Stories by Jill Richardson

Jill Richardson is the founder of the blog La Vida Locavore and a member of the Organic Consumers Association policy advisory board. She is the author of Recipe for America: Why Our Food System Is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It.. subscribe to Jill Richardson's feed

Yuck: Our Seafood Is Loaded with Unspeakably Gross Pollutants

Posted on: Nov 30, 2012, Source: AlterNet

Some of our most popular seafood treats come to us from filthy operations in other countries.

Why Fracking May Ruin Your Thanksgiving

Posted on: Nov 19, 2012, Source: AlterNet

Cranberry growers and the fracking industry are fighting for the same resources and tearing one state apart in the process.

If America Only Knew How Much Arsenic Ends Up on the Average Dinner Plate

Posted on: Oct 5, 2012, Source: AlterNet

Our government is perversely protecting the industries that release the killer chemical into society.

Are Parks Like SeaWorld Harming or Helping Killer Whales?

Posted on: Oct 3, 2012, Source: AlterNet

The new book "Death at SeaWorld" and a serious recent injury to an orca at one of the parks is raising concern.

The Most Absurd (and Expensive) Eco-Gadgets

Posted on: Sep 18, 2012, Source: AlterNet

These products drive home a question: can we consume ourselves to sustainability?

Why Are Some of the Most Popular Organic Brands Trying to Take Down Consumer Labeling Efforts?

Posted on: Sep 12, 2012, Source: AlterNet

You may be surprised by the companies siding with the likes of Monsanto, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Dow and other behemoths over the right to know what foods are genetically modified.

How Huge Food Corporations Will Make Upcoming Food Price Hikes Even Worse

Posted on: Aug 7, 2012, Source: AlterNet

The entire American food system is built on one crop -- corn. And that is really bad news.

6 Bogus Economic Arguments Used to Trash Local Food

Posted on: Jul 5, 2012, Source: AlterNet

A critique of local food proves that the models used in neoliberal economics do not accurately apply to food and agriculture.

It's a Safe Health-Food Wonder, Agricultural Dream and Economic Jackpot: It's Time to End our Government's Insane Hemp Prohibition

Posted on: Jul 1, 2012, Source: AlterNet

If it's legal to use in soaps – and even to eat – then why is it illegal to grow here?

The History of Supersizing: How We've Become a Nation Hooked on Bigger Is Better

Posted on: Jun 18, 2012, Source: AlterNet

NYC's recent ruling limiting the size of sugary drinks has spurred a lot of controversy. Is it stupid? Not if you know the history of supersizing.

Health Dangers in Your Hose: Are You Watering Your Garden With Endocrine Disruptors and Toxic Chemicals?

Posted on: Jun 4, 2012, Source: AlterNet

Your garden hose may contain high levels of lead, flame retardants, heavy metals, and endocrine-disrupting phthalates and BPA.

How the US Sold Africa to Multinationals Like Monsanto, Cargill, DuPont, PepsiCo and Others

Posted on: May 23, 2012, Source: AlterNet

The G8 scheme does nothing to address the problems that are at the core of hunger and malnutrition but will serve only to further poverty and inequality.

How Corporations Like Monsanto Have Hijacked Higher Education

Posted on: May 11, 2012, Source: AlterNet

Academic research is often dictated by corporations that endow professorships, give money to universities, and put their executives on education boards.

Forget the Farm Bill: Where We Should Set Our Sights This Year For Real Change

Posted on: Mar 29, 2012, Source: AlterNet

Focusing on the farm bill will use up endless resources and result in relatively little gain.

How America Is Making the Whole World Fat and Unhealthy

Posted on: Mar 7, 2012, Source: AlterNet

We've exported the worst of our food to developing countries and we've imported the best of their food -- making poorer countries even more worse off.

Have Bees Become Canaries In the Coal Mine? Why Massive Bee Dieoffs May Be a Warning About Our Own Health

Posted on: Feb 11, 2012, Source: AlterNet

What scientists are beginning to understand about the cause of colony collapse could be a message for all of us.

Sugar High: The Dark History and Nasty Methods Used to Feed Our Sweet Tooth

Posted on: Jan 20, 2012, Source: AlterNet

Sugar is now 20 percent of the American diet, but it's not just our health that suffers from its pervasiveness.

We've Lost Nearly All of Our Wild Foods -- What Happened? And What Are We Missing?

Posted on: Dec 29, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Fish are the last wild food that most of us will eat.

5 Ridiculous Myths People Use to Trash Local Food -- And Why They're Wrong

Posted on: Nov 18, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Articles "debunking" the local food movement are stale, shallow and often incorrect.

Why the Most Important Fish We Need to Save Is One You've Never Heard Of

Posted on: Nov 6, 2011, Source: AlterNet

You don't hear about menhaden because they don't show up in fish markets or on dinner menus, but they're in everything.

Why Is the State Department Using Our Money to Pimp for Monsanto?

Posted on: Oct 31, 2011, Source: AlterNet

The State Department is using taxpayer money to help force genetically modified crops on other countries.

