Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

The panel at the launch of "Eating Planet" in New York City. (Photo Credit: Leeann Lavin)

Today, the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN) and the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet were proud to host “How do we feed (and also Nourish) a planet of 7 billion?” The event featured notable speakers such as food waste activist and author of American Wasteland, Jonathan Bloom; founder of The 30 Project and new member of the BCFN Advisory Board, Ellen Gustafson; publisher of “Edible Manhattan” and author of Eat Here, Brian Halweil; Stephanie Hanson, Director of Policy and Outreach for the One Acre Fund; Kelly Hauser, Agriculture Policy Director for the One Campaign; and founder and director of Citizen Effect, Dan Morrison, among others, and marked the official launch of Eating Planet–Nutrition Today: A Challenge for Mankind and for the Planet.

During the event, Samuel Fromartz, editor-in-chief of the Food & Environment Reporting Network, moderated a discussion where speakers debated some of the issues the addressed in the book: the paradoxes of the global food system, the cultural value of food, production and consumption trends, and the effects of individual eating habits on health and on the environment. “More than one-third of the food produced today does not even reach people plates—about 1.3 billion tons per year—placing unnecessary pressure on land, water, and soil resources,” said Bloom. “All of us; producers, consumers, policy makers, and those in the food industry need to make an effort to reduce the amount of food that is wasted and its environmental impact.”

Although agriculture is more productive and efficient than ever before, more than 1 billion people worldwide remain chronically hungry, and another 1 billion people are overweight or obese. “The fundamental problem continuing to cause both hunger and obesity is that it is difficult, almost everywhere in the world to access nutritious foods,” said Gustafson. “In the developed world, food is abundant, but the most abundant is usually the least nutritious and most calorie dense. In the developing world, you can often still access soft drinks or packaged processed foods, but not the diversity of healthy foods that are needed for good nutrition.”

Nourishing the Planet and BCFN hope for Eating Planet to contribute to sustainable food and agriculture development in many ways. “The study’s conclusions represent a major step toward ensuring that agriculture contributes to health, environmental sustainability, income generation, and food security,” said Paolo Barilla, Vice President of the Barilla Group. “The ingredients will vary by country and region, but there are some key components that will lead to healthier food systems everywhere.”

Did you attend the book launch, or watch the livestream? Tell us about your experience below!

Click here to purchase a copy of Eating Planet.

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

On Thursday, June 28, the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet project and the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition will release Eating Planet–Nutrition Today: A Challenge for Mankind and for the Planet in New York City. Today, Nourishing the Planet highlights a contributing author of Eating Planet, and shares his views on how to fix the broken food system. Tune in on the 28th via livestream: we will be taking questions in real time from the audience, from the livestream, and from Twitter and Facebook.

Alexandre Kalache stresses the significance of health span and quality of life (Photo Credit: BCFN)

Alexandre Kalache is one of the world’s leading experts on aging, particularly the care and treatment of the elderly and the epidemiology of aging. Kalache’s concluding vignette in the Food for Health chapter of the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition’s most recent publication: Eating Planet 2012 – Nutrition Today: A Challenge for Mankind and for the Planet,questions whether living longer is necessarily better. In his piece, Kalache challenges the measure of lifespan as an indicator for societal health and well-being, and instead stresses the significance of health span and quality of life in determining the success of healthcare policies.

Although average life expectancies have increased drastically over the course of the past century, Kalache suggests that life-style related diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain forms of cancer, as well as the rapid onset of obesity, pose an imminent threat to the gains in life-expectancy from modern medical advancements. In addition to tobacco smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, Kalache points to unhealthy diets and sedentary life-styles as major contributing sources of age-associated diseases. In addition to decreased quality of life and reduced lifespans, these life-style related diseases also contribute to increased health care costs and less money for other public services, such as schools and parks, that would improve the quality of life for communities at large.

In light of the recent emergence of lifestyle-induced diseases, and the healthcare costs associated with these preventable diseases, Kalache stresses the need for policies that would ensure good health and quality of life for the world’s aging population, particularly obesity prevention.

According to Kalache, numerous studies demonstrate the benefits of a reduced calorie diet, including the potential for the extension of the human life span to 150 years or more. Kalache recognizes, however, that the reduction in calorie consumption that would be required to reach this ideal would most likely hinder individuals’ quality of life and would ultimately be unpopular with the general public. For Kalache, the question of how to best implement culturally appropriate and sustainable policies that promote balanced diets and healthy lifestyles that would in turn enhance both individuals’ quality of life and life expectancy presents the primary challenge for health policymakers today.

Effective public health policies, according to Kalache, optimize the opportunities for health participation and security, and also enhance the quality of life for individuals as they age. Such policies would include increased government investment in marketing research as a means of evaluating and enhancing existing healthy habits and preferences of the population. Successful policies would also utilize this information to encourage culturally appropriate and healthy lifestyle behaviors with fiscal and legal policies, such as subsidizing fruits and vegetables, and taxing unhealthy food items while also prohibiting food items such as sugary drinks and fatty foods from public institutions such as schools.

Tune in to the launch on the 28th via livestream: we will be taking questions in real time from the audience, from the livestream, and from Twitter and Facebook. You can also purchase your own copy of Eating Planet for $3.99 on Amazon or iTunes.

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

Nourishing the Planet is collaborating with Women Deliver to highlight the important role of women, youth, and reproductive and sexual rights in sustainable development at the upcoming Rio+20 conference. Women’s participation at Rio+20 is imperative due to the proven link between sustainable development and women’s empowerment, health, and wellbeing.

Agriculture and Rural Development Day took place on June 18 at Rio+20 (Image Credit: ARDD)

Agriculture and Rural Development Day (ARDD) brought together roughly 600 policymakers, farmers, researchers, and journalists from around the world on June 18th ahead of the Rio+20 Summit to discuss agriculture’s important role in building a green economy.

