Biting the Hands that Feed Us from Security & Sustainability Forum on Vimeo.
Aired on 9/27/2016
Food waste, hunger, inhumane livestock conditions, disappearing fish stocks. These are exactly the kind of issues we expect food regulations to combat. Yet, today in the United States, laws exist at all levels of government that actually make these problems worse.
SSF and Island Press had a webinar featuring Baylen Linnekin, author of Biting the Hands that Feed Us, which introduced readers to the perverse consequences of many food rules. Some of these rules constrain the sale of “ugly” fruits and vegetables, relegating bushels of tasty but misshapen carrots and strawberries to food waste.
Baylen J. Linnekin is a food lawyer, adjunct professor at Antonin Scalia Law School where he teaches Food Law & Policy, and a founding board member of the Academy of Food Law & Policy. His writings have appeared in the Wisconsin Law Review, Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, Boston Globe, N.Y. Post, Reason, Huffington Post, and elsewhere. He has appeared on MSNBC, Fox Business Channel, BBC Radio, and more than 150 other radio and TV programs and has been quoted by the Wall St. Journal, Washington Post, L.A. Times, Chicago Tribune, Politico, Reuters, and many others. Linnekin has spoken at Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, and dozens of other top law schools and universities. Baylen argues that, too often, government rules handcuff America’s most sustainable farmers, producers, sellers, and consumers, while rewarding those whose practices are anything but sustainable.
Baylen is joined by Joshua Ulan Galperin, Director of the Environmental Protection Clinic and Clinical Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School. Josh is also the Environmental Law and Policy Program Director at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (F&ES). In addition to directing and teaching the Environmental Protection Clinic, Josh directs the dual law-environment degree program between F&ES and Pace, Vermont, and Yale law schools. He is also a lead collaborator in the Land Use Collaborative.
Laurie Ristino
Professor Laurie Ristino, Associate Professor of Law at Vermont Law School moderates the webinar. Laurie is the first Director of the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law School, the most comprehensive law program for sustainable food systems in the nation. Prior to joining the VLS faculty, Laurie practiced environmental law at the USDA in Washington, DC for twenty years, advising both the Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service. She is an expert on title II of the farm bill. Laurie holds a BA from the University of Michigan, a JD from the University of Iowa, an MPA from George Mason University, and a Certificate in Executive Leadership from American University. She has published and provided national commentary on the role of law in the food movement as well as on agriculture and its impacts on the environment. Her most recent work focuses on the use of the law married to technology, media and design to scale social change in the food movement. Laurie is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar, the American Bar Association, and an Associate Member of the Environmental Law Institute.
