Lifestyle Magazine

The increase in consumption of processed foods contributes significantly to the high rate of obesity and overweight in Guatemala, the ninth poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to study published in the Journal Health Economics (December edition 2009).

Obesity and overweight, some of the major risk factors for death from non-contagious diseases, is increasing in developing countries due to dietary changes. In the past, it was preferable to consume staple foods and whole grains, now the trend is to eat highly processed foods, high in salt, sugar and saturated fat, and with few fibers and other essential nutrients.

“Some 3,000 years ago, farmers in eastern China domesticated the soybean. In 1765, the first soybeans were planted in North America. Today the soybean occupies more US cropland than wheat. And in Brazil, where it spread even more rapidly, the soybean is invading the Amazon rainforest,” writes Lester R. Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, in a December commentary.

Pope Benedict used his traditional New Year address on Friday to call on people to change their lifestyles to save the planet, saying environmental responsibility was essential for global peace.

As much as 100 million bushels of U.S. corn could be lost after heavy snowstorms in recent days likely delayed until spring the final stages of an already historically slow harvest, analysts and meteorologists said on Monday.

The harvest delays helped to push up corn futures more than 1 percent to a six-month high on Monday at the Chicago Board of Trade.

“There are 620 million bushels left in the field and we could lose 10 percent of that,” said Joe Victor, analyst for Illinois-based research and consulting firm Allendale Inc.

The US Department of Agriculture announced an agreement with U.S. dairy producers to accelerate adoption of innovative manure to energy projects on American dairy farms. The agreement represents a dynamic public/private partnership and is another demonstration of the Obama Administration’s commitment to curb the emissions of greenhouse gases.

A new study released by NASA shows that the aquifers for California’s primary agricultural region — the Central Valley — and its major mountain water source — the Sierra Nevadas — have lost nearly enough water combined to fill Lake Mead, America’s largest reservoir. The findings, based on data from the NASA/German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace), reflect California’s extended drought and increased rates of groundwater being pumped for human uses, such as irrigation.

The New Mexico Environment Department reports that two-thirds of the state’s 150 dairies are contaminating groundwater with excess nitrogen from cattle excrement. Either the waste lagoons are leaking, or manure is being applied too heavily on farmland.

Hillside Farmers Co-op. in Northfield, Minnesota, initiated by Latino immigrants, raises free-range chickens on scattered small, one-quarter acre sites. This makes it a great model for urban farmers as well as rural. By staying small, farmers will be able to start a farm even though they have very little capital to work with.

Being the world’s largest producer and exporter of ethanol it is natural for the Brazilian government and its partners to push biofuels as the only real alternative for a world trying wean itself away from fossil fuels that contribute to global warming.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward in regulating greenhouse gas emissions in the US from both mobile sources (principally autos and trucks) and stationary sources (industrial and power generation sources). The actions taken today support EPA in regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.
Today, the US EPA Administrator signed two distinct findings regarding greenhouse gases under section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act:
Endangerment Finding: The Administrator finds that the current and projected concentrations of the six key well-mixed greenhouse gases–carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)–in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.
Cause or Contribute Finding: The Administrator finds that the combined emissions of these well-mixed greenhouse gases from new motor vehicles and new motor vehicle engines contribute to the greenhouse gas pollution which threatens public health and welfare.

Garden vegetables such as tomatoes and potatoes have been found to be deadly insect killers on a par with Venus fly traps, according to research.

In a podcast interview with GreenBiz.com Senior Writer Marc Gunther, Scott Vitters, the Coca-Cola Company’s global head of sustainable packaging, takes the wraps off the company’s new PlantBottle, a recyclable PET plastic container made partially from plants. (Gunther’s blog on the PlantBottle’s development is available at GreenBiz.com.)

Imagine a full-scale farm right in the heart of New York City, in the deserts of Darfur or on the moon. While you might have to wait some time for your lunar lettuce, vertical farming technologies are increasing the possibilities of cultivating crops much more efficiently here on earth.

The widespread use of genetically modified (GM) crops engineered to tolerate herbicides has led to a sharp increase in the use of agricultural chemicals in the U.S. This practice is creating herbicide-resistant “super weeds” and an increase in chemical residues in U.S. food, according to a new report released today by The Organic Center, the Union for Concerned Scientists, and the Center for Food Safety.

The US will not pass a cap-and-trade law in time for the global climate-change summit in Copenhagen next month. To understand why, it helps to ask a farmer. Take Bruce Wright, for example, who grows wheat and other crops on a couple of thousand acres near Bozeman, Montana. His family has tilled these fields for four generations. He loves his job and the rural way of life. But he fears that higher energy prices will endanger both.