In addition to talking about the challenges—including climate change, water scarcity, and lack of access to markets—farmers face in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America, participants also discussed the important role women play in meeting food security needs.  Women farmers make up at least half of the world’s agricultural labor force, but many lack access to education, training, land, extension services, and credit. But recognizing women’s needs—and their contributions—in agriculture can help improve nutrition, incomes, and environmental sustainability.

Sue Edwards of the Institute for Sustainable Development in Ethiopia spoke of the need for the recognition and “intensification of women’s skills” in agriculture. During an AARD Learning Event, Edwards highlighted how breeding and caring for livestock most often falls to women. “Chickens,” she said, “are not an animal for men.” Men farmers, she explained, don’t tend to think of chickens, sheep, goats, and other small livestock as important, but for women, these livestock can be a quick source of cash and nutrients for their families.

Vandana Shiva of Navdanya talked about how women farmers are “the ultimate seed breeders,” breeding crop varieties that are resilient to drought, disease, and the impacts of climate change. She also explained that women focus on breeding for taste, nutrition, and resilience, rather than just increased yields.

And during the “Responding to the Global Challenges of a Food Secure Future” panel, Rajendra Paroda of the Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions said that since the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, “not much has been done” to recognize the important role women play in agriculture. He pointed out that we need reorient the global agricultural research agenda to make sure it includes women’s access to the resources, knowledge, and credit. He also recommended the need to invest in “engendering agriculture” at international research institutions and invest in providing the evidence of why investing in women’s empowerment is important for agriculture.

Frances Seymour, the Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research, highlighted that “gender is also important for natural resource management.” Women can make a “huge difference,” she said on what decisions are made about how to utilize forest resources, manage water, and land use. But she also pointed out that after she leaves her post later this year, there will only be one woman out of 15 Director Generals of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR). Seymour encouraged the women in the audience to aspire to leadership positions and for the groups and organizations there to recognize their talent.

Why is recognizing the role of women in agriculture important? Let us know in the comments section!

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

Nourishing the Planet is collaborating with Women Deliver to highlight the important role of women, youth, and reproductive and sexual rights in sustainable development at the upcoming Rio+20 conference.

Women play key roles in poverty alleviation and environmental protection (Photo Credit: Bernard Pollack)

For three days, beginning on June 20, 2012, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio +20, will be taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Conference will convene representatives of governments, the private sector, NGOs and civil society, and many other stakeholders. These participants will discuss seven priority issues, under themes of equity and sustainability: decent jobs, energy, sustainable cities, food security and sustainable agriculture, water, oceans and disaster readiness.

Important issues surrounding gender, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and youth have largely been left out of discussions and the Zero Draft document in the lead up to the summit. Several groups have been working to lobby for the inclusion of these issues. In March 2012, Women Deliver convened many of these organizations to discuss the opportunities and challenges in doing so. Below, we profile some of the organizations who are leading these efforts, and the work that they are doing to make sure issues related to international population and family health are included in the Rio +20 outcomes document, and the forthcoming sustainable development framework.

Here are a few organizations to look out for:

International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF):
Bringing family planning and reproductive rights to the forefront at Rio +20

With member associations in over 170 countries, IPPF is the largest provider of sexual and reproductive health in the world. In addition to increasing global access to contraceptives, family planning services, gynecological care, and clinical diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, IPPF advocates for a woman’s right to whether to have children, and to decide the number and spacing of her children. A long-time supporter of human equity, IPPF has been empowering women to make their own reproductive and sexual choices since the organization began in India in 1952. Founders Elise Ottesen-Jensen from Sweden, Margaret Sanger from America, and Dhanvanthi Rama Rau from India, who were incarcerated for advocating for women’s reproductive rights, would recognize that gender equity issues require just as immediate attention as they did sixty years ago. Now 71 percent of IPPFs funding comes directly from government grants and organizations that acknowledge the beneficial economic, development, and environment impacts of greater women’s sexual and reproductive rights.

At the UN Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development, IPPF, along with the governments of Brazil and Denmark, will organize a side-event, “Dynamics of Rio: Population, Women and Rights.” At this event, several governments and high level stakeholders will work together to ensure that advocating for women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights will be central to the Rio+20 negotiations.

Connect with IPPF on their
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/www.ippf.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ippf
Website: http://www.ippf.org/en/

Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO):
Staking a claim to our future at Rio+20

WEDO works internationally to help establish women’s equality in global policy.  Established in 1990 by former New York congresswoman Bella Abzug and feminist author and journalist Mim Kelber, WEDO works on several international efforts fighting for women’s rights and empowerment. In 1991, WEDO brought together over 1,500 women representing 83 countries in an advocacy group known as the World Women’s Congress for a Healthy Planet (WWCHP). At the 1992 UN Earth Summit, the WWCHP devised a plan to increase gender equality as a key issue in the UN negotiations for a more sustainable world. These efforts proved groundbreaking, establishing women’s equity as a principal concern in the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 and pioneering the participation of women’s voices in the then male-dominated decision-making body of the UN. Conducting and disseminating research on women’s rights and leadership, and their intersections with both the environment and development, WEDO continues to be a leader of gender equality issues worldwide.

At Rio+20, WEDO will participate in several events. A roundtable discussion, “Framing Sustainable Development Policy Dialogues: A Well Prepared Society,” will highlight the role of gender equity and women’s leadership in linking and informing both sustainable global action and community-based decisions. “Women’s Networking for Sustainability Celebrating the Past & Envisioning the Future at Rio+20” will provide an opportunity for participants to build relationships and collaborate on issues of gender equity. On June 20th, WEDO will help organize the “Launch of Gender + Sustainable Development Commitments” event and host a following cocktail reception to celebrate women’s leadership in sustainable development around the world.