Worst Food Additive Ever? It's in Half of All Foods We Eat and Its Production Destroys Rainforests and Enslaves Children

Posted on: Oct 24, 2011, Source: AlterNet

The production of this ingredient causes jaw-dropping amounts of deforestation (and with it, carbon emissions) and human rights abuses.

Factory Farms Produce 100 Times More Waste Than All People In the US Combined and It's Killing Our Drinking Water

Posted on: May 23, 2011, Source: AlterNet

"Factory farms are dangerous to the environment; they are ticking time bombs of manure just waiting to be spilled into public waters."

Why Is Damning New Evidence About Monsanto's Most Widely Used Herbicide Being Silenced?

Posted on: Apr 27, 2011, Source: AlterNet

It turns out that Monsanto's Roundup herbicide might not be nearly as safe as people have thought, but the media is staying mum on the revelation.

Are All Farm Subsidies Giveaways to Corporate Farmers? Nope, Here's a Rundown on Both Good and Bad Subsidies

Posted on: Apr 15, 2011, Source: AlterNet

While many subsidies seem like baseless giveaways to corporate farmers, others can actually help improve the sustainability of our food system.

Feedlot Meat Has Spurred a Soy Boom That Has a Devastating Environmental and Human Cost

Posted on: Mar 17, 2011, Source: AlterNet

South America is being taken over by a handful of companies in the soy business that are destroying ecologically sensitive areas and pushing people from their ancestral land.

Groundbreaking New UN Report on How to Feed the World's Hungry: Ditch Corporate-Controlled Agriculture

Posted on: Mar 8, 2011, Source: AlterNet

A new report from the UN advises ditching corporate-controlled and chemically intensive farming in favor of agroecology.

Get Ready: The GOP Has Declared War on the Environment

Posted on: Feb 25, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Republicans are trying to take down the EPA and with it environmental regulation that seeks to protect our air, water, food and health.

Energy Independence Goes Awry: Why the Ethanol Boom May Turn Conservation Land into Corn Fields

Posted on: Feb 10, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Given America's enthusiasm for ethanol production, one might assume ethanol is a miracle fuel, sent from heaven to lead the way to independence from oil.

Why Women Who Pick and Process Your Food Face Daily Threats of Rape, Harassment and Wage Theft

Posted on: Jan 26, 2011, Source: AlterNet

We all benefit from a hugely exploitative system, in which our dinner is now directly linked to violence against women.

Have Corporations Hijacked the Word 'Sustainable'?

Posted on: Jan 26, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Why we should not let Monsanto and friends decide the standards for sustainability.

Do We Have to Live Like Peasants to Be Truly Sustainable?

Posted on: Jan 4, 2011, Source: AlterNet

There has to be a happy medium between living as a poor peasant in an adobe hut and living in a McMansion while driving a Hummer. But how do we find it?

Leaked Memo Sheds Light on Mysterious Bee Die-Offs and Who's to Blame

Posted on: Dec 10, 2010, Source: AlterNet

The culprit may be a pesticide that the EPA has allowed on the market despite the fact that the company which makes the pesticide has failed to prove it is safe.

Bluefin Tuna's High Price Tag (up to $100,000) Means They've Been Fished to the Brink -- Can We Save Them?

Posted on: Nov 22, 2010, Source: AlterNet

This week an international commission is meeting to determine the fate of the Atlantic bluefin.

Why the Biggest Thanksgiving Lie May Be the Turkey on Your Table

Posted on: Nov 19, 2010, Source: AlterNet

As our food has become more processed and industrialized, so has Thanksgiving dinner. Sadly, it's the turkey itself that has changed the most since the time of the Pilgrims.

While U.S. Politicians Play Dumb About Climate Change, One Country Is Being Pushed Past the Tipping Point

Posted on: Nov 19, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Many Americans hardly feel the impact of the climate crisis. To see the impact of the climate crisis on a daily basis, head south to Bolivia.

Industry Front Group Gets Taxpayer Money to Convince You to Eat Pesticide-Laden Food

Posted on: Oct 7, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Thanks to the USDA, your hard-earned money has been given to a special interest group representing giant agribusiness and its pesticide company cohorts.

Are Organic Eggs Really Healthier and Tastier and from Happier Chickens than Conventional Eggs?

Posted on: Oct 5, 2010, Source: AlterNet

In the best cases, the eggs are healthier for you, and more ecologically and humanely produced than the conventional alternative. But which are the best?

Which Are the Healthiest and Most Sustainable Fish to Eat? Here Are Three Ways to Find Out

Posted on: Oct 1, 2010, Source: AlterNet

It used to be so easy to choose your fish, based on taste, availability and price. Not anymore.

Why Your Natural, Organic Soap, Cosmetics and Other Personal Care Products May Be Bad for You

Posted on: Sep 20, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Personal care products can contain harmful ingredients. Even some labeled 'natural' and 'organic' aren't that good for you. Here's how to find the real deal.

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