According to insect lover Marcel Dicke, that’s just what we should all be doing.

In this fascinating Ted Talk, his message is clear: eat insects for both health and the environment.

He reckons once you get over the squeamish factor, they can compete with meat in both flavour, nutrition – and eco-friendliness.

Photo credit: Thanks to Panayiotis Filippou on Flickr.

Find out more

Read:

For another squeamish tale, check out our story on breastmilk cheese.

This film shows how corporations have been allowed to balloon in both size and power and have been responsible for countless cases of illness, death, poverty, pollution, exploitation and lies.

With a clever mix of animation and 1950’s archive, the film assesses the personality of the corporation – likening it to a social psychopath.

The Corporation team writes…

To assess the “personality” of the corporate “person,” a checklist is employed, using diagnostic criteria of the World Health Organization and the standard diagnostic tool of psychiatrists and psychologists. The operational principles of the corporation give it a highly anti-social “personality”: it is self-interested, inherently amoral, callous and deceitful; it breaches social and legal standards to get its way; it does not suffer from guilt, yet it can mimic the human qualities of empathy, caring and altruism.

Once a corporation is established as a remorseless individual, the film takes a long hard look at the infrastructure – ie  the government policy and legal loopholes that allow corporations to function in this way, ensuring they remain virtually unaccountable for their actions.

The Corporation includes interviews with corporate insiders and critics, including Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore – plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change,

The film has won 26 International awards and 10 audience choice awards, including the Sundance Film Festival and is Canada’s most successful documentary.

Photo credit: Thanks to The Corporation.

Find out more

Read:

For background info and resources including transcripts, Q&A’s, and some school/education resources, check out The Corporation website

Read the book the film was based on and check it out on Amazon

Campaign:

Support The Corporation campaign.

We complain about today’s pushy marketing tricks – but check out this ad for popsicle moulds!

What’s worse?

The crazy-eyed kid or the mould that looks like a rotting steak?

And as for the other popsicle?! As Fraud (who constantly smoked cigars) put it: “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”

Yep. We can safely say: Evel definitely is evil.

Find out more

Read:

For more vintage food ads, check out our 1950’s Mad Men collection.

One in every three mouthfuls we eat is pollinated by bees – in the UK alone we’d need a workforce of 30 million people to take on their work!

Bees pollinate up to 90 crops worldwide: most fruit and vegetables, including carrots, onions, apples and oranges would not exist if it wasn’t for the humble honeybee. They’re also essential for coffee, soya, oil-seed rape and many crops used to feed cattle and pigs such as alfalfa. And on an economic tip, pollination is estimated to be worth around £200 million in the UK alone.

Without bees, we’d be forced to chow down a diet of cereals and grains, and with no cotton or linen, our wardrobe would need a serious makeover!

Yep. Without honeybees our world would be unrecognisable.

Yet across the world, bees are dying from an unexplained disease called Colony Collapse Disorder, and experts are warning we could be on the brink of a biological disaster.

So what is it and what are we doing about it?

What is Colony Collapse Disorder?

Colony Collapse Disorder, (CCD) is when the worker bees abruptly abandon their hive, queen, eggs and babies – with absolutely no warning.

Those bees are never found – and thought to die on their own. But the rather peculiar fact about CCD is, that wasps, parasites and other bees, (who you might think would be delighted to find a vacant hive full of honey), refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hive.

The name was first coined in America in 2006, today more than three million colonies in the US and billions of honeybees worldwide have died. Scientists are no closer to knowing what is causing this catastrophic fall in numbers.

The collapse in the global honeybee population is a major threat to crops and global food security.

Find out more

Read:

For a fantastic read that gives a great overview of the situation, try A World Without Bees, by Alison Benjamin and Brian McCallum, both beekeepers who have travelled the world to piece together the story of CCD.

Why is it happening?

From scientists to environmentalists CCD has everyone really puzzled, and not one expert can say they know for sure what is causing this. Many feel the honeybee is a barometer of our disregard for the environment -  likening them to the canary in the world’s coalmine.

