Food

Madagascar hissing roaches (Photo: Liz West, Flickr Creative Commons)

The beloved—or hated, depending whom you ask—Valentine’s Day is just a week away. Still looking for that something special to give your Valentine? Maybe you’re trying to impress that darling you hope will be your love for good? Look no further than the Bronx Zoo, with its, um, unique gift any girl would treasure. Introducing roaches, two ways (one of them edible).

What it would take to grow enough food to meet human needs in 2050, while reducing agriculture’s environmental impact? What about supplying the world with clean energy? How do we solve climate change? Experts weigh in on these and many more critical questions.

Image: Delancey Underground Project

From the time New York City’s High Line Park opened in June 2009, it’s caused a stir. In a city that can feel packed with people, any new nook for trees is a blessing. This park in particular was a reminder of how an aging urban space—in this case, former freight train tracks—could be reused and recycled into something new. Two new proposals for NYC could provide more inspiration.

[Click on the images above to get to previous blog posts on the subjects. Photo: Georgia Pecan Commission, Map: Peter Hoey.]

A few stories we recently covered on our blog—about the payroll tax bill including provisions related to the Keystone pipeline, and earlier in November, about a pecan shortage—are popping up again. Click through for a look at how they’ve changed since we wrote about them last.

Photo: William H. Majoros via Wikimedia Commons

According to researchers at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, birds are an excellent indicator of a farm’s ecological health and sustainability, making birding an invaluable tool to the eco-minded farmer.

If pecan pie’s on your menu for Thursday—for as long as I can remember, it’s been on my family’s Thanksgiving table—get ready to pay a pretty penny for the delectable dessert. The cost of a pound of pecans rose from $7 in 2008 to around $11 this year, according to the Associated Press, with drought in pecan-producing states like Texas and Louisiana making matters worse.

[Photo: National Pecan Shellers Association]

Test-tube turkey sounds like a science experiment gone terribly wrong, but it could be an ethical and environmental breakthrough.

Bigeye is one of the unconventional fish gaining in popularity. Photo: Total Catch Market
 
Although bycatch remains a dirty word for many conservationists, reflecting waste in the industry, a growing national movement aims to shift American attitudes about seafood. By expanding people’s palates to include sometimes strange-looking fish caught in local waters, they hope to promote more sustainable fisheries.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Yesterday, somewhere on this planet—likely India—the 7 billionth person was born. (At least so says the United Nations; the U.S. Census Bureau estimates we won’t actually hit the milestone for a few months.) Regardless of when exactly we do, it’s still pretty hard to fathom a global population of that magnitude. And if we may take some liberties, Mother Nature probably agrees.

So what exactly does that mammoth number mean for our planet and the environment?

When we were putting together our special food issue earlier this year, I was struck by the wide range of topics that we covered: factory farms, technology, pollution, nutrition, agricultural traditions, labor conditions, poverty, and so much more. That interconnectedness is being celebrated across the nation today, the first annual Food Day. Modeled on Earth Day, it’s a grassroots drive to improve our food system, sponsored by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest. There’s plenty that needs fixing.