Center for a Livable Future

New Unconfined episode! Host Tom Philpott and the managing attorney of the Antimonopoly Counsel, Basel Musharbash, talk about the power of big companies behind our food system and why that should matter to all of us. https://clf.jhsph.edu/unconfined-podcast/behemoths-lurking-grocery-aisles

From the latest issue of Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine: the 85-mile stretch between New Orleans and Baton Rouge is home to 200 oil, gas, and petrochemical operations, known as Cancer Alley. In 2023, EHE/CLF’s Keeve Nachman and EHE’s Peter DeCarlo studied air pollution in fenceline communities there, finding that health risks had been seriously underestimated.

The Poison Next Door: Measuring Risk in Cancer Alley | Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine Louisiana’s Cancer Alley has a long history of lax environmental regulation of petrochemical industries. Can better data make communities safer?

Our CLF Spring Newsletter is out now! For CLF this year, renewal has meant homecoming. We have moved our offices back to the School’s Wolfe Street Building. Explore our recent projects and media mentions. https://mailchi.mp/jhu/the-clf-quarterly-spring2026?e=8f7504384e

New research links living near pig farms to higher risk of antibiotic-resistant infections. Liberal antimicrobial use in agriculture can drive hard-to-treat infections among farmworkers and beyond, raising serious public health and labor concerns. “The use of antimicrobial drugs, in the quantities used in food animal production, poses a risk to human health,” says CLF’s Chris Heaney. Learn more:

Why farm workers need protection from antimicrobial resistance Antibiotic use in agriculture threatens the health of workers and their communities, but there are potential solutions.

Professor Roni Neff led her Baltimore Food Systems class on a field trip to Albright Farms and Prigel Family Creamery. Students gained firsthand insights into sustainable farming practices, animal care, and the business of food.

In early May, CLF’s Philip McNab and Roni Neff supported Master of Public Health students during the annual MPH Capstone presentations.

A former federal meat inspector warns that a Trump-era USDA proposal to speed up slaughterhouses could mean more worker injuries, more contamination, and heavier pollution in already-burdened communities. CLF’s Patti Truant Anderson estimates the increase in poultry production alone would need an extra 114 billion liters of water each year and generate about 2 billion kg of CO2. Read more:

'A matter of life and death': USDA proposal draws concern from former inspectors "We need advocates and real laws that have teeth."

After 12 years of quietly building strong food systems, the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future’s Food Policy Networks (FPN) project is becoming an independent entity. Since 2013, FPN has supported food policy councils through deep listening, research, and trust-building—creating space for collaboration and lasting change across the U.S. We celebrate this next chapter as the project evolves into a new kind of network with an enhanced mission. Learn more https://clf.jhsph.edu/stories/fpn-project-12-years-democracy-action

We’re excited to welcome the 2026 cohort of the Food Systems & Public Health Fellowship for Journalists at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future! Learn more about the program and check out their bios. https://clf.jhsph.edu/about-us/news/news-2026/johns-hopkins-center-livable-future-announces-2026-cohort-food-systems-and

The Trump administration’s proposal to speed up poultry processing lines raises climate concerns. CLF researchers finds the USDA’s projected 1.4 billion extra pounds of poultry could use an additional 114 billion liters of water a year and add ~2 billion kg CO2 — roughly the annual emissions of 467,000 cars. Processing rules are a climate issue. Read more:

Faster Slaughterhouse Line Speeds Are Increasingly a Climate Problem - Inside Climate News Reacting to Trump administration proposals calling for higher-paced processing, critics say protections for workers, animals and food safety are not the only concerns.