Connect with WEDO on their
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WEDOworldwide
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/wedo_worldwide
Website: http://www.wedo.org/

The Elders:
Rio+20: a moment for courage

Chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, The Elders is an independent group of global leaders, convened by Nelson Mandela, who work together for peace and human rights.  In 2010, The Elders started working on child marriage as part of their agenda to promote equality for girls and women. Ending this harmful practice is essential to protect the rights of women and girls and to improve maternal and child health, education and empowerment in developing societies worldwide. The Elders created “Girls Not Brides,” to bring together organizations working locally, nationally and internationally to build a global partnership to end child marriage.

In the lead-up to Rio+20, several “Elders” have written blogs, op-eds, and articles that highlight the need to address child marriage, and to bring youth voices into the debates on sustainable development.

“You must succeed where we have failed,” Desmond Tutu said in the run up to Rio+20. The Elders launched an online global debate with young leaders, called “Elders+Youngers,” to inspire the urgent change needed to build a more equitable and sustainable world. At the Rio+Social event on June 19th in Rio, several of the “Elders+Youngers” members, including, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and Mary Robinson, with Esther Agbarakwe, Marvin Nala, Pedro Telles, and Sara Svensson, will discuss the topic: “What kind of world do we want for our great-great-grandchildren?”

Connect with The Elders on their
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theElders
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/theElders
Website: http://www.theelders.org

Population Action International (PAI):
Fighting for reproductive rights around the world and at Rio+20

PAI is a non-profit organization that advocates for women and families around the world to have access to contraception in order to improve their health, reduce poverty and protect their environment. Over the past 45 years, their research and advocacy have increased civic and institutional engagement with this issue through campaigns to repeal the Global Gag Rule, data linking demographic pressures to environmental degradation, and provocative films that put a local face on the global movement for reproductive rights. They also support the efforts of community-based organizations in order to promote local leadership and education about sexual and reproductive health.

PAI is hosting three side events at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in order to address different ways in which population dynamics affect sustainable development. “From Rio to Cairo to Rio, and Beyond” on June 16, will highlight the synergy between population growth and sustainability, and how this relationship must become central to development strategies in the face of climate change, particularly in Africa. On June 18, PAI will emphasize the central role that women play in sustainable development in “Healthy Women, Healthy Planet.” A screening of their film, “Weathering Change” will follow the discussion about the importance of women’s empowerment, health, and education.  On June 19, PAI is partnering with the Advocates for Youth and the Sierra Club in “Youth SRHR in the Context of Sustainable Development” where they will lead a discussion about the unique opportunities and challenges presented by youth sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the critical role young people play in promoting just and sustainable development.

Connect with PAI on their
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/populationactioninternational

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/popact

Website: http://populationaction.org/

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

Many of us are thinking about the changes we want to make this year. For some, these changes will be financial; for others, physical or spiritual. But for all of us, there are important resolutions we can make to “green” our lives. Although this is often a subject focused on by industrialized nations, people in developing countries can also take important steps to reduce their growing environmental impact.

By using biogas collection tanks, farmers in Rwanda are already helping to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. (Photo credit: Bernard Pollack)

“We in the developing world must embark on a more vigorous ‘going green’ program,” says Sue Edwards, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD). “As incomes rise and urbanization increases, a growing middle class must work with city planners to ensure our communities are sustainable.”

ISD’s Tigray Project recently received the Gothenburg Award for Sustainable Development 2011, shared with Kofi Annan, Chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Since 1996, Tigray has worked to help Ethiopian farmers rehabilitate ecosystems, raise land productivity, and increase incomes through such practices as composting, biodiversity enhancement, the conservation of water and soil, and the empowerment of local communities to manage their own development.

Broadening sustainability efforts is essential to solving many of the world’s challenges, including food production, security, and poverty. The United Nations has designated 2012 as the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All.

Hunger, poverty, and climate change are issues that we in the developing world can help address. Here are 12 simple steps to go green in 2012:

1. Recycle:

Urbanization is on the rise throughout the developing world. According to the United Nations, the highest urban-area growth is 3.5 percent per year in Africa. But waste management is not keeping up with population growth. It is inefficient in urban areas and virtually nonexistent in rural areas, resulting in the pervasive unloading of waste in unmanaged dump sites and bodies of water and endangering public health.

What you can do:

• Collect your household’s waste in two separate containers—-one for organic waste like scraps of food and one for other waste like plastic, glass, metal, and paper. You can compost the organic waste (see #11).
• Cities such as Johannesburg have recycling drop-off sites. If your city doesn’t, look for neighbors who are interested in salvaging and reselling items like cans. Brazil, for example, boasts a 96.5 percent aluminum can recycle rate due in large part to the 180,000 Brazilians who collect and resell cans for profit.

2. Reduce fossil fuel consumption.

Over the last two decades, roughly 75 percent of human-made carbon dioxide emissions were produced by fossil fuel burning. Coal and other environmentally polluting fossil fuels can be replaced by renewable resources, including biofuels. Globally, some 25 million homes convert biogas into energy for lighting and cooking, including 20 million households in China and 3.9 million in India.

What you can do:

• Instead of burning coal or wood, use biogas converted from the methane produced by either livestock manure or weeds such as water hyacinth. In Rwanda, the government is working to make biogas stoves more affordable—-by the end of 2011 they had hoped to see them being used in 15,000 households, and in Ethiopia, the target is 14,000 biogas digester plants with rural households by the end of 2013.
• Use an environmentally friendly solar cooker to utilize solar energy instead of fossil fuels. The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is committing $50 million to advance the goal of securing 100 million such stoves in developing countries by 2020.

