Dec. 5: Healthy Food Choices - Submit Your...

In conjunction with Perspectives E-zine Farm to Table, we invite everyone to participate in a live online chat with Brian Halweil, Senior Researcher at Worldwatch Institute on Tuesday, December 5, 2-3 pm (EST).

Brian will be talking about how you can connect the dots between what you eat and how it helps or harms the environment. Check out an interview with Brian in Perspectives.
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JOIN THE CONVERSATION!

Post your questions and comments! On Tues., Dec. 5, Brian will respond to some of the questions live from 2-3 pm EDT.

Have a question or comment for Brian, but can't make the live event?
Just add your question by commenting below!

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Farm to Table - New Perspectives E-zine from OneWorld.net
http://us.oneworld.net/section/us/perspectives/11/food
As so many of us sit down to holiday feasts over the coming month, why do close to 1 billion people still go hungry? How do our choices of what to eat affect our communities, the environment, and
workers halfway around the world? As so many of us sit down to holiday feasts this month, OneWorld's Perspectives magazine takes a closer look at the links between agriculture and poverty and assesses the impacts of growing trends to buy organic, local, and fairly traded products.
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Brian Halweil
Senior Researcher, Worldwatch Institute

Brian joined Worldwatch in 1997 as the John Gardner Public Service Fellow from Stanford University. At the Institute, Brian writes on the social and ecological impacts of how we grow food, focusing recently on organic farming, biotechnology, hunger, and rural communities. Most recently, he describes the evolving local food movement in Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket.

Brian's work has been featured in the international press, and he recently testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the role of biotechnology in combating poverty and hunger in the developing world. Brian has traveled extensively in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and East Africa learning indigenous farming techniques and promoting sustainable food production. Before coming to Worldwatch, Brian worked with California farmers interested in reducing their pesticide use, and set up a 2-acre student-run organic farm on Stanford campus. He writes from Sag Harbor, NY, where he and his wife tend a home garden and orchard.
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Comments: 9

Jeffrey Allen Dec 4, 2006, 2:01pm EST

Hi Brian - I'm a big fan of farmers' markets and buying local food, but in some cases, doesn't buying local mean we're passing up a golden opportunity to help farmers in developing countries? For every head of New York lettuce I buy, isn't there a lettuce farmer in Central America losing money? (I don't know if lettuce is actually produced in NY or Central America, but you get my point.)

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Jeffrey Allen Dec 4, 2006, 2:06pm EST

Biotechnology - pandora's box or panacea?

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Kate P. Dec 4, 2006, 3:03pm EST

Can you please comment upon the environmental as well as the global hunger effects of a carnivorous diet versus a vegetarian one? In short, is one more environmentally and socially responsible than the other? Many thanks!

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Roshani Kothari Dec 4, 2006, 4:19pm EST

A while back I saw a film called Life of Debt about Jamaica. I was shocked to see how people stopped producing milk locally and starting using milk powder imported from other countries. Supposedly it was cheaper to buy the milk powder. How can food producers whether they are in rural America or developing countries produce for local and global needs? Is there a way to do both successfully?

My second question is the role we play in creating a demand for food that cannot be produced locally. Should we be more careful about what we demand and what we consume?

Finally, what is the role of corporations in all this? I was amazed to read an article about how coca has more benefits nutritionally than coffee. Are Starbucks & other companies fueling our demand for coffee? How can corporations help support local, organic foods? I saw on ABC News that Stoneyfield Farms called Mass Produced Health. "The former windmill maker said he's looking "everywhere" for organic milk, fruit and sugar including strawberries from China, apple puree from Turkey and blueberries from Canada." What do you think about organic versus local?

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troublemkr s. Dec 4, 2006, 4:56pm EST

i will feature this article on politics and international news until december 5, 3pm eastern.

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Jeffrey Allen Dec 4, 2006, 4:58pm EST

I know there's a lot of controversy over "cruelty-free" labelling standards. Does "cage-free" or "free-range" really mean anything significant? Are there any particular labels or phrases used on labeling that we can trust to know that what we're buying is really cruelty free? I'm particularly interested in eggs and dairy.

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Surya Prakash V. Dec 5, 2006, 1:39am EST

After organising a program on World Food Day -0ct 16th 2002, in a village in india, a girl aged 12, came up to me asked - My mother served food from rice conatiner which DOG kept its mouth in, is it OK to eat or not?

I just looked at her and I couldnt answer her, even today I keep asking people what should I say? till now I am not getting satisfactory anser, could you help me?

-surya prakash.

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