Center for a Livable Future

Baltimore City Data Day Aims to Empower Baltimore Communities through Democratization of Data

Sarah Rodman — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:45:17 +0000

As I intend to dedicate the better part of my career to research, I am often confronted with the fear that even the highest quality data can end up out in the ether of peer-reviewed publications that never make their intended splash, seen by a limited few and impacting even fewer. Last Friday I attended [...]

CLF is reading…

livablefuture — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:16:06 +0000

Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher by Frederick L. Kirschenmann A collection of Kirschenmann’s greatest writings on farming, philosophy, and sustainability Theologian, academic, and third-generation organic farmer Frederick L. Kirschenmann is a celebrated agricultural thinker. In the last thirty years he has tirelessly promoted the principles of sustainability and has become a legend in his [...]

Book Review: The World is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean’s Are One

Davelove — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:41:25 +0000

By my estimation, seventy-five-year-old author Dr. Sylvia Earle has spent more than 1% of her life underwater. If her dives were connected in time, it would be as if she slipped into the ocean on New Year’s Day and did not re-emerge until some time after Labor Day. Her book chronicles her experiences as a 1960s [...]

How low can you go?

ptruant — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:26:28 +0000

You may have seen online tools such as the Footprint Network that allow you to estimate your impact on the environment and offer somewhat conservative lifestyle suggestions on how to lower one’s impact (taking it easy on the thermostat, more public transportation… you know the drill). Well, what would happen if you took all those suggestions [...]

Cattle Burps and Climate Change: What About Bison? A Response to Joel Salatin

Bkim — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:16:52 +0000

In a recent Mother Jones article, writer Kiera Butler asks the experts if eating responsibly raised meat can actually be good for the planet. One of the responses comes from Joel Salatin, star of Food, Inc., Fresh and a personal hero of mine. Joel makes some strong points that uphold the merits of an ethically- [...]

CBS Airs Follow-up Report on Antibiotic Use and Congressional Hearing

Chris — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 14:33:33 +0000

The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric aired yet another report last night detailing the risks associated with feeding antibiotics to farm animals. The report is a follow-up to a series aired in February and reported on here in the LivableFutureBlog. In last night’s report, Couric covers Wedneday’s Congressional hearing held to determine whether or [...]

Promoting the low-carbon life (and food choices) in Beijing

Eliza Barclay — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:12:08 +0000

A few months ago, I described a segment on the Chinese state television’s English channel about food as part of the “low carbon life” in China. The program explored this new lifestyle through the burgeoning vegetarian restaurant scene in Beijing, and a handful of consumers who claimed to eschew meat out of consideration for the [...]

Roosevelt Park City Farm: A Baltimore Community Garden

livablefuture — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:07:34 +0000

Carolyn Pomodoro eagerly greeted us with “Do you need any tomato plants? Which plot is yours? I’ll drop them off whenever you want!” This past winter, Carolyn started over 600 heirloom variety tomato plants under grow lights in her Hampden home, a neighborhood in North Baltimore. She intended to sell or give them to neighbors and [...]

Antibiotic Resistance in Food Animals: FDA Takes Strong Stance, But Public Health May Remain At Risk Until Congress Acts

Ralph Loglisci — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 23:42:30 +0000

Leadership at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made it abundantly clear last week that the low-dose usage of antibiotics in food animals, simply to promote growth or improve feed efficiency, needlessly contributes to the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria and poses a serious threat to public health. Despite the fact that the FDA [...]

Baltimore School District Food Survey Reveals Parents agree with the District’s initiative to provide Healthier Options for Their Kids

jnicholl — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:51:29 +0000

As the Baltimore City Public Schools system continues the transformation of its food service for more than 80,000 kids (see food revolution), a new survey reveals that students and parents are hungry for more. Melissa Mahoney, the districts “top chef”, nutritionist and dietitian , sent out the survey to measure opinions about the ongoing changes [...]