3.      Make the switch.

In 2007, Australia became the first country to “ban the bulb” and began a process to replace incandescent light bulbs with more efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. By late 2010, incandescent bulbs had been totally phased out, and, according to the country’s environment minister, this move has made a big difference, cutting an estimated 4 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2012. The Ethiopian government is the first in the developing world to consider banning incandescent bulbs. Its distribution of 5 million compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) has created energy savings of 75 percent.

What you can do:

• Although CFLs are initially more expensive, they use 75 percent less energy and last 10 times as long. The government of Australia estimates that the country’s switch to CFLs will save the average household 66 percent on their electricity bill.
• Encourage your local and national governments to follow Ethiopia’s example and give free CFLs to consumers in exchange for their old incandescent bulbs.

4.      Re-use water bottles.

Worldwide, 900 million people do not have access to safe drinking water, and more than 4,000 children die each year from preventable diseases. As a result, many consumers use bottled water. We consume 200 billion bottles of water globally. It takes 1.5 million barrels of crude oil to produce these bottles and 2.7 tons of plastic, 86 percent of which ends up as garbage or litter.

What you can do:

• Stainless steel reusable water bottles are the best solution, but you can also reuse plastic bottles every time you encounter a clean water source. When it is time for a new bottle, recycle the old one.
• The Life and Water Development Group Cameroon has partnered with Thirst Relief International USA to bring clean water to those without access. One filtration unit uses layers of crushed rock, sand, and naturally forming bacteria to remove 99 percent of harmful bacteria from drinking water.

5.      Conserve water.

Each of us requires 3,000 liters of water a day to meet our dietary needs. Yet half of people worldwide live in countries where water tables are falling. Because 70 percent of water is used to irrigate agriculture, it is important that we better conserve water as we grow our food.

What you can do:

• Growing one ton of grain requires 1,500 tons of water, but many crops indigenous to the developing world require much less. In Asia and Africa, the pigeon pea is drought-resistant and can grow in low-nutrient soil with little water while still producing a yield that is 20 percent protein.
• Rainwater Concepts in India is working to popularize simple rainwater harvesting techniques, successfully recharging 90,000 wells.

6.      Turn down the AC.

Thirty of the world’s 50 most populous cities are located in the developing world, mostly in hot climates. Use of air conditioners increases 20-35 percent annually in developing countries, and the related chemicals emitted are stalling the global effort to heal the ozone layer, the part of our atmosphere that protects the planet from harmful solar rays.

What you can do:

• Use fans instead of air conditioning to reduce the amount of harmful chemicals released into our air.
• If you want to install air conditioning in your home or business, use ozone-friendly units instead of those that emit hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).

7.      Support food recovery.

Each year, roughly a third of all food produced for human consumption—-approximately 1.3 billion tons—-gets lost or wasted, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. In the developing world, this often happens because of premature harvests or a lack of proper storage facilities, sufficient infrastructure, or appropriate preservation methods. Every metric ton of food waste sent to landfills emits 4.5 times the amount of carbon dioxide, and decomposing food in landfills produces methane, a greenhouse gas that is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

What you can do:

• Farmers in Pakistan have saved 70 percent of their harvest by switching from jute bags and containers constructed with mud to more durable metal containers.
• In West Africa, farmers use solar dryers to save the 100,000 tons of mangos that would otherwise go to waste annually. This technique can be used with other fruit to save them from perishing after harvest.

8.      Buy local, indigenous crops.

Rice, wheat, corn, and soy are the crops that modern agriculture focuses on most. Reliance on so few crops is dangerous. The 2010 drought in Russia decimated a third of the country’s wheat harvest, and the developing world felt the shock as food prices skyrocketed. Indigenous and traditional crops, however, are often hardier and more resistant to pests and disease.

What you can do:

• Find out what crops are indigenous to your area and which farmers are growing them. Buy directly from those farmers or ask your local market to carry their products.
• Grow indigenous crops in your own garden (see #10) and share with your neighbors.

9.      Plant a tree.

Globally, we have lost 13 million acres of forest each year since 2000. In Latin America, the expanding popularity of cattle operations and soybean farms trumps preservation of the Amazon. Brazil is the fourth largest emitter of carbon dioxide, not because of industry or automobiles, but because of deforestation.

What you can do:

• Plant a tree or two at home. In addition to the environmental benefits, it will provide shade and keep your home cooler. If you plant a citrus or nut tree, you’ll enjoy the extra food as well.
• Agroforestry, or planting trees among crops, can provide shade and help control erosion. In addition, leguminous trees can add nutrients to the soil naturally, making the soil more fertile and increasing crop yields.

10.  Plant a garden.

Fourteen million people in Africa migrate from rural to urban areas each year, and studies suggest that by 2020, an estimated 40 million Africans living in cities will depend on urban agriculture to meet their food requirements. Home gardens helped families in Kibera, Nairobi, survive when unrest after the 2008 elections shut down roads and prevented food from coming into the city. And the sale of garden surplus is an excellent way to supplement family income.

What you can do:

• If your access to land is limited, you can create a “vertical garden.” Fill tall sacks with soil, poke holes on different levels, and plant seeds in the holes. Use waste water from your home and compost (see #11) to keep your soil rich and healthy, improving the quality of your food. If you live in an urban area and don’t have access to land, reuse old tires or buckets to create portable planters.

11.  Compost organic waste.

The World Bank estimates that 50 percent of an average developing country’s solid waste can be composted. By repurposing compostable waste such as food scraps, wood waste, and paper and cardboard products, we can reduce landfill space and add reclaimed nutrients to our agricultural efforts

What you can do:

• Work within your family to compost your own organic waste, or work with your community to establish a collective compost site.
• To make the most of your compost, use it to nourish local gardening efforts.