Potential causes range from pesticides, to viral and bacterial infections, poor nutrition stemming from intensive farming such as mono-cropping and parasites, such as the bloodsucking Varroa Mite. CCD has even been linked to mobile phone use and GM.

The bee keeping community is divided over the cause…

Find out more

Read:

About the mobile phone interference connection.

the GM connection.

the climate change connection in the Ecologist and the full study in the Royal Society of Biological Sciences.

Are pesticides are to blame?

In the US scientists tested samples of bees, wax and pollen and found 121 different pesticides.

A recent report from the World Organisation for Animal Health (the OIE), also points the finger at pesticides, but they add pesticides cannot be the only factor affecting bee health.

The OIE writes…

A world review of honey bee health confirmed CCD occurs in bee populations of North America, Europe and Japan. Experts agreed that the irresponsible use of pesticides might have an impact on bee health in particular by weakening bees and increasing their susceptibility to different diseases. However pesticides can not be considered as the only factor affecting bee health. Biological factors, lack of biosecurity measures to be implemented by beekeepers and climate change might also have detrimental effects on bee health.

In France and Germany a family of pesticides known as Clothianiden, a pesticide used to treat rapeseed oil and sweetcorn, have been banned after bee keepers took to the streets in protest.

They believe, as do the UK’s  Soil Association, that it’s this particular kind of pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, that are responsible for CCD.

Neonicotinoids are designed to attack the central nervous systems of insects. Bees are an insect.

The chemical is produced by Bayer CropScience, a subsidary of German chemical giant Bayer.

Bayer CropScience insist they are not to blame and are even funding research into other possibilities for the disease.

The Vanishing of the Bees, a film funded by the Coop (who, have banned the use of these pesticides on their farms), also points the finger at the chemicals.

Find out more

Read:

Check out Bayer’s website and read what the pesticide manufacturer, has to say about the French ban.

Read what the World Organisation for Animal Health have to say.

What is Clothianiden?

What are Neonicotinoids?

Are those pesticides banned in the UK too?

No. The main beekeeping association, the British Bee Keeping Association (BBKA) doesn’t agree with their fellow beekeeping Frenchmen.

What are natural bee keepers?

“We are treating bees like battery hens…Why is anyone asking why they are dying?”

Heidi Herrmann, natural bee keeper

Natural bee keepers claim that by forcing the bees to work so hard puts undue pressure on their immune system.

They also believe bees should be allowed to get on with their work with as little interference as possible.

According to them, we have been interfering for far too long. This, they say, places undue pressure on the bees in all sorts of ways.

Natural bee keepers see the bees as a family who need to be close to their queen. And yet in mainstream hives, bees are separated from the queen, who is killed off by the bee keeper every few years, as her egg laying powers reduce.

This, coupled with the fact that the majority of bee keepers take all of the honey (made by bees to keep themselves going through the winter months), and replace it with a far less nutritional sugar syrup means the bees’ fragile immune system is damaged, making them more susceptible to disease.

In America, bees are worked all year round. Trucked from one side of the States to the other, they’re forced to pollinate Almond trees in California, heading south for Florida’s citrus plantations, north for apples and cherries, and then back east to pollinate Maine’s blueberries.

Find out more

Read:

The Natural Bee Keeping Trust

Biobees

Bushfarms

Choose Organics

I’ve heard Einstein said if all the bees died, humans would have four years of life left – is that true?

We’ve heard that quote so often – we’re beginning to believe it.

But whether or not Einstein actually said it is questionable.

For an amusing look at how this quote has become so oft used, check out Gelf magazine.

Photo credit: Thanks to Blatantnews.com on Flickr.

Find out more

Campaign:

Join the Women’s Institute campaign to save the bee, including becoming a “bee ambassador”, representing the needs of bees in your community.

