By Beth Bader •
April 30, 2008
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The Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, a two-and-a-half year long study by a non-profit organization, calls for urgent and major reform of confined animal operations.
“One of the most serious unintended consequences of industrial food animal production is the growing public health threat of these types of facilities,” the report said. “There is increasing urgency to chart a new course” in agriculture, which has been shifting over the last 50 years from family farms to large livestock meat producers.”
The studies primary focus assessed four areas of impact by industrial farms:
- Impact on public healthy by overuse of antibiotics on food animals, primarily the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria
- Impact on the environment from animal waste
- The need for humane treatment of animals
- The impact on family farms from lack of competition and the consolidation of the agribusiness entities
Editor’s note: This week, Raz Godelnik at Eco-Libris takes a look at a new study of the book publishing industry’s environmental footprint. As gathering information is the first step towards making change, we hope this report provides the data necessary for this industry to continue moving in greener directions. This post was originally published on Wednesday, March 12, 2008.
This is a very exciting week for the book industry and anyone involved in the efforts to green it up. The reason? Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts:Findings from the U.S. Book Industry has been published.
This 86-page report was prepared by The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and The Green Press Initiative (GPI) (with support from a number of industry sponsors). Seventy-six publishers, representing just under half of the market, participated in the study, along with 13 printers (about 25 percent) and 6 paper mills (about 17 percent).
Why is this report so important? Because this is an up to date analysis of the industry’s ecological footprint. This is the most detailed survey someone has done in years to create a clear picture of the book publishing industry’s environmental impacts.
These measurements will help not only to know better where the industry is standing now, but also to better plan how to move forward and green up the industry as well as to evaluate the progress later on. In one word: benchmark. Or as BISG describes the report on its website: “a benchmarking survey which will establish a baseline for tracking climate impacts and progress by the U.S. book industry in environmental improvements.”
By Ecotality writer Bill Hobbs. Originally published May 22, 2007.
It’s not going to be the most scintillating beachside reading this summer, but a new guide coming out in June from Duke University Press could help prevent rising seas from obliterating your favorite beach.
It’s called Harnessing Farms and Forests in the Low-Carbon Economy: How to Create and Verify Greenhouse Gas Offsets, and is described as “the first how-to manual
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