Dirt! The Movie – A Great Documentary About the Importance of Soil

Written by Max Goldberg on January 29, 2012. Follow Max on Twitter: @livingmaxwell.

I was at a party the other night and got into a discussion with a bakery owner about how some of the best organic products that I have reviewed on livingmaxwell are from Italy.

Italian Volcano orange juice, Bionaturae fruit spread and Middle Earth Organics pasta sauce were a few organic brands that immediately came to mind.

What is it about food from Italy that makes it taste so good?

I believe it is the soil quality.

Unlike in the U.S., their land has not been ravaged by long-term, toxic pesticide use.

This means that Italy has been able to maintain rich, healthy, and biodiverse soil.  As a result, the country grows fantastic tasting and nutritious food. Read More »

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IMPORTANT: Brand New Video for the “Just Label It” Campaign and Recap of Yesterday’s Conference Call

Written by Max Goldberg on January 19, 2012. Follow Max on Twitter: @livingmaxwell.

Yesterday, I was on the media conference call for Just Label It, the nationwide campaign to get genetically-modified foods (GMOs) labeled.

On the call we saw a preview of the fantastic new Just Label It video (WATCH BELOW) and we also heard from:

* Gary Hirshberg, Chairman of Stonyfield, who recently resigned as CEO to dedicate more time to this very important cause.

* Robyn O’Brien, leading food safety advocate and author of the acclaimed book The Unhealthy Truth: One Mother’s Shocking Investigation into the Dangers of America’s Food Supply — and What Every Family Can Do to Protect Itself.

* Robert Kenner, writer, director and producer of the documentary Food, Inc. and the Just Label It video below.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS DISCUSSED

- The general benchmark for labeling, of any sorts, is materiality. Is something about the food materially different that would warrant a label? Read More »

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The USDA is Set to Approve a GM-Corn Resistant to 2,4-D, a Primary Ingredient in Agent Orange

Written by Max Goldberg on January 9, 2012. Follow Max on Twitter: @livingmaxwell.

Does our government have any interest in putting the health of its citizens ahead of corporate profits of the chemical industry?

Based on recent news, it doesn’t appear that this is the case.

The USDA is poised to approve Dow Chemical’s genetically-modified corn that is resistant to 2,4-D, a primary ingredient in Agent Orange.

In case you’re not familiar with Agent Orange, it was the code name for one of the chemicals used in Vietnam as part of a broad herbicidal warfare program.

Vietnam estimates 400,000 people were killed or maimed, and 500,000 children were born with birth defects as a result of this lethal strategy.

But it wasn’t just the Vietnamese who suffered greatly. U.S. soldiers came back from the war and realized that exposure to Agent Orange had greatly impacted them as well. Read More »

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My Response to the NYT’s “Organic Agriculture May Be Outgrowing Its Ideals”

Written by Max Goldberg on January 2, 2012. Follow Max on Twitter: @livingmaxwell.

On Friday in the New York Times, there was an interesting article titled “Organic Agriculture May Be Outgrowing its Ideals“.

Given the number of emails I received about it, I wanted to address this piece and talk about what I see going forward.

The article points to the the ideal nature of organic – small farms, local farms, an environmental steward of the land, etc. – which has been lost in many parts of the organic industry.

While these are aspects of the organic food industry that everyone would like to hold onto, we live in a capitalist society and market forces have changed the dynamic of the industry, for better and for worse.

FOR BETTER

More people are eating organic food and as a result, they are becoming healthier and fewer pesticides are poisoning workers, the land, and our water supply. Read More »

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Is Whole Foods “Brandwashing” Us?

Written by Max Goldberg on December 7, 2011. Follow Max on Twitter: @livingmaxwell.

Recently, I received a copy of Martin Lindstrom’s Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy.

The reason that I wanted to read it was because Whole Foods was discussed in the book and I was curious to know what he had to say about the company.

As Martin Lindstrom correctly points out, Whole Foods is very strategic in how it merchandises its products. A few examples that he mentioned were:

- Putting flowers by the entrance. These are called “symbolics”,  and they evoke freshness and “prime” us as we begin our shopping.

- All of the signs in the produce and fruit section are written on black slate with chalk, a tradition of European marketplaces. Apparently, marketers refers to this tactic as “farmgate”, so that consumers think a farmer just drove up and dropped off the vegetables. Read More »

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