Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Overweight ‘top world’s hungry’ / Living ourselves to death / Eat, memory: family heirloom (Masumoto in NYT) / Meat eaters without the guilt / Texas 2006 ag losses worst single-year total ever / Rice prices may double by 2008
Amazonian Dark Earth, or terra preta do indio, has mystified science for the last hundred years. Three times richer in nitrogen and phosphorous, and twenty times the carbon of normal soils, terra preta is the legacy of ancient Amazonians who predate Western civilization…Claims for biochar’s capacity to capture carbon sound almost audacious.
In the coming years we may be faced with [hoarding] in many markets. The most devastating and far-reaching effects could come in the energy markets. Will the just-in-time religion which swept the world in the 1990s survive such a dynamic?
Hope has withered for India’s farmers / Acid rain in China threatening food chain / Cuba’s agricultural revolution an example to the world
Tories plan radical green transport tax / The greenback pack (rich greens) / Green tech’s growth / What’s a clean Earth worth (to your business) ?
The Soil Association is looking ahead and preparing for a post peak oil world as an organisational priority. Our aim is to create a new, localised food culture that will deliver long-term quality of life in place of the old dynamic of unrestrained globalisation and short-termist exploitation.
Food prices would soar in biofuels switch, says Unilever /
Chez Kaiser’s food revolution: Hospital experiment putting locally grown produce on patients’ plates /
Micropropagation and sustainability
US: Global Warming Could Slam Food Supply /
UK: Vegetable prices to soar as heatwave blights harvest /
China’s shrinking farmland
Peaches touted as future fuel source / Gasoline’s fledgling rivals: the race to power your car / Australia: Opposition U-turn on fuel
Because most global warming emissions remain in the atmosphere for decades
or centuries, the choices we make today greatly influence the climate our children and
grandchildren inherit. The quality of life they experience will depend on if and how
rapidly California and the rest of the world reduce these emissions. (Excerpts.)
In my recent essay Vinod Khosla Debunked, I challenged Mr. Khosla to a written debate on his recent ethanol claims. Mr. Khosla e-mailed me shortly after that essay appeared, and offered to discuss the matter by phone. [Khosla is an influential venture capitalist now promoting ethanol.]
The Nature of Things with David Suzuki celebrates Cuba’s success in providing for itself in the face of a massive economic crisis, and how its latest revolutions, an agricultural revolution and a revolution in science and medicine are having repercussions around the world.
Part 1: 7pm July 30 CBC
Part 2: 7pm August 6
