Recent Articles by or about Watershed Media
"We'll Reap What We Sow." A Los Angeles Times Opinion written by Dan Imhoff: The Farm Bill is loaded with pork and environmentally disastrous provisions.
"Farm Bill Critique." You know things are bad when Time Magazine gets it right. Now we just have to wonder why Congress can’t do what’s necessary for a healthy, just, food and farm system.
"Farm Bill Matters." If you think the Farm Bill doesn’t have much to do with your daily life, think again. Here’s a short overview by Dan Imhoff on why a citizen uprising is needed to turn the Farm Bill into a movement for civic agriculture.
"Neither Paper nor Plastic—Eating outside the Box." Americans throw away 800 pounds per person of containers and packaging materials each year, reports Dan Imhoff in this month’s Thinking outside the Lunchbox essay. By weight and volume, 60 percent of the food and packaging served up in the 29 million meals provided each day by the National School Lunch Program ends up in the solid waste stream. The environmental costs of producing, shipping, and then disposing of that packaging (whether it’s paper or plastic) are enormous. Dan’s essay offers a menu of ways for students, families, and schools to minimize or eliminate the tons of packaging used to deliver food to their tables.
"Eco Paper Update." Hot off the Press. Dan Imhoff has been writing about environmental design issues for the world’s premiere graphic design magazine, Communication Arts, for over a decade. The March/April 2006 issue of CA features an article by Dan on the evolving world of environmentally preferable papers, including the latest on energy issues, the struggle to save the Canadian boreal forests from an insatiable appetite for pulp, and new tools for sleuthing out a project’s environmental footprint. Watershed Media researcher Christen Crumley spent many hours compiling various lists of current paper grades and attributes, making this an up-to-date, action-oriented resource. (PDF document, 530kb)
"A Plea for Bees." Dan Imhoff goes out in the fields of California on the trail of one of the most under-reported stories of conventional agriculture: the decline of honeybees. First published in Vegetarian Times, June 2005.
Inspired by Paper or Plastic, Berne Brody’s “Pondering Packaging” examines what’s happening (and not happening) within the outdoor industry to address bad wraps. Originally published in Gear Trends “Outdoor,” Summer 2005. (PDF document, 0.99mb)
Recent articles on issues of importance to our work
"Big Food vs. Big Insurance." A New York Times Opinion written by Michael Pollan: The American way of eating has become the elephant in the room in the debate over health care.
"Beneath The Surface." GNN, September 3, 2008; "Come to the table", Slow Food Nation invited. And come to San Francisco over Labor Day weekend they did - around 50,000 people attending perhaps the largest food celebration in American history.
"Harvesting Money in a Hungry World." An author takes aim at the link between farm subsidies, a rising global middle class, and the growing crisis of hunger.
"Time Running Out for U.S. Farm Bill." Ongoing coverage of the 2008 Farm Bill Food Fight from the Christian Science Monitor.
"Bottled Water Boycotts." Across the country, concerned mayors are tapping into the quagmire of single-use disposable plastic water bottles. And they are joining the back-to-the-tap movement to build faith in local water supplies.
"Plastics Not So Fantastic." Yes, plastics are versatile, and we’re using more and more of them all the time. But as this article outlines, plastics are not only showing up as pollution on the landscape but are entering our bodies as well.
"Farm Bill Reform or Fat Bill as Usual?" This editorial neatly captures the Farm Bill debate that moves to the Senate.
"The New Food Crusade." Organic farming, conservation, healthful food in schools — the push is on to change the way the nation subsidizes farming.
"The Food and Farm Bill Heating Up." As Congress rolls up its sleeves to debate the Farm Bill, a tide of voices is calling for citizen input. Could we actually get to a place of Civic Agriculture?
"The Unintended Consequences of Hyperhydration." Single-use versus refillable and resourceful. Journalist Jon Mooallem digs in to the battle over bottle bills and the escalation of our disposable bottled water security blankets.
"The Nastiness of Plastics." It’s the additives you can’t see in all those bottles and packs that are now surfacing as critical concerns in the scientific and medical community.
"It’s the Food, Stupid." This piece by Clark Wolf, who moderated a great conversation on the politics of industrial food with chef Dan Barber and Dan Imhoff, wittily shows how all of us are connected to the environmental pickle we’re in.