Sign the Soil Association’s petition banning neonicotinoids from our farms

Become a bee keeper and provide a home for wild bees.

Or why not just scatter some wild flower seeds to attract the bees to your garden.

Photo credit: Thanks to david.nikonvscanon on Flickr

I first watched this film at a screening by my local Transition Town group. This isn’t a film to watch for  beautiful cinematography – it is crudely shot -  but is does give you a fantastic insight into how the Cuban people responded to the lack of oil, and subsequent lack of food.

The Power of Community write…

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba’s economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this difficult time.

Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanised, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens. It is an unusual look into the Cuban culture during this economic crisis, which they call “The Special Period.”

The film opens with a short history of Peak Oil, a term for the time in our history when world oil production will reach its all-time peak and begin to decline forever. Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis – the massive reduction of fossil fuels – is an example of options and hope.

Photo: Thanks to The Power of Community.

Find out more

Read:

About the Transition Town movements solutions to peak oil on Debate Your Plate Food Files.

Margarine for Men, Flora advert, 1981

Fat buster

In a world where we are bombarded with often-contradictory health advice it can be difficult to decide what is really good for us.

This guide will slice through the facts and help you identify what fats are ‘good,’ what fats are ‘bad’ and how to interpret the complicated and often confusing food labels.

Fats have joined sugar and salt as the ‘bad’ guys but the truth is that we need fat in our diet. Our bodies and brains depend on the long-chain omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, so instead of demonizing all fats we need to make sure we are getting the right ones in the right quantity.

The largest sources of fat in our diets, in order, are: meat and meat products, cereals and cereal products, this includes cakes, biscuits and factory bread. Next up is dairy and dairy products and finally butter and spreads, which make up only one eighth of our total fat consumption.

As Guardian food journalist Felicity Lawrence points out in her book, Eat Your Heart Out, illogically we are concentrating on what we spread on our bread rather than the invisible industrial fats, such as Trans Fats, hidden in our food, which make up a larger percentage of our fat intake.

What is saturated fat?

This fat is generally solid at room temperature and is usually from animal sources. It’s found in lard, butter, hard margarine, cheese and whole milk. It’s also found in anything that contains these ingredients such as cakes, chocolate, biscuits and pastries.

Eating too much saturated fat is associated with increased blood cholesterol and an increased risk of heart disease.

Government guidelines recommend fats take up no more than 35 per cent of the energy in your diet, saturated fats should be less that 11 percent of this total intake.

What is unsaturated fat?

Unsaturated fat is usually liquid at room temperature and generally comes from vegetable sources. They are a healthier alternative to saturated fat. Unsaturated fat is found in sesame, sunflower, soya and olive oil and in oily fish including mackerel, salmon and pilchards.

Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are both included in this group. The difference between them boils down to science. Monounsaturated fats, found in olive oil and avocados, contain one double bond in their structures while polyunsaturated fats, found in nuts and seeds, contain two or more double bonds in their structure.

All you need to remember though is that replacing saturated fats and trans fats with these guys may help to protect you against heart disease.

What is hydrogenated fat?

The process of hydrogenation means that food manufacturers can alter the molecular structure to make them more solid and to change their melting point. For example a manufacturer might want a fat for chocolate so it melts in the mouth at the perfect temperature.

Food manufacturers like hydrogenation because it gives food products a longer shelf life and is often cheaper to use.

Hydrogenation involves mixing vegetable oils with a metal catalyst, often nickel, and then heating them up to 200 degrees Celsius.  Hydrogen gas is then forced through the hot oil in a high-pressure reactor. The result are very hard plastic like beads – this process can be stopped halfway through though if a manufacturer wants oils that are still soft but more stable – these are called trans fats or trans fatty acids.

What are  fatty acids or trans fats?

These man made fats are a cause of great concern. Once absorbed into our bodies they wreak havoc. They are found in thousands of processed food from sweets to biscuits and ready meals.

