Beyond Environmental Sustainability – Pursuing Social Justice in the Food System

Just now I was working on an application for a teaching job on Sustainable Development and reflecting on how often we conflate “sustainability” with “environmentalism”. Yes, of course protecting the environment is important, especially in an activity so dependent on ecosystems as agriculture, but just as important is the second pillar of sustainability – the … Continue reading Beyond Environmental Sustainability – Pursuing Social Justice in the Food System

The Seed Empires of Today

(via cornucopia.org; click through for a larger image/to zoom in) This is really scary to me. Within my economics background (and despite the fact that I don’t always agree with all the axioms we learn there), such a concentration of any particular industry is generally seen as bad news. “Oligopolies” (a situation where a small … Continue reading The Seed Empires of Today

Sugar: 3 (+1) Perspectives

Ohhh sugar. We love it, right? But often, it is also the demise of self-control, of overeating, and of our long-term health. Here are three articles that – topically, now in January – look at sugar and its addictive power.