health

Evolution | Revolution

22 February, 2011 | Nicola Ross

ImageAT THE Spirit Tree Estate Cidery, Tom Wilson and Nicole Judge are intent on answering customers’ questions. Their infant son sits on the sales counter resting against his mother as if he’s spent his life in this pose. The young couple looks tired, but totally engaged. They are living their dream, after all.

Published in: Just Food 37.2

Taking It All In

20 February, 2011 | Wayne Roberts

THE FIRST and most important thing to say about food – certainly in 1000 words, but just as certainly if I had 1000 pages – is that there is no first and most important thing to know about food.

Published in: Just Food 37.2

Editorial: Is It a Revolution?

19 February, 2011 | Nicola Ross
 Image

IN 2009, the CBC ran a series called The Great Food Revolution. If you doubt that something as simple as what we choose to put in our mouths can have a revolutionary effect, listen to episode four: "Food of the Future." In it, the CBC notes, "How we cook, what we eat, the decisions we make will come from chefs, teachers, activists, scientists, and farmers." Not, please note, from government, agribusiness and the organizations that represent them. The power in food and agriculture lies with the people.

Published in: Just Food 37.2

Growing Organic

28 May, 2009 | Bob Burtt

The number of farmers clad in their traditional black suits in ­attendance at this year’s organic conference in Guelph, Ontario should put smiles on the faces of people hoping to see an increased supply of chemical-free produce in Southwestern Ontario. A group of Mennonite farmers in and around ­Waterloo Region, many of whom use horse-drawn buggies or bicycles as their mode of transportation, are at the forefront of a new movement that aims to produce more locally grown, organic food.

The Smallest Revolution

26 May, 2009 | Stephen Bocking

As revolutions go, this is no big deal: stain-resistant pants, sunscreens that go on clear, hockey sticks with extra zing. But perhaps that’s the point with nanotechnology. When the real transformation is occurring in spaces dwarfed by the thickness of this page, the results may seem inconsequential at first. Yet with science and capital now collaborating in manipulating atoms, these products are only the start. Its promoters predict that nanotechnology will become as common as plastic. Its critics agree, and warn of impacts as inescapable as the plastic jetsam now littering the globe.

Skewing Science

29 April, 2009 | Stephen Bocking

The Bush era is over but the stain, including a string of last-minute legal changes, lingers. These “midnight regulations” made some things easier, such as dumping mine waste in streams and building power plants near parks. Other things became harder, such as using science to protect endangered species or to reduce workers’ exposure to hazards. Continuing that administration’s usual practice, these cuts to health and environmental safeguards were justified by manipulating the way science relates to policy. Once again, the supposedly straightforward part of environmental affairs – determining the facts – was where the real manoeuvring took place.

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