I met Vivien Sansour for the first time back in 2016, in her home town of Beit Jala, on the southern edge of Bethlehem, in Israeli-occupied Palestine. An anthropologist by training, Vivien has turned to the promotion of food and the cultural sovereignty tied to growing one’s own and saving the seeds, as her life’s work.
Climate change is a human rights issue. Nowhere is this clearer than in Israeli-occupied/colonized Palestine, where land and natural resources required for climate adaptation are controlled by Israel, and systematically denied to Palestinians. Of all these resources, none are more vital than water.
Tourists come to Al-Walaja from around the world to enjoy the lovely surrounding landscape. A huge olive tree, reputedly over 5000 years-old, is a big draw. For political tourists, Israel’s imposing “security barrier,” soon to enclose little Al-Walaja in a cage, is a must-see.
When Michael rows his boat ashore in the old camp fire song, across a Jordan River chilly and wide, he discovers a land of milk and honey. The descendants of shepherds he might have greeted are now the victims of land confiscation, property destruction and assault.
For Palestinian shepherds trapped in the ever-expanding matrix of Israeli military occupation, surrounded by Jewish settlements, army outposts and settler-only roads, life is anything but pastoral.
The seductive voice of a clarinet. The wild wail of a tenor sax. The whimsical tones of a bassoon or oboe. Each of these sounds is produced by blowing air over a thin reed sliced from a cane stalk. Most cane reed is produced in the Var region of southern France.
For those who thought that corporate concentration in the food industry couldn’t get tighter, wake up and smell the coffee. The Big Six seed and farm chemical producers are now on the verge of coalescing into three. Amazon may soon be the world’s biggest supermarket.
Standing on the edge of little Battir, I feasted my eyes on an astonishing sight: an amphitheater of ancient stone terraces covered in a cornucopia of fruits, vegetables, herbs and trees — including olive trees over a thousand years old.
In an agronomy lab and farm field in Montpellier, France, scientists are uncovering the secrets of one of the world’s great crops. The potential spin-offs for global green economies are huge.
Plants that grow from seeds are the foundation of humanity’s food supply. Wheat, barley, oats, corn, potatoes and a dizzying variety of beans and legumes … Conserving these seeds of survival is one of humanity’s greatest challenges.
The slow-food movement has reached the sun-baked, Bolivian altiplano. Here, small-scale producers are making the most of scarce water supplies, ample sun and local expertise to grow food at the top of the world.
In the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains – in northern India – a very energetic woman has declared that seeds should also be free. We caught up with Vandana Shiva at her biodiversity farm north just outside Dehradun.
Who coined the phrase “Think globally, act locally” is a matter of dispute. Dinah Ceplis and Zack Gross certainly exemplify the philosophy in action.
John K. Sampson’s poignant song about Winnipeg captures the cold anonymity of Prairie Canada’s capital on a grey dismal day. But there are as many reasons to love this town as to hate it. The Good Food Club is one.
In the summer of 2014, several hundred people gathered at a fracking “Day of Protest” in Kent County, between Moncton and Miramichi — Elsipogtog First Nations territory.
Until recently, Rwandan farmers knew when the rains would come; when best to plant their crops. These days, with varying weather patterns attributed to climate change, more and more Rwandan farmers struggle to grow food.
When it comes to garbage, it’s a matter of perspective. One person’s trash is another person’s cash. Outside of Kigali, in the east African nation of Rwanda, villagers have figured out how to turn food waste into cooking fuel.
The next time you buy roses for your honey, consider this: The cut flowers in your Valentine’s bouquet were fumigated for insects and mildew, then drenched with preservatives for the long flight north.
When powerful corporations seek concessions in poor countries, communities rally around democratic institutions to defend their land and water.
For more than three decades, the Central Coffee Organization of Northwestern Peru has addressed gender inequity on the farm. Putting a dollar value on women’s work is what has made a difference.
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