Sierra Club Communications Internship Focuses on Sustainable Agriculture Video Project

Dates of Internship:  Negotiable between April and September 2014

Hours: 10 hours per week for 12 weeks; flexible and can be worked around your school schedule.

Location: Work from home as well as option of working in Lansing office

Internship Responsibilities
You will be directly assisting Sierra Club Michigan Chapter staff in protecting the environment and our water resources by helping us with communication strategies including social media and video projects.

Responsibilities include:

- Coordinate sustainable agriculture video testimonial project:

·         Help develop at least two consumer and two farmer videos to launch the project--identify consumers/farmers willing to testify for sustainable agriculture on camera, develop script/talking points and record videos

·         Identify places such as farmers markets to get consumer and farmer video testimonials throughout summer; Recruit volunteers and set schedule to record videos at identified locations

·         Help promote project on social media

- Assist Chapter communications committee with projects as needed

- Other duties available such as data entry, research and event tabling upon occasion

Qualifications
The ideal applicant will have course work or a major in environmental communications or policy and experience with video and social media, and good writing and research skills as well as a knowledge or interest in environmental issues and factory farm issues in particular, and proficiency in Microsoft Office applications.  Ability to work independently.  Strongly self-motivated.

Compensation:  Internship comes with a stipend.

Contact: Gail Philbin, gail.philbin@sierraclub.org , 312-493-2384

Big Food Company Recalls Almost Nine Million Pounds Of Beef That Were Never Inspected

BY SY MUKHERJEE ON FEBRUARY 10, 2014 AT 4:57 PM

CREDIT: Shutterstock

PETALUMA, Calif. California-based Rancho Food Corp. has recalled over 8.7 million pounds of beef products — including oxtail, liver, tongue, and cow carcasses — because the animals they came from were diseased and never inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). That’s equivalent to a full year’s worth of beef that gets processed by the company. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, which has been investigating Rancho Food, classified it as a Class I recall out of fears that the uninspected meat may cause serious medical harm to consumers.

The massive recall comes just one month after Rancho Food Corp. had to recall another 40,000 pounds worth of meat that hadn’t been inspected. There have been no reported illnesses linked with the products to date.
Food recalls are alarmingly common in America. Foodborne illnesses cost the U.S. about $152 billion per year, sickens 48 million Americans annually, and kills 3,000 people ever year. The proliferation of massive, national food companies such as Cargill Beef also makes recalls tricky, since products from a tainted batch may be shipped all across the country.

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