They have been linked with conditions such as heart disease, strokes, obesity and some cancers. According to the Harvard School of Public Health at least 30,000 people and probably more like 100,000 people a year in the USA die prematurely from coronary heart disease as a result of eating trans fats.

They are used because they are cheap, they add bulk, they give products a longer shelf life and they have a neutral flavour. They have no nutritional value.

The food industry is under no obligation to label food as containing trans fats. They are banned in New York, Denmark and Austria and a study for the European Parliament recently recommended that the EU should consider an EU-wide ban.

In July 2010 the UK Government ruled out a ban on trans fats in food as Health Secretary Andrew Lansley decided to reject advice and side with the food industry – who argue a ban is unnecessary. Official watchdogs NICE disagree and have called for a veto on the killer fats.

Lindsey Davies, President of the UK Faculty of Public Health, told the Guardian:

“The food industry should be about producing food, and food is a basic requirement of a healthy, productive life and wellbeing. Adding things to food that reduce health and wellbeing, such as transfats or too much salt, strikes me as profoundly irresponsible,”

She added: “Unhealthy food is a major health problem in this country.”

The Food and Drink Federation, which represents major producers and retailers, hit back. Barbara Gallani, its director of food safety and science, said Davies was “out of touch with what the industry has been achieving” in terms of reformulation.

For example, transfats have been virtually eliminated and some firms have cut the amount of salt in products such as soups, cereals, biscuits and cakes, in some cases by up to 50%, in the last five years, said Gallani. Such a move would also deny consumers choice in their eating habits,” she added.

What are the supermarkets doing?

Marks and Spencer have led the way among the food retailers, while all major supermarkets have banned the use of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils from their own-label products.

A number of firms, including Mars, McVities and McDonalds have changed their recipes but there are still many fast foods, ready meals, cakes and pastries that contain trans-fats.

How do decipher the labels?

Hydrogenated Fat
If the oil used has been hydrogenated it must be stated on the label. But be careful because some trans fats can be formed during the process of hydrogenation. To be safe steer clear of any foods that contain Hydrogenated fat or oils.

Tans-fats
These do not have to be included on the label. They count as part of the total fat in a product. But as they are not classed as saturates, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated they won’t be included.

Photo credit: Thanks to David Masters.

Find out more

Read:

Felicity Lawrence’s book Eat your heart out has a brilliant chapter on Fats.

Take Action:

UK campaign against trans-fats.

With shelves stacked high and prices low, the supermarket is at the very top of the food chain. Criticised for treating suppliers badly; draining our high streets of independent shops and ruining our communities, their one stop shopping is still very convenient in our time driven world.

So what part should they play in our future? And just how do we re-rejuvenate our high streets?

Supermarkets are everywhere. But how big are they?

“Supermarkets are so ubiquitous that they account for 85p in every pound that the British spend on food.”

The Rough Guide to Food

In our convenience-obsessed world it’s hard to believe the supermarket is just over 70 years old. The very first, called King Kullen, opened in 1930, in a used garage in Queens, New York City. It was named after the movie King Kong, and operated under the slogan: “Pile it high. Sell it low.”

While we have all enjoyed one stop-shopping and cheap food, the power of supermarkets has exploded.

Over the past 30 years, mergers, acquisitions, globalisation and free trade agreements has meant fewer players with more power to lobby governments, and shape food policies.

In 1960, UK small independent retailers owned  60% of the food market.

Now just 50 years on, they are reduced to 6%, while the big brand supermarkets have around 80%.

Tesco, the largest supermarket chain in the UK, owns around one third of this total market.

In 2009, Tesco announced it had made more than £3 billion profits and opened 157 stores around the UK.

Such is their purchasing power,  that smaller supply chains, like Londis, the national corner shop brand, has admitted it’s cheaper to buy their products from Tesco rather than buy from their own wholesaler.

If a chain store of shops like Londis is suffering at the hand of the big guns, what hope is there for the small, independently owned shops?

Find out more

Read:

Andrew Simms book, Tescopoly: How one shop came out on top, and why it matters?