12.  Eat meat that is raised right…and eat less of it.

Livestock are raised on a third of the Earth’s land, accounting for approximately 18 percent of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. In the developing world alone, 1 to 2 trillion cubic meters of water per year is needed to raise crops for these animals. Global meat production has increased 20 percent since 2000, and nearly 90 percent of additional growth is expected to occur in the developing world, predominantly on large, industrial farms.

What you can do:

• Think about where your meat comes from. Giant, industrial farms pollute the environment through heavy use of pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, and other harmful inputs. Pastoral farms can help reduce pollution and supports the livelihoods of local farming families.
• If you’re a farmer, consider building a biodigester so that you can convert the organic waste from your animals into a nutrient-rich fertilizer and biogas, a renewable energy source that you can use for heating and electricity.

The most successful and lasting new year changes are those that are practiced regularly and have an important goal. As we embark on this new year, let’s all resolve to make 2012 a healthier, happier, and greener year for all.

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

As we head into 2012, many of us will be resolving to lose those few extra pounds, save more money, or spend a few more hours with our families and friends. But there are also some resolutions we can make to make our lives a little greener. Each of us, especially in the United States, can make a commitment to reducing our environmental impacts.

Here are 12 simple steps that you can take be more green in the new year. (Photo credit: Julie Carney, Gardens for Health International)

The United Nations has designated 2012 as the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. Broadening access to sustainable energy is essential to solving many of the world’s challenges, including food production, security, and poverty.

Hunger, poverty, and climate change are issues that we can all help address. Here are 12 simple steps to go green in 2012:

(1) Recycle

Recycling programs exist in cities and towns across the United States, helping to save energy and protect the environment. In 2009, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to require all homes and businesses to use recycling and composting collection programs. As a result, more than 75 percent of all material collected is being recycled, diverting 1.6 million tons from the landfills annually—double the weight of the Golden Gate Bridge. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, for each pound of aluminum recovered, Americans save the energy resources necessary to generate roughly 7.5 kilowatt-hours of electricity—enough to power a city the size of Pittsburgh for six years!

What you can do:

Put a separate container next to your trash can or printer, making it easier to recycle your bottles, cans, and paper.

(2) Turn off the lights

On the last Saturday in March—March 31 in 2012—hundreds of people, businesses, and governments around the world turn off their lights for an hour as part of Earth Hour, a movement to address climate change.

What you can do:

Earth Hour happens only once a year, but you can make an impact every day by turning off lights during bright daylight, or whenever you will be away for an extended period of time.

(3) Make the switch

In 2007, Australia became the first country to “ban the bulb,” drastically reducing domestic usage of incandescent light bulbs. By late 2010, incandescent bulbs had been totally phased out, and, according to the country’s environment minister, this simple move has made a big difference, cutting an estimated 4 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2012. China also recently pledged to replace the 1 billion incandescent bulbs used in its government offices with more energy efficient models within five years.

What you can do:

A bill in Congress to eliminate incandescent in the United States failed in 2011, but you can still make the switch at home. Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) use only 20–30 percent of the energy required by incandescents to create the same amount of light, and LEDs use only 10 percent, helping reduce both electric bills and carbon emissions.

(4) Turn on the tap

The bottled water industry sold 8.8 billion gallons of water in 2010, generating nearly $11 billion in profits. Yet plastic water bottles create huge environmental problems. The energy required to produce and transport these bottles could fuel an estimated 1.5 million cars for a year, yet approximately 75 percent of water bottles are not recycled—they end up in landfills, litter roadsides, and pollute waterways and oceans. And while public tap water is subject to strict safety regulations, the bottled water industry is not required to report testing results for its products. According to a study, 10 of the most popular brands of bottled water contain a wide range of pollutants, including pharmaceuticals, fertilizer residue, and arsenic.

What you can do:

Fill up your glasses and reusable water bottles with water from the sink. The United States has more than 160,000 public water systems, and by eliminating bottled water you can help to keep nearly 1 million tons of bottles out of the landfill, as well as save money on water costs.

(5) Turn down the heat

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that consumers can save up to 15 percent on heating and cooling bills just by adjusting their thermostats. Turning down the heat by 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit for eight hours can result in savings of 5–15 percent on your home heating bill.

What you can do:

Turn down your thermostat when you leave for work, or use a programmable thermostat to control your heating settings.

(6) Support food recovery programs

Each year, roughly a third of all food produced for human consumption—approximately 1.3 billion tons—gets lost or wasted, including 34 million tons in the United States, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Grocery stores, bakeries, and other food providers throw away tons of food daily that is perfectly edible but is cosmetically imperfect or has passed its expiration date. In response, food recovery programs run by homeless shelters or food banks collect this food and use it to provide meals for the hungry, helping to divert food away from landfills and into the bellies of people who need it most.

What you can do:

Encourage your local restaurants and grocery stores to partner with food rescue organizations, like City Harvest in New York City or Second Harvest Heartland in Minnesota.

Go through your cabinets and shelves and donate any non-perishable canned and dried foods that you won’t be using to your nearest food bank or shelter.

(7) Buy local

“Small Business Saturday,” falling between “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday,” was established in 2010 as a way to support small businesses during the busiest shopping time of the year. Author and consumer advocate Michael Shuman argues that local small businesses are more sustainable because they are often more accountable for their actions, have smaller environmental footprints, and innovate to meet local conditions—providing models for others to learn from.

What you can do:

Instead of relying exclusively on large supermarkets, consider farmers markets and local farms for your produce, eggs, dairy, and meat. Food from these sources is usually fresher and more flavorful, and your money will be going directly to these food producers.

