Welcome to Friday Feed by FERNs (#FFFHere are the stories that made us stop and reflect on this week’s events.
Who’s heading toward the ‘hunger cliff’?
FERN
“Anti-hunger advocates worry that the nation may be approaching a ‘hunger cliff,’ as emergency SNAP benefits are ending even as demand at food pantriesand Covid case numbersare rising again,” writes Bridget Huber in FERN’s latest story. “A small but growing number of states have effectively opted out of these extra benefits already. Iowa is one of 12 states that are all led by Republicans. They have ended their pandemic emergency without putting in place a narrower public safety declaration that would allow them to continue receiving these additional benefits from federal government. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds justified recent cuts to unemployment and other supports as a necessary step to get people back to work, warning that ‘the safety net has become a hammock.’”
Conservation at a high price
Audubon Magazine
Colombia is home to some of the most biodiverse countries on Earth. It also has the highest number of bird species in the world. Nearly 2,000 bird species are found in its ecosystems, many of which are migrants who spend their summers in North America. Tom Clynes writes that the nation is also the most dangerous place in the world to protect the environment. In 2020, there were an average of two defenders killed per week. A similar devastating pattern is playing out in countries around the world, where anti-environmentalist violence and intimidation are on the rise. There are increasing numbers of park managers, rangers and Indigenous forest guardians who are being threatened. Many of these activists are also being run out of ancestral lands and protected areas.
The FDA’s ‘F’ in food oversight
Politico
“By the time FDA officials figured out it was spinach that was making people sick in 10 states sending three people into kidney failure it was too late. It was November 2021, and the short shelf life of packaged salads had expired. There was no recall. By the time FDA officials got inspectors on the ground, spinach season was over,” writes Helena Bottemiller-Evich in Politico. “Many consumers would be surprised to learn this anemic, slow response is typical for an agency that oversees nearly 80 percent of the American food supply, but slow is what insiders in Washington have come to expect from FDA, regardless of administration. A monthslong POLITICO investigation found that regulating food is simply not a high priority at the agency, where drugs and other medical products dominate, both in budget and bandwidth a dynamic thats only been exacerbated during the pandemic.”
The elephant (or dung) in the room
Eater
J.J. Goode writes that I have two children who serve as daily reminders of the link between what we ingest, and what we expend. After seven years of being a parent, writing cookbooks by day, and wiping my butts at night, it became clear to me that eating is a normal bodily function. It’s something that I have written about for almost two decades, and that I have never acknowledged the consequences. I am not the only one. Food sections, magazines, and food sites are as clean as a bijet devotee. We all fuss about dinner and ignore the elephant dung in our room.
Deb Haalands long game
Outline
Haaland, now entering her second year of interior secretary, has often disappointed the left which wanted a climate justice crusader. However, her environmental decisions so far have taken her down the unexciting middle. Which is not surprising given that she works for an moderate president. Conservatives may have complained that this attractive woman of color was an eco-saboteur, but I’m here to argue that the real threat is having a powerful Native American who demands justice for Native Americans.