Tescopoly campaign website

Check out Matrix Share Matrix, website which maps the global food system – who owns what and where…

Shopped – The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets

And if you’re really interested in the history of the supermarket, check out Groceteria.

What happens to small business?

It’s well documented that the arrival of a supermarket dramatically erodes the  numbers of  butchers, bakers and fruit and veg shops on our high streets.

This has become so common in the UK, the French even have a term for it. It’s known as “la Londonisation.”

Around 2,000 independent shops disappear every year.

This means fewer jobs, fewer businesses and for those without a car means it is very difficult to find fresh food on foot.

One study from Manchester University, suggests that at the present rate of demise there will be no independent shops left by 2050. Another parliamentary report predicts that many will have gone by as early as 2015.

Studies have also shown that supermarkets erode the local economy.

The New Economics Foundation have found that for every £1 spent in a local shop, twice as much remains in the local economy, as it does when that £1 is spent in a supermarket and escapes up corporate supply chains.

Because of this, some communities, particularly those involved in the Transition Town movement,  have created their own currencies.

Find out more

Read:

The report from the All Party Parliamentary Small Shops group

The report from the New Economics Foundation.

Watch:

Debate Your Plate film above on the Brixton Pound, the first urban alternative currency in the UK.

Do they really offer more choice?

At first glance the endless rows of shiny fruit and veg seem to offer us incredible choice.

But take the English apple for example.  The UK grew almost 2,500 different types of apples but these days you would be lucky to find more than a handful on your local supermarket shelves.

Why is this? Supermarkets choose fruit and veges by their ability to withstand logistics.

They need to be robust enough to travel long distances, withstand refrigeration and still look perfect.

It’s all about appearances. Are the carrots long and straight? Do the bananas have the perfect curve?

Find out more

Read:

George Monbiot about the reality of fruit and vegetable varieties in the supermarkets.

Corporate Watch: What do the supermarkets really mean by local?

Do supermarkets bully their suppliers?

“There are two hundred thousand farmers, dealing with, basically speaking, three supermarkets, two grain merchants, four fertilizer companies. Not a chance…they’ve got power, real power.”

Charles Peers, Oxfordshire farmer. Source Corporate Watch

It is difficult to get to the bottom of exactly how the relationship between supermarket and supplier works – largely because producers are often too afraid to speak out, for fear of losing their contract.

Supermarkets dictate the terms and conditions of their relationships with the millions of growers and workers across the world who supply them.

A recent report from the Competition Commission, released in April 2008, reveals the following:

• Prices paid to producers have been squeezed to the point that they can barely make ends meet. In the UK alone more than 100,000 farmers have left the land over the last ten years, unable to make a living.
• Producers pay supermarkets to have their products on their shelves. This is known as “slotting or listing fees.” In the US, this has been known to cost as much as $250,000 in high demand markets but seems to be a global, widespread practice.
• Producers are often made to pay for supermarket advertisements, and the marketing of their products.
• According to a survey released in 2007 by accountants Grant Thornton, more than two-thirds of suppliers said they had no written contracts with supermarkets, and 23% claimed supermarkets were unwilling to sign any written terms whatsoever.
• Almost half had no pre-agreed order-cancellation notice period.
• Orders are often left until the last minute.
• Producers must absorb the costs when consumer-demand changes.
• Special offers like “buy one, get one free”, or price cuts are often paid for by the producers – with little or no negotiation.

And it’s not just food producers who are feeling the effects of supermarket’s  buying power.

Research shows one in five books and a quarter of all CD’s are now bought in the supermarket.

Find out more

Read:

A rare interview in The Times, with an ex-supermarket grower who has spoken out at the heavy- handed approach of the supermarkets.

The full parliamentary report from the Commerce Commission.

What’s wrong with supermarkets, according to campaign group Tescopoly.

And an interesting report from Corporate Watch.

