Articles by Tom Philpott
Tom Philpott was previously Grist's food writer. He now writes for Mother Jones.
All Articles
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Two stark takes from ground zero of our Gulf misadventure
John McGrath recently argued persuasively here that the Iraq War deserves to be taken more seriously by environmentalists.
No one bothers to deny it's an oil war anymore; the time has come to take it seriously as such. It's important to know what precisely is happening on the ground in Iraq, and to try to get a handle on the labyrinthine politics now at play.
To that end, here are two blunt recent reports.
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Locally grown food shouldn’t be just for those with cash to spare
As a critic of the globalized industrial food system, I often face charges of elitism — in part, likely, because I neglect to acknowledge the system’s clear achievements. So here […]
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Winter veggies served with a labor shortage and a side of rocket fuel
Last summer, plenty of drama emanated from California's Salinas Valley, epicenter of industrial vegetable production (organic and otherwise) and self-proclaimed "nation's salad bowl."
The season began amid grumbles among growers about a labor shortage. To paraphrase their complaint: Not enough Mexican workers are sneaking across the border, and ones who are are drawn into higher-paying construction jobs.
The season ended in an ignominious nationwide E. coli outbreak that killed three people and sickened hundreds of others.
About this time each year, industrial vegetable production shifts to Arizona's Yuma County, source of 90 percent of winter vegetables in the U.S. and (gasp) 98 percent of its iceberg lettuce. Let the drama begin.
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How to pick wines that don’t taste computer-programmed
How to choose wine for the Thanksgiving table?
There will either be pressure, financial and otherwise, to grab big bottles of cheap plonk off the supermarket shelf, or conversely, pressure to consult Wine Spectator or some other "expert" source and find bottles receiving high scores. Resist both impulses. Here's why -- and how.
