Episode 84: The Gulf’s Dead Zone with Paul Greenberg

09/22/13 • 32 min

This week on What Doesn’t Kill You, Katy Keiffer talks with Paul Greenberg about the state of fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Paul is the author of the James Beard Award winning New York Times bestseller Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food and a regular contributor to The New York Times. He is currently a fellow with The Blue Ocean Institute and in April became the writer-in-residence at New York’s The South Street Seaport Museum. His next book American Catch — a book about how we lost and how we might regain American local seafood, will be published by The Penguin Press. Katy and Paul discuss his recent article published in American Prospect and FERN entitled “A River Runs Through It” about ‘the dead zone’ in the Gulf of Mexico. How are fertilizers causing algae blooms in the Mississippi that monopolize oxygen? Find out how corn production lends itself to agricultural runoff. Find out if it’s possible to regulate nutrient-runoff along the entire length of the Mississippi. How is nutrient loading affecting the fishing industry in the United States? Find out all of this and more on this week’s episode of What Doesn’t Kill You! Thanks to our sponsor, Heritage Foods USA. Music provided by Dead Stars.

“So much agriculture is running on auto-pilot. You don’t need as many people to run a farm anymore. If you were to put switching on your tiling, it would take too much time or money, and it wouldn’t be worth it.” [10:50]

“Any time you see a lot of soil without a cover crop, that soil can be carried by rainwater into a watershed.” [11:25]

— Paul Greenberg on What Doesn’t Kill You

“So much agriculture is running on auto-pilot. You don’t need as many people to run a farm anymore. If you were to put switching on your tiling, it would take too much time or money, and it wouldn’t be worth it.” [10:50]

“Any time you see a lot of soil without a cover crop, that soil can be carried by rainwater into a watershed.” [11:25]

— Paul Greenberg on What Doesn’t Kill You

Previous Episode

Episode 83: SNAP Judgment with Jane Black

Jane Black is a journalist who covers food politics, trends and sustainability issues. Her column, “Smarter Food”, appears monthly in the Washington Post and her work appears regularly in the New York Times, the Atlantic, and New York Magazine. This week on What Doesn’t Kill You, Katy Keiffer chats with Jane about her recent article entitled “SNAP Judgment” in Slate Magazine (co-published by the Food and Environmental Reporting Network) that analyzes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Why do certain politicians historically vote against SNAP benefits based on their relationships with corporate food lobbyists? How are these political relationships changing? Are there ways to regulate the types of food or beverages that can be purchased with SNAP benefits, and will anti-hunger groups support these types of legislation? How do SNAP recipients feel about the idea of regulations on their benefits? Hear Katy and Jane talk about the lack of nutrition education, and the roots of the obesity epidemic in this country. Thanks to our sponsor, Cain Vineyard & Winery. Today’s music has been provided by Dead Stars.

“Back when they first started fighting for food stamps, the food companies would help the anti-hunger organizations because at that time, people with low incomes were hungry as opposed to obese. It was a perfect partnership!” [3:25]

— Jane Black on What Doesn’t Kill You

Next Episode

Episode 85: Food Date Labeling with Dana Gunders

This week on What Doesn’t Kill You, Katy Keiffer is talking expiration date labeling with Dana Gunders of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Recently, the NRDC and The Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic just released a report on food waste in the US called “The Dating Game: How Confusing Food Date Labels Lead to Food Waste in America”, and Dana is on the program to review the report and dispel concerns regarding food labeling and food safety. Find out what organizations are in charge of determining “use by” and “sell by” dates, and how governmental regulation could potentially lead to better consistency. Learn how these dates mislead consumers and often lead to unnecessary food waste. How is date labeling also tied up in the controversies surrounding GMO labeling? How should labeling differ between fresh and processed foods? How do food labels affect grocers’ bottom line? Find out all of this and more on this week’s edition of What Doesn’t Kill You! Thanks to our sponsor, Underground Meats. Music provided by Dead Stars.