policy

August 24, 2022

Guest column: Setting the stage for a food system transformation

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) new $300 million Organic Transition Initiative offers meaningful investments in climate-friendly farming that meet urgent needs of communities across the country. The initiative sets the stage for a food system transformation that makes organic the norm – by aligning public spending with public interests in thriving ecosystems and healthy, affordable food.

Organic farming offers sweeping health, climate, and economic benefits – but it’s not easy, especially at the beginning. Land must be managed organically – without synthetic fertilizers and most pesticides – for three years before crops can be sold as organic. During those three years, as the land and ecosystems heal and find new balance, producers may face increased pest pressure, short-term decreases in yields, and a steep learning curve.

While many producers find that organic is worth it in the long run, the costs, time, and technical challenges involved in organic transition remain a barrier, especially for smaller operations with limited resources.

The expertise, experience, and willpower to farm and ranch organically have existed – and persisted – for decades, as evidenced by the consistent growth of the organic sector. And yet, decades of agricultural policy and investments have trapped many producers, workers, and consumers in a system that relies heavily on harmful synthetic inputs and that values short-term yields over long-term sustainability, health, and equity.

Today, less than 1% of U.S. farmland is certified organic, and the number of non-certified farms actively transitioning to organic has dropped nearly 71% since 2008.

August 17, 2022

Postcard from California: Close California’s last nuclear power plant

The last nuclear power plant in California, vulnerable to earthquakes and priced out of the energy market by cheaper renewables, is slated to close in three years.

But now both Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Biden administration, citing the specious notion that nuclear power is needed to help address the climate crisis, are poised to give the plant’s owner billions of taxpayer dollars to keep it open. It’s a really bad idea.

August 9, 2022

Biden’s Justice40 initiative picking up speed after slow start

More than a year and a half after the Biden administration unveiled a sweeping commitment to bring opportunities and aid to disadvantaged communities, environmental justice advocates are calling on the White House to move faster with its implementation of its Justice40 Initiative.

Advocates fear some programs targeted in the initiative could be jeopardized if Democrats lose the White House in the 2024 presidential elections; and that some programs could be impacted even sooner if mid-term elections this November hand control of the House of Representatives to Republicans.

“My big hope is that the administration prioritizes and senses the urgency that we have to capture this opportunity to redirect investments,” said Ana Baptista, associate director of the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School in New York. Her research focuses on climate and environmental justice issues.

The Justice40 initiative, which President Joe Biden initiated through a January 2021 executive order, calls for delivering 40 percent of overall benefits of certain types of federal investments to disadvantaged communities around the country.

July 22, 2022

OIG probe finds EPA broke the rules in pesticide cancer evaluation

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not properly conduct the cancer risk for a widely used pesticide in a manner that could jeopardize human health, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said in a report issued this week.

In its July 20 report, the OIG cited a number of problems with how the EPA evaluated the cancer risk of the soil fumigant 1,3-Dichloropropene, (1,3-D). Among other problems, the EPA did not adhere to standard operating procedures and federal requirements in doing the assessment, the OIG found.

“These departures from established standards during the cancer assessment for 1,3-D undermine the EPA’s credibility, as well as public confidence in and the transparency of the Agency’s scientific approaches, in its efforts to prevent unreasonable impacts on human health,” the OIG said of the EPA.

1,3-D is one of the top three soil fumigants used in the United States. From 2014 through 2018, an average of approximately 37 million pounds of 1,3-D were applied to an average of 300,000 acres of agricultural crops annually.

The OIG probe came after the EPA changed the cancer classification in 2019 in a way that essentially downgraded the cancer risk and allowed for vastly increased exposures.

July 21, 2022

Farmers testify in Congress for policies to support regenerative agricultural practices

Farmer Kara Boyd and her husband maintain 1,500 acres of land in southern Virginia for growing crops and livestock. Their farm employs regenerative agriculture practices such as no-till farming and conservative pesticide use that are meant to build healthy soil and increase food production.

Many researchers state that regenerative agriculture can also help farms build resilience against climate change and sequester carbon. But farmers like Boyd who hope to use regenerative methods face a lack of economic resources and restrictive policies.

Boyd was among a group of five farmers, ranchers, and a researcher who testified this week before a congressional subcommittee about a need for policies that support regenerative agriculture.

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July 15, 2022

US workers face scorching heat, but few protections

During a scorching June heatwave last year, a worker in Oregon collapsed after climbing down from conducting a roof inspection. Hospitalized with heat stress, he died a few days later. In Washington state, a farmworker was found slumped against a tractor after his shift, dead from a combination of factors that included heat stress, according to a medical examiner.

Now, this summer is again turning potentially deadly for people around the United States as climate change brings dangerously high temperatures. Just this week, blistering temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit were recorded from Boise, Idaho to Tulsa, Oklahoma and millions of people living in the nation’s mid-section and southwest were under heat advisories, according to the National Weather Service.

Heat-related illness and death are known to disproportionally impact people of color and other disadvantaged populations, but the effects of triple-digit temperatures are particularly threatening to laborers whose jobs require long hours in sizzling heat.

May 19, 2022

Guest column: Innovation and policy need to come together to solve the plastic crisis

May 12, 2022

Guest column: Wind energy or whales? NGO financial conflicts uncovered

By Lisa Linowes

There is no question that the iconic North Atlantic right whale is at the brink of extinction; fewer than 370 remain on planet earth. Any additional negative impacts on the whale could easily spell its doom.