Get ready for your summer reading, er, internet browsing. Food Tank cofounders Danielle Nierenberg and Ellen Gustafson have complied a great lists of 15 websites that are “saving the environment by changing the food system.” The mission of their “food think tank” is to amplify the voices of the global food movement growing from the kitchens, gardens, and farms of the countless citizens who have committed to making healthy, sustainable choices about cultivating and consuming food. To read more about their work, check out Food Tank. And for their top website picks, see below:
1. Beth Hoffman for Forbes Online – In Forbes Online, Hoffman pays close attention to the role of businesses in affecting food systems, particularly with regard to corporate responsibility, and analyzes their impact. Beyond that, Hoffman also features valuable news and information about the food industry for consumers.
2. Civil Eats – Civil Eats promotes critical thought about the American food system, advancing the benefits of sustainable agriculture as a way “to build economically and socially just communities.” Drawing on the contributions of over 100 writers, Civil Eats features innovations in food justice, environmental sustainability, and consumer health.
3. Eat Drink Politics – Michele Simon is a public health lawyer specializing in food industry marketing and lobbying tactics, and is the author of Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back. She writes on topics such as GMO labeling, food marketing strategies, food security, and nutrition.
4. Eatocracy – CNN’s Eatocracy covers a broad range of topics concerning food, including a body of work on food politics that includes human interest pieces on urban agriculture, humane animal treatment, and environmentalism.
5. Food & Water Watch Blog – Food & Water Watch has advocated for safe, accessible, and sustainable food and water since 2005. Their blog covers a wide variety of topics related to this advocacy, featuring opinion pieces, news, and updates on advocacy efforts. The Food & Water Watch blog has over fifty different categories ranging from water privatization to antibiotics.
6. Food For Thought – Tom Philpott is the author of the Food For Thought column on Mother Jones, a progressive online magazine that focuses on major issues in the realms of politics, environment, human rights, and culture. In his column, Philpott provides commentary and analysis on a spectrum of food system concerns, with recent submissions targeting the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for poor slaughterhouse conditions, providing recipes for seasonal ingredients, and promoting new efforts to combat hunger with advanced technology.
7. Fooducate – This independent organization aims to eliminate grocery store label confusion by providing smart phone apps that help to educate the consumer on making the most healthy food purchases possible. Their blog releases daily tips ranging from deciphering marketing tricks at the supermarket to understanding nutrition labels. The blog also discusses public health policy and food-related current events.
8. Grist – Grist is a non-profit e-magazine. In their food section, Grist’s team of journalists parses topics like fair labor practices, meat production, sustainable fish farming, and GM foods.
9. The Guardian’s Sustainable Development – This column focuses on providing news surrounding environmentally sustainable practices of global development. This includes news about energy conservation and waste, environmentally responsible architecture and development, and climate change and food security.
10. Huffington Post Green – The Huffington Post’s Green section provides insight and viewpoints from the progressive community’s foremost thought leaders on an array of environmental topics, including sustainable seafood, energy policy, and conservation efforts worldwide.
11. Jane Black – Black writes about food politics, such as antibiotics use on farm animals, GMOs, food waste, and sustainability. This site hosts her personal blog and links to other writing, including her column for The Washington Post, Smarter Food.
12. Landscapes for People, Food and Nature – The Landscapes for People, Food, and Nature initiative, of which EcoAgriculture Partners is the secretariat, seeks to research, discuss, and advocate for whole landscape approaches for the rural land base. Whole landscape approaches address a wide range of ecological issues, and the blog also offers a multidisciplinary perspective. The blog highlights innovative research, effective landscape practices, and perspectives of people that are a part of whole landscape approaches.
13. Mark Bittman: On Food – Bittman is The New York Times’ lead food columnist and the author of the bestselling books How to Cook Everything and Vegan Before 6 P.M. (VB6). He writes about food- and agriculture- related policy, nutrition and public health, and other food-related news.
14. The Salt – The Salt is the food blog of National Public Radio (NPR), a national network of public radio affiliates that produce and syndicate award-winning original programs. The Salt combines traditional journalism with the whimsical and humorous style typical of many NPR programs, offering visitors coverage of food-related news alongside features like “SandwichMonday”, which pits the writing staff of panel comedy show Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me against bizarre food items that they must eat and critique.
15. Tree Hugger’s Green Food – Tree Hugger’s mission is to make sustainability accessible to the public. Its Green Food column focuses on practical methods to reclaim the food system and sustain the environment. It often highlights organizations, programs, and individuals using food as their tool for social and environmental justice.
Photo: DIYtrade.com