Food journalist Felcity Lawrence’s book, Eat Your Heart out, why the food business is bad for you and bad for the planet

How do they treat their workers?

“They called us all to a meeting and they said that we would all be laid off the next day.

Then they rehired us for almost half the wages. We used to have almost a month holiday but this went down to 14 days.”

Costa Rican banana worker on a plantation supplying Tesco. source Action Aid research – from Tescopoly

On-going price wars mean workers, particularly in developing countries who are at the bottom of the supply chain, suffer poor conditions and even lower wages.

Research from ActionAid showed that banana workers in Costa Rica were earning a mere 33p per hour. On such a low wage they felt under pressure to work through their break, risking exposure to potentially harmful chemicals, as break time was when the bananas were sprayed with pesticides.

Research by War on Want, a charity that fights international poverty, investigated conditions for the workers producing cheap supermarket clothes and found low wages, long hours and shocking conditions.

Find out more

Read:

Check out this research from Action Aid and Bananalink.

Research from War on Want.

If there is all this evidence against supermarket, do they silence their critics?

Tesco, in particular, is gaining a reputation for taking critics to court.

Check out this story from the New York Review of Books, written by the editor of the Guardian about their recent brush with Tesco lawyers and The Times. They report that Tesco Lotus, as it is known in Thailand, has taken a number of outspoken individuals  to court.

Is there any good news?

Yes! Lobbying from campaigners and the government’s own research into the behaviour of supermarkets has resulted in the development of a new watchdog and an ombudsman which can hold supermarkets to account.

Find out more

Read:

About the ombudsman in The Guardian

About the new legislation on businessandleadership.

The National Farmer’s Union accuse supermarkets of “bullyboy” tactics before new legislation becomes law in The Guardian.

Campaign:

Joining Debate Your Plate’s campaign to build the biggest independent shop database

Grassroots Action on Food and Farming: An alliance including Friends of the Earth and the Soil Association who are calling for stricter controls over supermarkets.

Breaking the Armlock. An alliance of 17 consumer and environmental associations, who are all calling for tighter controls on supermarkets.

There’s a proposal for a new supermarket in my town – can I stop it?

There have been many cases of communities who take on the supermarkets – and win.

But you will need help negotiating the UK’s sticky planning laws, so here’s some guidelines to get you started.

Find out more

Read:

Corporate Watch

The farmer who took on Tesco’s and won, in The Times.

Tescopoly

George Monbiot on planning laws

Photo credit: Thanks to Vauvau on Flikr.

Rainforests are vital to the world’s finely balanced eco system – essentially, they’re a great big pair of lungs for the world. And yet, every day, great swathes of forest are cut down to grow soya, graze cattle or plant palm oil plantations – all staples of the global food chain.

Debate Your Plate has pulled together a number of campaigns so you can help give the world’s rainforests a chance to breathe.

Know your ABC’s

Industrial agriculture is one of the fastest growing threats to rainforests across the world. Three major agribusiness giants have become known as the ABC of rainforest destruction.

They are: ADM, Bunge and Cargill who all are destroying rainforests  in order to grow soy and palm oil plantations.

The San Franciscan based, Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has been dubbed “some of the most savvy environmental agitators in the business” by the Wall Street Journal, and they’re certainly adept at using  hard-hitting campaigns, with humour to embarrass and force multinationals to change. RAN has initiated the Rainforest Agribusiness Campaign, calling on these ABC’s to stop the environmental destruction they’re causing.

RAN writes…

U.S. agribusiness giants ADM, Bunge and Cargill are establishing soy and palm oil operations in some of the planet’s most biodiverse forests.

They are expanding into threatened tropical ecosystems at breakneck speed, wreaking environmental havoc, contributing to human rights abuses and intensifying climate change.

This expansion, or agrisprawl…is feeding the US’s unsustainable appetite for junk food, animal protein and agrofuels.

