Video - Food By the Numbers: Feeding our Hungry Planet

With the recent World Food Day event on October 16th, this video from National Geographic reviews the challenges and solutions to feeding the world. By 2050, the world's population will likely increase 35 percent. In this video National Geographic provides some answers to this crisis beyond simply growing more food.

Showing Support for Family Farmers and Sustainable Agriculture

Family farmers are extremely valuable yet they are under siege and need our support. World Food Day 2014 shines a spotlight on the world's 500 million family farmers. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reports that based on data from 93 countries, family farmers account for an average of 80 percent of all holdings, and are the main producers of food that is consumed locally. Family farmers are also sustainable farmers. Sadly family farmers are disappearing at an alarming rate. Family farms that used to be an important source of rural jobs.

As explained in a foodtank article

"The world cannot do without the family farmer," says Amy McMillen, Partnerships and Outreach Coordinator for FAO. "It’s because of the family farmer that we eat a variety of healthy foods every day. And yet, family farmers still make up the majority of poor and hungry people in the world. We must do more to incentivize, celebrate and exponentially improve the lives of family farmers to ensure all people have access to fresh, healthy food."

Infographic - Biodiversity for Family Farming

World Food Day 2014: Assessing US Agricultural Risks and Focusing on Family Farms

October 16th is the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ designated World Food Day. This event was first celebrated thirty three years ago. The theme for 2014 is Family Farming: “Feeding the world, caring for the earth”, drawing global attention to the importance of smallholder farmers. Family farms are key to improving food security and better management of natural resources. As explained by the CGIAR Consortium, "Family farming plays a significant role in reducing poverty and hunger, by providing the household and communities with nutrition rich food and livelihoods."

The Think Eat Save Student Challenge

Sensitizing children to the ecological impacts of food waste is important and the Think.Eat.Save Student Challenge is a great example of an powerful educational project. Vast quantities of food are wasted each year and this phenomenon is sadly a part of many western cultures. To help reorient children to this issue, UNEP has launched a new campaign that calls schools and students to start a wasteless revolution.

The campaign challenges students and to find out how much food gets wasted in their schools. Then students are encouraged to organize a project and take action to reduce or eliminate food waste.

Event - Responsible Business Forum on Food and Agriculture 2014

The Responsible Business Forum on Food and Agriculture, will take place on July 14th & 15th, 2014, at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati, Manila. Feeding a global population of 9 billion by 2050 will require transformational changes to our farming and agricultural systems, already under pressure from climate change and water scarcity. This year’s Responsible Business Forum on Food and Agriculture is being held in partnership with WWF.

Infographics: Population, Food, Agriculture, Water, GHGs and Solutions (World Resources Institute)

Video - Sustainable Meat: Trailer from the Documentary "American Meat"

American Meat, is a feature documentary about a grass-roots revolution in sustainable farming. This film explains how America arrived at its current industrial system, and shows you the feedlots and confinement houses, not through hidden cameras but through the eyes of the farmers who live and work there. The story shifts to the burgeoning movement of farmers, chefs and everyday folks.

Event - Second Annual Bionutritional Summit

The second annual bionutritional summit will be held on October 23, 2013 at Seelbach Hilton located near the GIE & EXPO in Louisville, Ky. The Summit will be hosted and sponsored by Holganix.

This year’s keynote speaker is Judith Guido, former sales, marketing and strategy executive of Service Master’s TruGreen Landcare. She will focus on how to leverage the green phenomenon and make a profit from it. Guido’s presentation is entitled, Leveraging the Green Phenomenon & Building a Profitable Green Company.

Highlights include, Understanding the size and opportunities with the green market, how to leverage the green opportunities within your market, creating differentiation and a competitive advantage with green and how to build and position an profitable green company.

Insects are a Sustainable Food Source

As the impacts of climate change worsen, extreme weather including drought will make it harder to grow enough food to feed the world. In addition, rising population levels, particularly in urban centers, will put added pressure on already constrained food resources.

By 2030, over 9 billion people will need to be fed, along with the billions of animals raised annually for food and as pets. Meanwhile, land and water pollution from intensive livestock production and over-grazing are leading to forest degradation, thereby contributing to climate change.

Climate Change and Biofuels on World Food Day 2012

October 16 is a special day for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Each year at this time food becomes the center of attention and this year agricultural cooperatives are the focus of World Food Day 2012. The day is intended to raise awareness and understanding of approaches to ending hunger. The 2012 theme was chosen to highlight the role of cooperatives in improving food security and contributing to the eradication of hunger. Interest in cooperatives and rural organizations is also reflected in the decision of the UN General Assembly to designate 2012 “International Year of Cooperatives.”

Two major issues that directly impact World Food Day are climate change and biofuels. In 2012 climate change induced extreme weather has wreaked havoc on world food prices and threatens to increase global hunger. The use of agricultural lands for Biofuels have also increased the likelihood of global hunger. In the US, 40 percent of maize yields are converted to ethanol to power vehicles. The UN estimates that 1 in 8 people on the planet are now living in chronic hunger conditions.

