MOTHER EARTH NEWS December 2015 - January 2016

Our article “Fat Matters: Understanding the Science” (Page 45) may be the most important health news we’ve ever shared with you. Fats, it turns out, are far more complicated than we realized, and mainstream medicine and nutrition experts have misguided us — in a big way. For more than 40 years, we’ve been told that eating fat is what makes us fat. Now, a closer look at the accumulating evidence is revealing that this advice is wrong. The presumed link between heart disease and eating cholesterol and saturated fats is also questionable. What about the corn, soy and other vegetable oils that we’ve been told are better choices than butter and lard? We now know that butter and lard from pastured animals are better than the so-called “good fats” found in…

EDITORS’ PICK Dedicated Reader Retires I’ve been reading MOTHER since 1975, and I still have every issue I’ve ever purchased. Because of your magazine, we bought acreage in the country — and still live on it! I can also quilt; make soap; and can, freeze and dehydrate a wide range of edibles. Unfortunately, it’s time that I retire my subscription. I’m afraid I’m getting a little old, and just can’t do what I used to. I’ll miss you, MOTHER. Thank you for 40 years of the all-time best magazine on the planet! Phyllis Johnson Dover, Florida You’re welcome, Phyllis! Thanks for staying with us through the years. We feel lucky to have such dedicated and engaged readers. — MOTHER A Solar Shed I’m interested in building a solar “power plant.” I can’t afford to install solar panels on…

This new brand, labeled as “Open Source,” “OSSI” or “Open Source Seed Initiative,” takes its place alongside more familiar designations, such as “heirloom” and “Certified Organic,” meant to help shoppers narrow their choices. But OSSI is really more of an anti-brand because it designates “freed seed.” That means any variety carrying this label is unencumbered by patents and other restrictions that increasingly take varieties out of circulation, as patented seed can’t legally be saved, replanted or shared, and must be repurchased year after year. Most troubling: Patented genetics can’t be used for plant-breeding purposes, meaning breeders at universities and small seed companies — who do promising work, particularly on organic seed — feel this shrinking diversity head-on. Raw material is lost to corporate control. In this growing genetic vacuum, plant breeders can’t…

If you’re trying to buy more grass-fed beef, you may be one of the smart shoppers who knows that meat from grass-fed cattle is higher in key nutrients, including crucial omega-3 fatty acids (learn more about these in Richard Manning’s article on Page 45). Raising cattle on carefully managed pasture will also lead to healthier animals, whose meat is less likely to carry foodborne pathogens. Grass-fed production offers major environmental benefits, too, such as carbon sequestration. (For more on these topics, see “The Many Benefits of Grass-Fed Meat” online at http://goo.gl/xBD3ek.) But labels can be misleading. Here are the verified, meaningful labels to look for to ensure your beef is from cattle that were grass-fed from birth to slaughter: • American Grassfed Association: Certifies producers using independent auditors; www.AmericanGrassfed.org. • Food Alliance Certified Grassfed:…

Kevin Kelly’s comprehensive, 470-page Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities echoes the classic 1970s Whole Earth Catalog, which Kelly helped edit. If you’ve ever spent time with the Whole Earth Catalog, you know how hard it is to put down. Cool Tools is the same way — the 11-by-14-inch pages are packed with all kinds of surprises, innovative products and ideas. Kelly describes a cool tool as “anything useful that increases learning, empowers individuals, does work that matters, and is either the best, or the cheapest, or the only thing that works.” For Kelly, who served as executive editor at Wired, this definition includes a wide array of items, from hand tools and maps to software and magazines. His review of MOTHER EARTH NEWS concludes: “Why I subscribe: Most magazines are…

You may think the age of aviation firsts has flown by, with renowned trips and famous failures firmly in the books. But now the Solar Impulse 2, a totally solarpowered airplane that’s been in the works for more than a decade, is reaching new heights with its historic, fossilfuel-free flight around the world. Prior to this journey, a prototype, Solar Impulse 1, successfully flew across Europe, Morocco and the United States to test the technology. With each landing, the pilots and team, which are based in Switzerland, reached out to NGOs, universities and schools to promote clean technologies. The team then progressed to Solar Impulse 2, constructed of carbon fiber and boasting a 72-meter wingspan outfitted with 17,000 solar cells. The solar-powered airplane embarked from the United Arab Emirates on March 9,…