ADM is deeply involved in the production and marketing of both palm oil and soy. It is also one of the greatest recipients of corporate welfare, which means taxpayers are subsidizing ADM’s role in rainforest destruction. ADM is also the strongest promoter of agrofuels in the United States.

Bunge, though not a household name in the U.S., is the largest agribusiness and food company operating in Brazil. Bunge’s soy operations are devastating communities and ecosystems throughout South America.

Cargill is the most powerful agribusiness and commodity trading group in the world. It is involved in producing and marketing palm oil and soy grown on freshly cleared rainforest lands. In 2003, Cargill built an illegal soy port on the Amazon River which doubled deforestation rates in the area.

Check out the ingredients of many products in your local supermarket and you’ll find palm oil. It’s in everything from Cherrios to sweets – even soap. And soya is exported from South America to the UK, the US and across the world as “cheap”, high protein feed for cattle.

RAN have also started a campaign against major food producer General Mills for using palm oil in thousands of their products.

Join RAN’s campaign by ringing General Mill’s CEO, Kevin Powell.

Royalty and the rainforest

In the words of Prince Charles and his Rainforests Project: “If we lose the battle against tropical deforestation, we lose the battle against climate change.”

This project campaigns and lobbies on international levels for a halt to deforestation and it’s well worth a look around to get a handle on the bigger picture.

The Prince’s Rainforests Project writes…

Rainforests wrap around the equator of the earth like a green belt. After millions of years of evolution, they are the most biologically rich ecosystems on our planet. Tropical rainforests contain a hugely rich diversity of species of plants and animals.

Rainforests are precious resources for all of us – not just for the nations in which they are found. They provide vital ecosystem benefits for the whole world. They store water, regulate rainfall and provide a home to over half the planet’s biodiversity. But more importantly, they also play a crucial role in climate change. And that’s why we’re worried.

When it comes to climate change, the destruction of rainforests has a double whammy effect for everyone. Rainforests absorb almost a fifth of the world’s man-made CO2 emissions every year. But tropical deforestation releases an extra 17% of annual greenhouse gas emissions. So if the rainforests are destroyed, it’s bad news on both counts.

One to keep an eye on…

The Greenpeace report Slaughtering the Amazon, exposed the link between forest destruction and the rapidly expanding cattle ranching in the Amazon.

It is now the leading cause of deforestation anywhere in the world. Greenpeace campaigned for major food (and shoe manufacturers) to stop using cattle for deforested lands – and it seemed they had won.

But all the companies have missed their deadline of April 2010.

Greenpeace are giving them another chance – but this one is definitely one to watch. Check out the Greenpeace campaign.

Greenpeace writes…

Destruction of the Amazon, the world’s most important forest carbon store, is being driven by the cattle sector. The Brazilian Amazon has the greatest annual average deforestation by area of anywhere in the world.

The cattle sector is the key driver of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. According to the Brazilian government: ‘Cattle are responsible for about 80% of all deforestation’ in the Amazon region. In recent years, on average one hectare of Amazon rainforest has been lost to cattle ranchers every 18 seconds.

The cattle sector in the Brazilian Amazon is responsible for 14% of the world’s annual deforestation. This makes it the world’s largest driver of deforestation, responsible for more forest loss than the total deforestation in any country outside Brazil except Indonesia.

Our supporters and campaigners put shoe brands including Nike, Timberland, Adidas and Clarks, and UK food giant Princes, under serious pressure to take responsibility for making sure that leather and beef in their products was not bought from farmers actively destroying the forest. And it worked.

The big brands threatening to move their business elsewhere led to an extraordinary agreement from the biggest cattle companies in the world, to not buy from farms that destroyed the rainforest.

It was a really swift result, although it’s worth remembering that what seemed like rapid change was based on 10 years of Greenpeace work in the Amazon, and a 3 year long investigation into the cattle industry.

But getting companies to agree to change the way their do business is only half of the story. To make sure that they backed up their words with action, we set some deadlines for the cattle companies to meet, with the first test of their commitment being set for April.

