particularly in the global south.

FoodprintNYC
Brighter Green and other members of the FoodprintNYC Alliance, including Just Food, Farm Sanctuary, and the Small Planet Institute, are supporting efforts to see passage by the New York City Council of the “FoodprintNYC” resolution this year. Introduced by Councilmember Bill de Blasio, the resolution, which calls for food and agriculture to be included in efforts to reduce New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions, is the first of its kind in the U.S. It seeks to create a more local, climate friendly food system for all New Yorkers.

Stay tuned…
Brighter Green is investigating ways of participating in upcoming events focused on the multiple challenges of climate change, and needed responses at policy and individual levels. These include 350.org’s international day of climate action on October 24th here in New York, and the COP 15 climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, December 7th to 18th.

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