The first lady isn’t done with healthy food

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The White House garden wasn’t enough for the first lady. On Wednesday, Michelle Obama gave a great speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors on health and childhood obesity. She pointed out that truly innovative work is already being done to make healthier food more accessible to children in cities and towns around the country. As an example, she cited the mini farmers market project IATP helped set up with the City of Minneapolis to bring healthier foods to communities that lack easy access to fruits and vegetables.  Continue Reading

The year to challenge corporate control in agriculture

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After yet another decade of accelerated market concentration, there are fewer companies controlling our food system than at any time in history. The groundswell of energy and excitement for local foods and “growing our own” has been inspiring, but excess corporate control of our food system limits how much this movement can grow. This year, we’ll have a chance to tell government regulators what we think.  Continue Reading

Women speak out on climate change in Copenhagen

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Climate justice has been the central focus of the civil society meetings at the Klimaforum this week in Copenhagen. Discussions in the halls and protests on the street have focused on the unfairness of greenhouse gas emissions that have been overwhelmingly generated in the countries of the north but whose impacts will be experienced most severely in the south.  Continue Reading

A rude awakening in Copenhagen

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This morning, as I was getting ready for another day of climate work, I heard police sirens and shouting outside the window of our hotel here in Copenhagen. I looked out just in time to see a pretty brutal take-down of protesters by police.

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Different paths in Copenhagen

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From day one of the global climate talks, discussions within the Bella Center (home of the official negotiations) have differed greatly from those at the Klima Forum (home of NGO-led discussions). Put simply, at the Bella Center the main issue of contention is money — not the climate. Continue Reading

Agriculture walks the tightrope in Copenhagen

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At the massive global climate meeting taking place this week in Copenhagen, agriculture has played a largely secondary role. Negotiators seem most eager to put off the tough questions on agriculture until next year (see IATP’s Anne Laure Constantin’s report). But at a conference a short distance from the Bella Center (where the climate talks are taking place) agriculture was on everyone’s lips. And the results were both encouraging and troubling.  Continue Reading

Shop for a happy and healthy holiday season

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It’s that time of year: when many shoppers are off to the stores with gift lists in search of good deals. With the holiday season upon us, the folks at the Ecology Center thought it was time to conduct a new round of testing on toys to find out which toxic chemicals, if any, are still lurking beneath the shiny packaging and promises of door-buster prices. Continue Reading

Time to get arsenic out of animal feed

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Four years ago, IATP released test results which found that over 55 percent of uncooked chicken products in supermarkets and all 90 fast food chicken products we tested contained detectable levels of arsenic. Because of health risks associated with arsenic, we called for federal and state regulators to withdraw the approval of arsenic in animal feed.  Continue Reading