The UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food is insisting that our current methods of agriculture are reaping dangerous effects on our global food supply, and that small farmers and agroecological farming methods are the key to the future of farming. Or at least that’s the opinion of Professor Hilal Elver.

“Food policies which do not address the root causes of world hunger would be bound to fail, she said to an audience in Amsterdam. “The 2009 global food crisis signaled the need for a turning point in the global food system. Modern agriculture, which began in the 1950′s, is more resource intensive, very fossil fuel dependent, using fertilizers, and based on massive production. This policy has to change.”

We are facing a range of challenges. Resource scarcity, increased population, decreasing land availability and accessibilit...

On Wednesday, Michael Nutter, mayor of Philadelphia, signed legislation decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana in the city. The law downgrades possession of 30 grams of marijuana or less to a mere civil offense and will go into effect on the 20th of this month. Reported by The Philadelphia Magazine:

Those possessing 30 grams or less of marijuana will be cited and fined $25. Those smoking in public will be cited and fined $100, or made to perform nine hours of community service.

But keep in mind, you can still be arrested for selling marijuana, possessing more than 30 grams, or driving under the influence of marijuana. This isn’t exactly the sweeping reform that legalization activists are fighting for, but it’s definitely a step up from, say, Oklahoma’s draconian marijuana laws.

The city will be doing outreach to make sure its citizens understand the new laws.

In Colorado, where labeling GMO products is on the ballot, the debate has begun to heat up. According to an ABC News poll, 90% of Americans believe the federal government should require GMO labels, but whether or not that can make it through campaign season is another issue entirely. Especially with big money flowing in from the mighty Monsanto itself.

From the Denver Post:

If the measure passes in Colorado, by 2016 packaged or raw foods made with GMOs that are sold in retail outlets must be labeled with the phrase “produced with genetic engineering.” Exemptions include processed food intended for immediate human consumption, like at restaurants and delis.

Opponents say that GMOs are harmful to human health, pointing to s...

I stumbled upon this really excellent essay written by Lieutenant Commander Diane Goldstein. She has spent her entire professional life on the front lines of the “war on drugs” and can see through the facade into what it all really is. She penned this essay on Substance.com. Here’s part of it:

I was a police officer for 20 years, enforcing drug laws in California and thinking I was doing my part for society. But what made me think properly about drug use for the first time was my experience with my older brother, Billy. I had watched him struggle with a lifelong problem with drugs. But I still did not understand what it meant to be Billy until my husband convinced me to open up my heart and our home to save him in 2002.

It was in this intimacy of watching Billy try, during the year he lived with us, to live up to the expectations of society and those he l...

Last year, on a nighttime swim with Manta rays off the coast of Hawaii, these divers came upon a bottlenose dolphin hat lingered around them and appeared not to be able to swim normally. Keller Laros, the diving instructor, recognized that the dolphin wasn’t just curious but was asking them for help. It was then he saw a hook was lodged in his pectoral fin.

Wasting no time, Laros approached the dolphin. As if it knew exactly what was going to happen, the dolphin complied and positioned itself so that Laros could get the hook out of him. “I was at the right place at the right time. I am honored to share the footage with all of you,” writes Martina S. Wing, who shot the footage above.

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