Best Green and Sustainable Business Twitter Feeds

Twitter is one of the leading social media platforms, it is also a great way to follow a wide array of green feeds. Here are some of the best Twitter feeds for sustainable business and green news.

GreenMarketBlog: A comprehensive sustainable business resource containing a wide range of articles and information.

GreenBizTimes: This Twitter feed includes environmental information and resources for companies and business professionals to go green and reduce their impact on the environment.

GreenBizWorld: A feed that explores green business, sustainability, low carbon and energy business industry news updates.

sustainablebizz: This sustainable business feed contains green business news, green jobs, green investing and networking information.

HowGreenUS: A directory for businesses with visibility into their sustainable and green practices. This feed explores what individual businesses, organizations and employers are doing to be green and sustainable.

KyotoPublishing: Feed concerning sustainable business designed to educate business leaders about sustainability.

ReutersGreenBusiness: This is a Twitter feed that keeps readers current with all the newest trends and ideas related to eco-friendly business practices.

Steve Momorella: A green business news feed that is focused on stories regarding alternative energy.

TheDailyGreen.com: This Twitter feed about eco-friendly products is dedicated to helping consumers to make green buying decisions.

Earth2Tech: Tweets revolve mainly around the cleantech industry and the people and businesses that keep it propelling ever forward.

Green Energy News: All the latest developments within the renewable energy industry. renewable energy. This group addresses sources of clean, reliable and safe sources of energy.

usgbc: The official Twitter feed of The United States Green Building Council. It contains a wealth of information on green building and compliance with specific green standards.

U.S. EPA: America’s official environmental agency feed, this federal government agency's tweet concern their role in protecting human health and the environment.

ecomagination: GE’s green Twitter feed contains the latest news on the company's sustainable initiatives.

SmartPlanet: Sponsored by IBM, the SmartPlanet Twitter feed covers general green news stories focusing on the technical and scientific.

Sierra Club: This wildlife protection charity has been active for over one hundred years, this feed discusses both environmental headlines and their own activities.

World Wildlife Fund: One of world's largest and most well-respected conservation organizations, the World Wildlife Fund keeps its Twitter followers updated regularly on its causes and research.

Nature Conservancy: This Twitter feed addresses a range of conservation issues and other concerns that directly impact upon nature.

National Wildlife: On this feed, National Wildlife Federation members tweet about the organization’s conservation efforts in addition to relevant articles on current events.

NatureNews: This is a nature focused feed, it is a scientific journal that offers daily links to some excellent green and conservation articles.

Ecological Society: This feed updates readers on the latest research and headlines concerning the health and safety of planet Earth.

Greenpeace: The official Twitter feed of this organization covers the latest stories and issues of planetary health of the planetary health including the earths ecosystems and wildlife.

GreenChange: This feed is intended for environmental activists, their content promotes “peace, justice [and] democracy” alongside eco-friendly initiatives.

WiserEarth: Peggy Duvette’s tweets are for social media enthusiasts who come together in the interest of saving the planet.

ENN News: This feed tweets headlines and links to its green news stories including sustainability and political issues.

Digg Environment: Environmental stories from Digg’s user-generated news aggregator. It includes everything from nature to green tech.

Green Meme: This feed is a green news aggregator that compiles headlines from all over the internet.

Iconic88: This news aggregator pieces together stories from across the web and offers a diverse selection of perspectives.

Yahoo! Green: Tweets about the latest news stories on climate, nature and sustainability.

Guardian Environment: The Guardian’s latest headlines on environmental news and views from around the world.

Green: This feed is from the green section of the New York Times.

The Climate Desk: A wide array of journalists address new findings and trends regarding climate change.

HuffPost Green: This Twitter feed includes environmental news and lifestyle. It is updated throughout the day.

PlanetGreen.com: Advice about living an environmentally-friendly lifestyle as well as timely news on the latest relevant issues.

sustainablog: This microblog is dedicated to news, views and research regarding how to live a sustainable lifestyle.

quippd Environment: Read links and retweets to the latest news on green lifestyles, politics, sciences and more.

TreeHugger.com: The official Twitter feed of TreeHugger.com. The site has a diverse array of reader friendly green content and discussions on environmental topics.

Grist.com: Unique environmental reporting, providing visitors with discussions in addition to news stories.

Green Forum: This feed is intended for discussions on the latest news and views from around the green community.

ecosalon: A feed that includes a green forum for discussing the latest news and events regarding green initiatives.

Preston: A design-oriented site for sustainable homes, natural materials, and green technology. This feed facilitates conversations and alerts readers regarding new blog posts on serious environmental topics.

Wendy Koch: USA TODAY reporter Wendy Koch moderates the Green House community, which follows green living, environmental issues, green home building and sustainable communities. Koch tweets the latest environmental headlines and major green news stories.

Steffany Boldrini: This feed contains informative videos review all the newest green products on the market in order to help consumers know what to buy and what to avoid.

Terrence Murray: Tweets about viable, green energy sources.

Karl Burkart: This Twitter feed discusses environmental and technology news.

Hank Green: A Twitter feed for gadget junkies that marries technology and the environment.


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