NYC supermarket to introduce bonus program for SNAP recipients

Last Thursday, New York’s Industrial Development Agency approved a series of tax incentives that would incentivize fruit and vegetable buying for shoppers who pay for them with SNAP benefits. That is, the new rule changes the requirements for what stores have to sell, but does not change what food can be purchased by the shopper with food stamps. A small victory in the meantime towards a fair and equitable food system.

Beans, Biodiversity, and Regenerative Agriculture

A wonderful Ny Times article published last week discusses ‘the blueprint’ for our future food systems, which I believe include a zero-tolerance for synthetic pesticides and fertilizers that contaminate our earth and our health. This idea is incumbent to living harmoniously and I believe happily! We need to take care of environment so that our children, and their children, will be taken care of and so on!

“The Rodale approach defines regenerative farming as a long-term, holistic design that attempts to grow as much food using as few resources as possible in a way that revitalizes the soil rather than depleting it, while offering a solution to carbon sequestration. The mantra is the slogan: “Healthy Soil = Healthy Food = Healthy People.”^[3]

One other thing to mention is the unquestionably exorbitant amount of corn grown in our country to feed livestock. Ugh. Monoculture = soil depletion + more chemicals + less human and animal welfare + there is so much we sacrifice to big corporate powers!

Carageenan is Finally Banned from Organics!

We did it!!! All those petitions we signed and the awareness we spread has led us to this exciting moment in history! Carageenan, an ingredient used ubiquitously since it’s discovery as an effective emulsifier in processed foods, has been banned from Organics! Although organizations like the FDA, the World Health Organization, and the USDA, have not deemed the ingredient unsafe, there are recorded testimonies and scientific results that point towards the ill-effects of Carageenan. Studies were (sadly) conducted on animals and proved gastrointestinal disorders common among those who ingested this strange ingredient made from seaweed.

Waterways Change Around the Globe as Temperatures Rise

In an online scientific research journal, Springer Nature, one particular paper was published that mapped the entire ‘global surface water and it’s long term changes‘. The article goes in depth including an entire archive of three satellites from 1984 to 2015(adding up to about three million high-resolution images!). This data project draws attention to the bigger scope from which we exist and hopefully, a desire to understand (and remediate!) the impact that our actions have on the planet. Check out more from the NY Times here.