commonground

UN States There's No Stopping Global Warming

In the strongest language it has ever used, a United Nations panel says global warming is "very likely" caused by human activities and has become a runaway train that cannot be stopped. ( LA Times)

IPCC Report

The Healing Property of Spice

Pass the goat curry please. Recently a number of natural compounds--such as resveratrol from red wine and omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil--have begun to receive close scrutiny for thier healing properties.   Turmeric, an orange-yellow powder from an Asian plant, Curcuma longa, has joined this list. No longer is it just an ingredient in vindaloos and tandooris that, since ancient times, has flavored food and prevented spoilage. ( Scientific  American)

Tumeric                                                                                Healing Properties

Seeds of a Mission

With some restaurants and even the city of New York swearing off trans fat,  Monsanto recently sent representatives here with a mission: persuade farmers to grow a special kind of soybean that produces a valuable alternative to frying oil laden with trans fat. ( NY Times)

NYC Board of Health                                                                                            Ventura Foods

The Politics of Food

The  headlines about food this year read like a remarkable replay of Woody Allen’s “Sleeper,” in which the things Americans think they should eat more of — lettuce and spinach — were suddenly the ones that could make them sick, or even kill them. ( NY Times)

What to Eat                                                                                               Omnivore's Dilemma

Who's the McFattiest of Them All?

Americans consumed more than twice as much high-fructose corn syrup per person as in 1980 and remained the fattest inhabitants of the planet, although Mexicans, Australians, Greeks, New Zealanders and Britons are not too far behind. ( Seattle P-I )

US Census Bureau

Serving Up Bacteria

Pinning down the culprit in the latest food-contamination case can seem a bit like the guessing game of Clue: a California grower, at the Taco Bell, with the scallions? As a result, major producers of fruits and vegetables are speeding up efforts to develop industry standards for farm inspections, water- and soil-quality monitoring, and sanitation. ( CS Monitor)

WGA                                                                                                                            Fast Food Nation

Small Filmakers the New Muckrakers

"Black Gold," now being screened at festivals and art houses, is the latest in a growing genre of documentary films shaking up the business world. They are taking critiques of corporate power that would once have been the province of newspapers and magazines to movie theaters and DVD shops, where they're finding an increasingly receptive audience. ( Seattle Times)

Black Gold                                                                                                        Starbucks Campaign

Marathon Mice

An ordinary laboratory mouse will run one kilometer on a treadmill before collapsing from exhaustion. But mice given resveratrol, a minor component of red wine and other foods, run twice as far. ( NY Times)

Health Benefits                                                                                        Reseveratrol

Marilyn Monroe Birds Not Healthy

According to Roger Mastrude, president of the Heritage Turkey Foundation in Capitola, most turkeys sold in the U.S. are broad-breasted whites, a specimen selectively bred over decades to create an animal unknown in the natural world and certainly not around to greet the pilgrims. ( Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Heritage Turkey Foundation                                                                       OLBC.org

Spud Studs

Researchers at Oregon State University, are evaluating thousands of varieties of potatoes for their resistance to pests and disease. Identifying  selections that have the potential to be grown on organic farms without the benefit of synthetic pesticides. ( Medford News)

OSU                                                                                                  Seed Stewardship