(8) Get out and ride

We all know that carpooling and using public transportation helps cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, as well as our gas bills. Now, cities across the country are investing in new mobility options that provide exercise and offer an alternative to being cramped in subways or buses. Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C. have major bike sharing programs that allow people to rent bikes for short-term use. Similar programs exist in other cities, and more are planned for places from Miami, Florida, to Madison, Wisconsin.

What you can do:

If available, use your city’s bike share program to run short errands or commute to work. Memberships are generally inexpensive (only $75 for the year in Washington, D.C.), and by eliminating transportation costs, as well as a gym membership, you can save quite a bit of money!

Even if without bike share programs, many cities and towns are incorporating bike lanes and trails, making it easier and safer to use your bike for transportation and recreation.

(9) Share a car

Car sharing programs spread from Europe to the United States nearly 13 years ago and are increasingly popular, with U.S. membership jumping 117 percent between 2007 and 2009. According to the University of California Transportation Center, each shared car replaces 15 personally owned vehicles, and roughly 80 percent of more than 6,000 car-sharing households surveyed across North America got rid of their cars after joining a sharing service. In 2009, car-sharing was credited with reducing U.S. carbon emissions by more than 482,000 tons. Innovative programs such as Chicago’s I-GO are even introducing solar-powered cars to their fleets, making the impact of these programs even more eco-friendly.

What you can do:

Join a car share program! As of July 2011, there were 26 such programs in the U.S., with more than 560,000 people sharing over 10,000 vehicles. Even if you don’t want to get rid of your own car, using a shared car when traveling in a city can greatly reduce the challenges of finding parking (car share programs have their own designated spots), as well as your environmental impact as you run errands or commute to work.

(10) Plant a garden

Whether you live in a studio loft or a suburban McMansion, growing your own vegetables is a simple way to bring fresh and nutritious food literally to your doorstep. Researchers at the FAO and the United Nations Development Programme estimate that 200 million city dwellers around the world are already growing and selling their own food, feeding some 800 million of their neighbors. Growing a garden doesn’t have to take up a lot of space, and in light of high food prices and recent food safety scares, even a small plot can make a big impact on your diet and wallet.

What you can do:

Plant some lettuce in a window box. Lettuce seeds are cheap and easy to find, and when planted in full sun, one window box can provide enough to make several salads worth throughout a season.

(11) Compost

And what better way to fertilize your garden than using your own composted organic waste. You will not only reduce costs by buying less fertilizer, but you will also help to cut down on food and other organic waste.

What you can do:

If you are unsure about the right ways to compost, websites such as HowToCompost.org and organizations such as the U.S. Composting Council, provide easy steps to reuse your organic waste.

(12) Reduce your meat consumption

Livestock production accounts for about 18 percent of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions and accounts for about 23 percent of all global water used in agriculture. Yet global meat production has experienced a 20 percent growth rate since 2000 to meet the per capita increase of meat consumption of about 42 kilograms.

What you can do:

You don’t have to become a vegetarian or vegan, but by simply cutting down on the amount of meat you consume can go a long way. Consider substituting one meal day with a vegetarian option. And if you are unable to think of how to substitute your meat-heavy diet, websites such as Meatless Monday and Eating Well offer numerous vegetarian recipes that are healthy for you and the environment.

The most successful and lasting New Year’s resolutions are those that are practiced regularly and have an important goal. Watching the ball drop in Times Square happens only once a year, but for more and more people across the world, the impacts of hunger, poverty, and climate change are felt every day. Thankfully, simple practices, such as recycling or riding a bike, can have great impact. As we prepare to ring in the new year, let’s all resolve to make 2012 a healthier, happier, and greener year for all.

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

World grain production fell in 2010, exacerbating a global food situation already plagued by rising prices, according to new research published by the Worldwatch Institute for its Vital Signs Online publication. Despite record rice and maize yields around the world, global wheat production dropped substantially enough to bring total grain output to just below 2008 levels.

Maize, wheat, and rice provide nearly two-thirds of the global human diet and serve as critical inputs for both animal feed and industrial products. The significance of these crops guarantees that a decline in production will produce ripple effects throughout the global economy, particularly as increased food prices continue to take a toll on the world’s neediest populations. Overall, rice and wheat production have tripled since the 1960s, and maize production has quadrupled, despite global acreage of these crops increasing by only 35 percent.

Production increased worldwide, but there was greater reliance on irrigation, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides—all of which take resources, can be costly, and may cause substantial environmental degradation. As farmers have begun to witness these impacts, many have been forced to abandon their fields because of infertile soil.

Nevertheless, preliminary data for 2011 indicate that grain production is recovering from the 2010 slump. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently forecast that cereal output in 2011–12 will be 3 percent higher than in 2010–11.

Grain remains the foundation of the world’s diet, and the failure of harvests in recent years to keep pace with growth in meat consumption and population is worrisome. It’s important that we identify and implement more inventive and sustainable strategies in grain production. Reducing the proportion of grain harvests lost to weather disasters and waste or diverted for corn ethanol production and animal feed is among such strategies. It’s also important that we prioritize grain availability for those who need it most.

Recent growth in agricultural production has been uneven. In many regions, climate change has brought irregular weather patterns such as rising temperatures, violent storms, and flash flooding. In Russia, where severe drought has plagued large farming regions, overall wheat yields plunged 40 percent in 2010, compared to a decline of only 5 percent worldwide. Subsequently, Russia—the fourth largest wheat exporter in 2009—banned all wheat exports, severely disrupting world grain markets. Poor weather took its toll elsewhere as well: El Niño in the west Pacific, for example, brought rice production down significantly in the Philippines, already the world’s largest food importer.

Wheat harvesting in drought-plagued Russia. (Photo credit: MercoPress)

Rising demand for ethanol fuel, which in the United States is produced almost exclusively from corn feedstock, is having an impact on grain prices as well. According to the U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO), about 20 percent of the increase in maize prices between 2007 and 2008 was due to domestic ethanol demand. Demand for grains is also rising in countries such as China and India, where growing middle classes are adopting more diverse diets.

