Germs

Eating Green

• Is California giving its methane digesters too much credit? May 19, 2022
  Every year, California dairy farms emit hundreds of thousands of tons of the potent greenhouse gas methane, which gets released when livestock operations pool manure in open-air lagoons. To put a lid on these emissions, the state is lavishing the industry with lucrative subsidies to capture methane before it escapes into the atmosphere. Such efforts […]
  Jessica Fu
• Your car is killing coho salmon May 17, 2022
  Highway 7 runs north-south through western Washington, carving its way through a landscape sparsely dotted with residences, farms, and a general store. The flush of late winter rain characteristic of the Pacific Northwest gives way to a green April, complete with blossoming trees and chirping birds. Ohop Creek, which runs under the highway, is part […]
  Lena Beck
• The pandemic has transformed America’s dining landscape into an oligopoly dominated by chains  May 12, 2022
  One of the greatest pleasures I had as a child growing up in the Chicago suburbs in the mid-1980s was delving into an unctuous slice of French Silk pie at Bakers Square. I couldn’t tell you how many Bakers Square locations existed back then, there were a lot. But I wasn’t thinking about any of […]
  Adam Reiner
• California is moving toward food assistance for all populations—including undocumented immigrants May 11, 2022
  Undocumented immigrants experience food insecurity at much higher rates than other populations, yet they are largely unable to access government food assistance programs. This may soon change in California. Advocates and lawmakers are taking a two-pronged approach, pushing the state to make a long-term investment in food access for undocumented communities. Senate Bill 464, introduced […]
  Tina Vasquez
• Babka, borscht … and pumpkin spice? Two writers talk about Jewish identity through contemporary cookbooks. May 5, 2022
  Writer Charlotte Druckman and editor Rebecca Flint Marx are both Jewish journalists living in New York City. And they both love cookbooks. So they convened to have a conversation about recent-ish Jewish cookbooks—and ultimately, what it means for a cookbook to make a claim about its very Jewishness.  As secular women and curious eaters exploring […]
  Charlotte Druckman and Rebecca Flint Marx
• How some big grocery chains help ensure that food deserts stay barren May 3, 2022
  Last fall, first-year law student Karissa Kang arrived at Yale University and quickly set out to find a supermarket within walking distance. “I like cooking,” she explained, and she didn’t have a car. Her hometown of Atlanta was loaded with shopping options like Publix and Kroger so she was surprised to discover that the only […]
  Lela Nargi
• More regenerative farming may be a climate solution. But another climate solution is impeding its progress April 27, 2022
  Back around 2011, Jonathan Cobb and his wife, Kaylyn, had what he calls a “simple game plan.” They’d take a few hundred acres of both leased and family-owned central-Texas farmland—land that for decades had grown row crops of corn and cotton—and give it “what it wants back,” he said.  What it wanted, in Cobb’s estimation, […]
  Lela Nargi
• Happier employees, higher profits: Restaurant owners spend more, and it pays off April 26, 2022
  Like many restaurant operators over the past two years, Greg and Daisy Ryan, co-owners of the French-inspired bistro Bell’s in Los Alamos, California, sweated over how their business would survive a global pandemic. All around them owners were turning to takeout, to retail, or to closing their doors indefinitely.  The Ryans, meanwhile, decided to spend […]
  Matthew Sedacca
• McDonald’s franchises planned to pay tens of millions in PPP loan dollars to corporate HQ  April 21, 2022
  In partnership with The Intercept. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, McDonald’s franchisees asked the company for help weathering the coming storm. Specifically, the National Franchisee Leadership Alliance, a group that represents franchise owners, asked for something McDonald’s was well positioned to provide: rent relief. Unlike many chain restaurants, McDonald’s leases or owns most of […]
  H. Claire Brown and Jessica Fu
• Mentors aren’t saviors. And industry training programs need to understand that. April 20, 2022
  Philadelphia’s public transportation is known to be unreliable: In 2019, the city was ranked 89th of 100 U.S. cities using factors including safety, convenience, and accessibility. Yet many employers don’t take this spotty service into account when considering the punctuality of workers who rely on this particular public service for their daily commute. For local […]
  Jenny Dorsey