Disappointingly, all of the companies came back with excuses. None of them had met the deadline.

And so, as campaigners, we were faced with a difficult dilemma. Should we keep expecting change from the cattle companies, or should we assume that they just weren’t taking the issue seriously? It took a lot of careful thinking and negotiating, but we eventually decided to give them a little more time.

We think that with enough pressure from their customers we can give them the push they need to get them back on track. But it might not work. And if it doesn’t we’ll need your help again.

Photo: Thanks to Tauntingpanda on Flickr for rainforest photo.

Scandalous really when there 4 million people affected by food poverty in the UK.

But one charity is changing all that. Foodcycle run community cafes around the country – the latest one is set to open up in Pimlico, London. The cafes are run by young volunteers who collect unwanted produce and turn it into nutritious meals at a knock down price. In return the volunteers receive training.

The charity works with retailers that include Sainsbury’s and the London Farmers market who donate unsold food that would otherwise end up in the bin.

A three course meal and a cuppa will set you back £4.50. Menu’s change daily as the food the teams have to work with is unpredictable.

Jess Veltman, Project development manager told the Metro…

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On (or around) January 25th, Scotland toasts its favourite son – poet Robbie Burns. And of course the haggis too.

How could we forget that bag of “pluck”: sheeps hearts, livers and lungs, mixed with oatmeal, onion, and suet. Mmm. How could we indeed?

Remember a few years ago, when there was a rumour circulating that haggis was not originally Scottish? And to make matters worse, it might, god forbid, be English?

Why all the fuss?, we wondered. Let them have it! Stomach lining and all.

But enough butchering of the haggis, says chef, Joe Lambert, who spent part of his childhood in Scotland and is a big fan.

“Whenever I see it on a menu, I’ll order it,” he says. ” I love the texture – it’s like nothing else.”

And yet, even he admits there are some tricks to a well turned out Burns supper. (That’s a haggis, with neeps and tatties.)

According to Joe, it’s best to buy a haggis from your local butcher and he reckons MacSweens have the best rep. Indeed, on their website, they claim to be the “guardian of Scotland’s national dish.” But he also says good old M & S are not too bad either.

Okay, so the haggis is pretty easy but the next big question is – what exactly are neeps?

Well, it seems there’s a bit of an argument here as to whether they’re a swede or a turnip.

(I guess there’s a difference but it’s kind of hard to tell…)

These are turnips.

And these are swedes. See what we mean?!

But whatever you choose, (Joe prefers swedes), here’s how to cook them.

The haggis

1.Heat the oven to 180 degrees.

2.Wrap the haggis in silver foil.

3.Place in a bain marie, or a roasting tray with 2 cms of water. You want to make sure the haggis won’t dry out, but never submerge it completely in water or it will ruin.

4.Cook for about an hour.

Meanwhile, make the neeps and tatties.

Neeps (about 4 quarters per person)

1.Peel the swede and cut into 2 cm cubes.

2.Cook in cold, slated  water, bring to the boil and cook until just soft. This makes sure they cook evenly.

3.Blitz them with lots of butter (at least 25 grams for four people), and season with salt and pepper.

Tatties (about 4 quarters per person)

1.Peel and scrub the potatoes, giving them a final rinse once they’re cut to get rid of any starch.

2.Cut them into about 4cm chunks and cover with plenty of cold, salted water.

3.Bring to the boil and simmer for at least 12 minutes.

4.Drain into a colander, put the pan back onto a low heat and mash the potatoes in the pan.

5.Pour in 1/2 cup of milk and a blob of butter (not too much or they’ll be too sloppy)

6.For extra smooth mash, pass the potatoes through a sieve.

Toast the haggis!

Photo credit: Thanks to TJM Watson for the haggis and to Nick Saltmarsh for the swedes, and Ali Graney for the turnips – all on Flickr.

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Check out Joe Lambert’s restaurant, Lamberts where tonight he’s celebrating with a special Burns supper menu.