Farming has always been an uncertain business that depends in large part on the weather, and it could be entering an even more difficult phase. As the global climate changes, the warmer, less stable atmospheric conditions could be detrimental for food production. In an already fragile economy, continued volatile prices and unpredictable weather-induced shortages are sure to negatively affect both producers and consumers in developing countries.

Further highlights from the research:

• Between 1960 and 2010, annual global grain production increased from 643 million tons to 2.2 billion tons.
• U.S. maize (corn) production was down 5 percent in 2010 due to drought in the east and excessive rain in the west. The United States is the world’s largest exporter of maize, accounting for 56 percent of global exports from 2006 to 2010.
• According to the FAO’s Cereal Price Index (CPI), which uses 2002–04 prices for wheat, rice and maize as its baseline (100), food prices increased to an index level of 185 in August 2010 and set a record at 265 in April 2011.
• Forty percent of the global increase in maize prices in 2000–07 was due to worldwide demand for ethanol, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute. Additional reasons for the jump in food prices include the weakening of the U.S. dollar, speculation on grain prices, and possible climate change impacts.
• Stanford University researchers who created a model to determine how changing weather patterns affect crop yields found a 2.9 percent increase in global rice production as a result of greater precipitation, but losses of 3.8 percent for wheat and 2.5 percent for maize.

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

The holiday season is a time for gifts, decorations, and lots and lots of food. As a result, it’s also a time of spectacular amounts of waste. In the United States, we generate an extra 5 million tons of household waste each year between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, including three times as much food waste as at other times of the year. When our total food waste adds up to 34 million tons each year, that equals a lot of food. With the holidays now upon us, the Worldwatch Institute offers 10 simple steps we all can take to help make this season less wasteful and more plentiful.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, roughly one-third of all food produced for human consumption—approximately 1.3 billion tons—is lost or wasted each year. Consumers in developed countries such as the United States are responsible for 222 million tons of this waste, or nearly the same quantity of food as is produced in all of sub-Saharan Africa.

As Americans prepare for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, here are 10 tips to help reduce the amount of food we waste:

Before the meal: Plan your menu and exactly how much food you’ll need.

1. Be realistic: The fear of not providing enough to eat often causes hosts to cook too much. Instead, plan out how much food you and your guests will realistically need, and stock up accordingly. The Love Food Hate Waste organization, which focuses on sharing convenient tips for reducing food waste, provides a handy “Perfect portions” planner to calculate meal sizes for parties as well as everyday meals.

2. Plan ahead: Create a shopping list before heading to the farmers’ market or grocery store. Sticking to this list will reduce the risk of impulse buys or buying unnecessary quantities, particularly since stores typically use holiday sales to entice buyers into spending more.

During the meal: Control the amount on your plate to reduce the amount in the garbage.

3. Go small: The season of indulgence often promotes plates piled high with more food than can be eaten. Simple tricks of using smaller serving utensils or plates can encourage smaller portions, reducing the amount left on plates. Guests can always take second (or third!) servings if still hungry, and it is much easier (and hygienic) to use leftovers from serving platters for future meals.

4. Encourage self-serve: Allow guests to serve themselves, choosing what, and how much, they would like to eat. This helps to make meals feel more familiar and also reduces the amount of unwanted food left on guests’ plates.

After the meal: Make the most out of leftovers.

5. Store leftovers safely: Properly storing our leftovers will preserve them safely for future meals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that hot foods be left out for no more than two hours. Store leftovers in smaller, individually sized containers, making them more convenient to grab for a quick meal rather than being passed over and eventually wasted.

6. Compost food scraps: Instead of throwing out the vegetable peels, eggshells, and other food scraps from making your meal, consider composting them. Individual composting systems can be relatively easy and inexpensive, and provide quality inputs for garden soils. In 2010, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to pass legislation encouraging city-wide composting, and similar broader-scale food composting approaches have been spreading since.

7. Create new meals: If composting is not an option for you, check out Love Food Hate Waste’s creative recipes to see if your food scraps can be used for new meals. Vegetable scraps and turkey carcasses can be easily boiled down for stock and soups, and bread crusts and ends can be used to make tasty homemade croutons.

8. Donate excess: Food banks and shelters gladly welcome donations of canned and dried foods, especially during the holiday season and colder months. The charity group Feeding America partners with over 200 local food banks across the United States, supplying food to more than 37 million people each year. To find a food bank near you, visit the organization’s Food Bank Locator.

9. Support food-recovery programs: In some cases, food-recovery systems will come to you to collect your excess. In New York City, City Harvest, the world’s first food-rescue organization, collects approximately 28 million pounds of food each year that would otherwise go to waste, providing groceries and meals for over 300,000 people.

Throughout the holiday season: Consider what you’re giving.

10. Give gifts with thought: When giving food as a gift, avoid highly perishable items and make an effort to select foods that you know the recipient will enjoy rather than waste. The Rainforest Alliance, an international nonprofit, works with farmers and producers in tropical areas to ensure they are practicing environmentally sustainable and socially just methods. The group’s certified chocolates, coffee, and teas are great gifts that have with long shelf-lives, and buying them helps support businesses and individuals across the world.

As we sit down this week to give thanks for the people and things around us, we must also recognize those who may not be so fortunate. The food wasted in the United States each year is enough to satisfy the hunger of the approximately 1 billion malnourished people worldwide, according to Tristram Stuart, a food waste expert and contributing author to State of the World 2011. As we prepare for upcoming holiday celebrations, the simple changes we make, such as using food responsibly and donating excess to the hungry, can help make the holiday season more plentiful and hunger-free for all.