"The Farm Bill Fight." The Farm Bill is up for reauthorization in Congress and 90% of Americans have no idea what it is or how it will effect their lives.
"Coming soon in Congress:Food Fight." Daniel Imhoff has written a notable new book that discusses the Farm Bill and its impact on the environment.
"Congress hears from organic farmers over Farm Bill." Organic farmers speak to the House Agriculture Committee to ask for a fair share of farm aid money.
"Amber Waves of Plain." Chef Dan Barber considers the quality of the food that the 2007 Farm Bill in Congress will ultimately produce.
"Food Fight: A Teach-in on the 2007 Farm Bill." A call to action for a closer look at the new Farm Bill was heard loud and clear by the University of California student body and the Berkeley community. Now the online community can watch the archived event as a webcast. (1hr 52 mins)
"Saving the planet—one plastic bag at a time." Fortune Magazine’s Marc Gunther reports that government, environmentalists, and even a few businesses want to put an end to plastic pollution.
"2007 Farm Bill Negotiations Heating Up." A recent New York Times editorial comments on the future of farming.
"Farms may cut habitat renewal over E. coli fears." Veteran San Francisco Chronicle reporter Glen Martin reports on the latest threat to natural habitat in and around farm regions. Rather than banishing the primary source of E. coli contamination — grain fed cattle operations — food processors are poisoning wildlife and recommending the removal of habitat.
"The Rancher and the Grizzly: A Love Story." This article addresses leading ranchers who are finding ways to coexist with large carnivores — even grizzly bears.
Biocycle’s recent "2006 State of Garbage in America Report" which was just released in April gives the latest update on the status of our nation’s garbage. Of an estimated total of 388 million tons of Municipal Solid Waste generated, 28.5 percent is recycled and composted, 7.4 percent is combusted in waste-to-energy plants and 64.1 percent is landfilled. (PDF document, 434kb)
"Farm Program Pays $1.3 Billion to People Who Don’t Farm." A Washington Post investigation finds an unintended consequence of the current Farm Bill.
"Wrap Rage" There’s now a term for those angst-ridden moments when opening a package risks life and limb.
"A Tall or a Venti for Mother Earth?" Starbuck’s post-consumer cup. After ten years of R&D, Starbucks got FDA approval for a PCW (post-consumer waste) content take-out cup.
"Rapid Warming Spreads Havoc in Canada’s Forests." The effects of global warming are showing up in the forests of Canada in the form of a small beetle.
"In Fire’s Wake, Logging Study Inflames Debate." After a fire ravages a national forest, the Bush Administration responds by saying loggers should move in quickly, cut down the remaining marketable trees, and replant a healthy forest. But a study done by an Oregon State University shows that logging after a fire can actually inhibit forest recovery and increase the chances of another fire.
Scrap House. In celebration of World Environment Day 2005, a team of San Francisco architects, artists, contractors, city officials, and engineers spent three weeks constructing a house using only scrap and salvaged materials.
"State of Denial." One of the best extensive research articles exploring the faraway consequences of outsourcing the harvesting of wood products, seafood and petroleum, by award-winning Sacramento Bee writer, Tom Knudson.
"Growing call to sack plastic bags: Different strategies seek to curtail their use in stores." An in-depth look at California by Deb Kollars, Sacramento Bee Staff Writer, Thursday, July 28, 2005.
"Bad to the Last Drop." An exposé on the current state of the bottled water industry by New York Times Op-Ed Contributor, Tom Standage, Published: August 1, 2005, London.
"The Long Emergency: What’s going to happen as we start running out of cheap gas to guzzle?" James Howard Kunstler provocatively questions what will happen to life as we know it as we enter the age of Peak Oil production, from an article originally published in Rolling Stone.
"Conservation’s Company Plan: Firms are Asked to Examine Paper Use in Effort to Save Forest." Washington Post staff writer Juliet Eilperin reports on how conservationists have pressured the large timber and paper corporation Bowater to take steps to limit impacts on critical habitat in its holdings in Tennessee’s threatened Cumberland Plateau region.
"Green Acres." In its November 2005 issue, Audubon Magazine looks at how the Farm Bill can make a positive contribution to conserving and restoring habitat for imperiled species on private lands. It’s a subject that will be covered in an upcoming Watershed Media project, A Citizen’s Guide to the Farm Bill.
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