Tag: <span>agriculture</span>

I ♥︎ NY Farmland: Going Beyond the Tagline as a Graduate Policy Intern

By Sanaz Arjomand, M.S. in Environmental Policy 2016 If you’ve been to a farmer’s market, you’ve seen the iconic green “No Farms, No Food” bumper stickers of the American Farmland Trust (AFT), an organization whose mission is to protect farmland, promote sound farming practices, and keep farmers on the land. …

Conflict in Syria: What is the Role of Climate Change?

By Timothy Markle, M.S. in Climate Science and Policy 2016 Each winter, the winds around the Mediterranean Sea shift and blow onshore. As a result, quenching seasonal rains fall on a land that receives less than 10 inches per year. The water collects and fills the rivers, streams, and natural …

GMOs: Why I Haven’t Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Seed

By Sanaz Arjomand, M.S. in Environmental Policy 2016 In my opinion, fighting to label genetically modified (GM) organisms (a.k.a. GMOs) is a misallocation of the energy and enthusiasm of the sustainable food movement. Concerned consumers can already purchase organic (since GMOs are not allowed under USDA certification) or look for …

Leadership in Vermont’s Sustainable Food Movement

By Judson Peck, M.S. Environmental Policy ’15 Leaders are committed individuals who educate and inspire us to collectively take action to make change. What characteristics define leaders and what skills and strategies do they employ to motivate us to take action? I explored the answers to these and other questions by …

Advancing the Hudson Valley’s Regional Foodshed

Scenic Hudson (SH), the environmental advocacy and land conservation organization based in Poughkeepsie, NY, has a history that reaches back to the beginning of the modern environmental movement when, in the 1963, a group of concerned Hudson Valley (HV) residents banded together to challenge the Federal Power Authority’s approval of …

You can’t have local food if you don’t have local farms!

Scenic Hudson believes that the Hudson Valley is an irreplaceable national treasure that must be preserved for all residents and visitors to enjoy. Since kickstarting the grassroots environmental movement in 1963, the organization has dedicated itself to promoting the Hudson Valley’s environmental health and sustainable economic growth. One of Scenic …

Noted Animal Rights Scholar, Professor David Cassuto Delivers Lecture to Bard CEP Students

Recently, the Bard Center for Environmental Policy community had the exciting opportunity to hear firsthand what Pace University’s environmental law and animal rights scholar had to say about a proverbial hot button issue: factory farming. Professor David Cassuto indeed provided his unique perspective on the matter: he presented a strong case for …

It Is Never “Just” Water

I recently finished a short stint interning with the Sierra Business Council in Truckee, California. With them I researched and wrote a series of advocacy white papers to help build support and form a coalition for an allocation from the proposed 2014 state water bond measures for upper watershed land …

We Need Water Markets if We’re to Solve the Global Water Crisis

Reposted from Huffington Post, originally published 10/10/13 By Karen Corey, MSEP/MI ’13, Program Assistant for Forest Trends Four years ago, Kenyan farmer Chege Mwangi was a desperate man. Climate change had thrown off the timing of his harvests, and torrential rains were washing his topsoil into Lake Naivasha — where flower-growers were suffering, …

Slow Water for Oaxaca: Help us Make this Project Possible

By Violeta Borilova Mezeklieva and Izabel Hoyos Ever wonder what your life would be like if you had water once a week? What solutions would you adopt to help your community? (Previous CEP Students in Oaxaca) At the Bard Center for Environmental Policy (CEP) students have the opportunity to address …