Interest in high-speed rail (HSR) is growing around the world and the number of countries running these trains is expected to nearly double over the next few years, according to new research by the Worldwatch Institute for Vital Signs Online. By 2014, high-speed trains will be operating in nearly 24 countries, including China, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the United States, up from only 14 countries today. The increase in HSR is due largely to its reliability and ability to cover vast geographic distances in a short time, to investments aimed at connecting once-isolated regions, and to the diminishing appeal of air travel, which is becoming more cumbersome because of security concerns.

The rise in HSR has been very rapid—in just three years, between January 2008 and January 2011, the operational fleet grew from 1,737 high-speed trainsets worldwide to 2,517. Two-thirds of this fleet is found in just five countries: France, China, Japan, Germany, and Spain. By 2014, the global fleet is expected to total more than 3,700 units.

Not only is HSR reliable, but it also can be more friendly than cars or airplanes. A 2006 comparison of greenhouse gas emissions by travel mode, released by the Center for Neighborhood Technologies, found that HSR lines in Europe and Japan released 30–70 grams of carbon dioxide per passenger-kilometer, versus 150 grams for automobiles and 170 grams for airplanes.

Although there is no universal speed definition for HSR, the threshold is typically set at 250 kilometers per hour on new tracks and 200 kilometers per hour on existing, upgraded tracks. The length of HSR tracks worldwide is undergoing explosive growth in order to meet increasing demand. Between 2009 and 2011, the total length of operational track has grown from some 10,700 kilometers to nearly 17,000 kilometers. Another 8,000 kilometers is currently under construction, and some 17,700 kilometers more is planned, for a combined total of close to 43,000 kilometers. That is equivalent to about 4 percent of all rail lines—passenger and freight—in the world today.

By track length, the current high-speed leaders are China, Japan, Spain, France, and Germany. Other countries are joining the high-speed league as well. Turkey has ambitious plans to reach 2,424 kilometers and surpass the length of Germany’s network. Italy, Portugal, and the United States all hope to reach track lengths of more than 1,000 kilometers. Another 15 countries have plans for shorter networks.

But in Europe, France continues to account for about half of all European high-speed rail travel. HSR reached an astounding 62 percent of the country’s passenger rail travel volume in 2008, up from just 23 percent in 1990, thanks to affordable ticket prices, an impressive network, and reliability. And in Japan, the Shinkansen trains are known for their exceedingly high degree of reliability. JR Central, the largest of the Japanese rail operating companies, reports that the average delay per high-speed train throughout a year is just half a minute. On all routes in Japan where both air and high-speed rail connections are available, rail has captured a 75 percent market share.

Further highlights from the research:

• A draft plan for French transportation infrastructure investments for the next two decades allocates 52 percent of a total of $236 billion to HSR.
• In 2005, the Spanish government announced an ambitious plan for some 10,000 kilometers of high-speed track by 2020, which would allow 90 percent of Spaniards to live within 50 kilometers of an HSR station.
• Currently, China is investing about $100 billion annually in railway construction. The share of the country’s railway infrastructure investment allocated to HSR has risen from less than 10 percent in 2005 to a stunning 60 percent in 2010.
• Intercity rail in Japan accounts for 18 percent of total domestic passenger-kilometers by all travel modes—compared with just 5 to 8 percent in major European countries and less than 1 percent in the United States.
• In France, rail’s market share of the Paris-Marseille route rose from 22 percent in 2001 (before the introduction of high-speed service) to 69 percent in 2006. In Spain, the Madrid-Seville rail route’s share rose from 33 to 84 percent.

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet project

Hamburgers, pizzas, french fries, and sugary drinks-in today’s fast-paced world, these foods have become staples for many Americans. But this unhealthy diet has led to an increase in chronic health problems such as obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, and high blood pressure. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 34 percent of adults and 17 percent of children and adolescents are now obese, staggering numbers that the organizers of Food Day, a nationwide event taking place on October 24, hope to decrease dramatically.

But promoting safe, healthy and affordable food is only one aim of Food Day, which is sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit watchdog group that fights for food labeling, better nutrition, and safer food. The organizers also want to support sustainable, humane farming, and fair trading conditions.

Around the United States, cities and communities are coming together to showcase the benefits of eating healthy, locally grown, and organic food. Philadelphia is organizing a city-wide event focused on ending hunger and food “deserts”-areas where healthy, affordable food is difficult to obtain. In California, organizations are building a statewide Food Day partnership to promote new food policies, and in Iowa, conferences are being held to highlight how small and mid-sized farmers can get their produce to markets.

In addition to these forums and celebrations, nearly 400 individual events are being sponsored by communities, groups, and companies across the United States. These include:

• San Francisco. The organization savenature.org is hosting benefit dinners on October 20-22 to show how delicious earth-friendly food can be.

• Boston. Boston Food Swap is organizing a crowd-sourced potluck-where they will provide the venue, and attendees will provide local, organic food to show that responsible food is both nutritious and tasty.

• Phoenix. In a “Lunch and Learn” session for students and the general public, a panel of local farmers and chefs will demonstrate how they work together to provide sustainable food.

• Miami. The city will hold its annual Food & Recreation Expo, offering health screenings, fitness demos, diet and nutrition sessions, giveaways, free massages, and more. The host of “Dinner: Impossible,” Robert Irvine, will perform a live cooking demonstration.

• Seattle. On October 24, the restaurant Fresh Starts and filmmaker Severine von Tscharner Fleming will screen “The Greenhorns,” a film about the spirit, vision, and stories behind new farmers, followed by an interactive information session on the Farm Bill.

• Universities. Events are being planned at the University of Vermont, University of Pennsylvania, University of Minnesota, University of North Carolina, New York University, Stanford, Yale, and Harvard School of Public Health, among others.