What is food sustainability?

Everyone wants to eat healthy food for a healthy body. But how can we create healthy food systems for a healthy planet? This is the issue of food sustainability, or practices that ensure people have equitable access to food while remaining sustainable for our future and our environment.
Currently, our industrial food systems are creating havoc with our environment. Runaway climate change, increased levels of corporate control, high levels of food waste, forest clearing, soil erosion, water scarcity and pollution are just a few of the byproducts of our current systems. The connection between deforestation-related emissions and agricultural expansion is well documented. According to the Climate Land Use Alliance, commercial agriculture causes 71% of tropical deforestation.[1] The continued industrialization of four commodities in particular–palm oil, pulp & paper, soy, and beef–pose serious risks to our global forests and climate.
We are also facing the extinction of key species, the disappearance of crop diversity, and increased food insecurity and racial inequity as a result of the way we produce the majority of food today.

Take action with RAN to demand that the biggest and most egregious global meat producers, starting with Tyson Foods, adopt comprehensive meat sector and palm oil policies that include compiling and making public data on the rainforest conversion, global greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity, and water impacts of its meat and feed businesses.

Will you help us fight the climate crisis?

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Today, our industrial agriculture system is driving roughly one third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These greenhouse gasses are largely from converting tropical forests to feed crops and other livestock uses. Methane emissions from this industrial farming are another destructive byproduct. The livestock sector is directly responsible for more than 14% of all global GHG emissions.[2] It is the single largest source of food-sector emissions. In fact, approximately 30% of all land and 75% of agricultural land on the planet is devoted to the production of livestock or animal feed according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).[3]

So how can we transform the global food system?

Rainforest Action Network is exploring the intersection of agribusiness and climate change to identify where leverage exists to create large-scale systemic change. As a corporate campaigning organization, we are interested in the industrial meat sector since some of the biggest corporations in the world are investing in animal agriculture. It’s one of the most powerful, profitable sectors on the globe, controlled by five key industries that are responsible for some of the most destructive environmental impacts of our time–pharmaceutical, agrochemicals, animal feed, petroleum and meat.

RAN’s history is built on such work. In 1985, RAN launched a successful campaign to pressure Burger King to cancel $35 million worth of Central American beef contracts that were driving conversion of rainforests to grazing land.

You have the power to influence these brands and stop deforestation and human rights abuses. You’ve helped us move some of the biggest market players in the world to publicly commit to no deforestation policies. Now it’s time to hold these corporations responsible for implementing their own promises.

[1] http://www.climateandlandusealliance.org/uploads/PDFs/Global_Commodities_Graphic_1.pdf

[2] http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3437e/i3437e.pdf

[3] Livestock’s Long Shadow Executive Summary, page xxi; http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/News/2006/1000448/index.html

BRANDS & BANKS: KEEP FORESTS STANDING!

Rainforests are a global resource for all life on Earth. But their future — and ours — is in danger. Massive corporations are destroying tropical forests at an unprecedented rate, making huge profits off of deforestation and the human rights violations that too often go hand in hand with it. Lands are stolen from local and Indigenous communities and forests are destroyed for cheap commodities like palm oil, soy, cocoa, pulp and paper, timber, and beef — all for a quick profit.

While many of the biggest brands have made commitments pledging to stop destroying rainforests across their supply chains, these same companies have failed to meet their own timelines or deliver on their promises. That’s why we’re committed to holding these companies accountable.

From The Understory Archives

2016: From Financiers to the Forest Floor

Our achievements in 2016 would not be possible without thousands of supporters like you. Some of your highlights here.

Tyson Foods brings Conflict Palm Oil and factory farmed meat to the table: Ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday, a look at the true cost of cheap, industrial food

Tyson Foods, in its over 80 years of operation, has had a hugely negative impact on our food system.

Palm Oil: Bad for Forests, and Your Health

It’s well documented that Conflict Palm Oil production is terrible for human rights, forests and the climate. The big question remains: why is it in 50% of packaged foods at the grocery store? And what is the impact for those that eat it on a daily basis? Is palm oil even healthy for us?

Tyson: Stop Conflict Palm Oil & Factory Farming

Tyson Foods is a massive company that has a devastating impact on countless people, animals and our planet. This corporate giant profits from “processing” chicken, cows and pigs into meat products, and since its recent acquisition of Hillshire Brands, its major brands like Sara Lee are tied to Conflict Palm Oil.

Big Food Tries to Buy Its Way to a Healthy Image

Yesterday, snack food giant Hormel bought Justin’s Nut Butter for $286 million. This is another example of Big Food attempting to buy its way into a healthy image, acquiring small health food companies as fast as they can. When General Mills bought out Annie’s Mac & Cheese, for instance, hundreds of thousands of incited mothers felt personally wronged and vowed to boycott their kids’ favorite product forevermore.

Big Food Wins Dietary Guidelines Battle

The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), released on January 7, are woefully disappointing.

What’s the story behind that Trader Joe’s palm oil?

Is Trader Joe’s red palm oil truly conflict-free and healthy? RAN’s Responsible Food Campaigner Ashley Schaeffer Yildiz takes a look.

Don’t Let Big Food Prevail Over Science