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Articles by Meredith Niles

Meredith Niles is a PhD student in Ecology at the University of California, Davis. Her research examines the variables that influence the adoption of climate change mitigation and adaptation practices in agriculture. Her work focuses in California at the farm level and New Zealand with agricultural processors, which is implementing the world's first greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme to include agriculture. At UC Davis she is a board member of the Agricultural Sustainability Institute and on the Executive Board of the Russell Ranch Long-Term Agricultural Research Center. She is the former coordinator of the Cool Foods campaign at the Center for Food Safety.

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  • Prince Charles sparked controversy when he expressed doubt in GM crops

    The British royal family is no stranger to controversy and media attention, but Prince Charles caused a new kind of worldwide media flurry on Tuesday when he sat down for […]

    Meredith Niles Food and Agriculture

  • Industry report touts potential for biotech crops to combat climate change

    I am always a sucker for a catchy sounding report -- like the one the World Business Council for Sustainable Development released last week: "Agricultural Ecosystems: Facts and Trends." It had it all: the noble sounding "Council," the association between agriculture and ecosystems, and the appeal to my inner science-geek with words like "facts" and "trends." I printed it out enthusiastically and got out my highlighter, ready to read all of the fascinating new insights into agriculture, food, and the environment.

    I was intrigued by the beginning section on consumer patterns which detailed the increased demand for meat in developing countries and the impact this might have worldwide. One section focused on the role of animal production in climate change. I skipped along to the climate section nodding my head in agreement the entire time: converting grasslands to agriculture is a huge source of carbon dioxide emissions; conventional agriculture can threaten biodiversity; and agricultural greenhouse gas emissions can be mitigated by integrated crop management and minimum tillage. I balked a bit when they cited that agriculture produced 14 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the year 2000 (since then the United Nations has stated that animal production alone produces 18 percent of our global greenhouse gas emissions), but I still felt confident that the report might be worth something.

    Maybe I set my expectations a bit high.

    Meredith Niles Climate & Energy

  • California’s Prop 2 could end the worst farm-animal abuses and set a national precedent

    When Californians go to the polls in November they can set a precedent for the rest of the country by ending the worst animal and environmental abuses and simultaneously increasing the safety of our national food supply.

    It's an election year and we all know what that means -- big money, big events, and big promises. As the rest of the country listens endlessly to the political propaganda of the last few desperate months before November, California voters are being fed an entirely different mouthful of issues -- the living conditions of the billions of farm animals slaughtered in this country every year. This weekend the Humane Society of the United States will hold a series of cross-country parties to mark the celebration of their historical ballot initiative in California: the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act or Proposition 2.

    Meredith Niles Culture

  • Urban homesteading in Washington, D.C.

    Today's slow yet steady movement towards sustainable foods has a decidedly urban feel to it.

    This morning, sitting at my backyard patio table and drinking my morning coffee, I looked appreciatively out into my backyard and took a satisfying breath. The highway behind my house roared with the morning rush hour traffic, the high rise apartments across the street were bustling with people hurrying off to school and work, and I was sitting in my own piece of urban heaven. In the past three months, my small yet robust rhombus-shaped backyard has turned into a garden oasis rarely found in even the fertile soils of rural areas. Three raised beds and several fence-side beds later, I was staring at the most satisfying seeds I had ever sowed -- and all of this in the middle of Washington, D.C.

    Meredith Niles Cities