Musings on sustainable food systems, agriculture vs. agroecology, and more!
Wowowow I saw and bookmarked so many articles recently that I wanted to write about in more detail – but first, many of these articles already perfectly describe the issue, and I trust in your ability to read them too, if you want, and second I fear they will be out of date by the … Continue reading April Reads and Thoughts
There might be some rain coming soon, but it might still not be enough to quench the drought in California. Apparently, this past year has been the driest in the past half millennium for the state. Currently, the federal government says that “every square mile of California is in some state of drought—and 14.62% of … Continue reading Drought in California = Food Shortage in the USA?
How are your holidays going, everybody? I hope you spent a wonderful Christmas season and are still in the delicious between-Christmas-and-New-Year limbo that doesn’t require you to do anything whatsoever but read and sip eggnog and mulled wine and relax. Have you started thinking about your New Year’s resolutions? I often think that resolutions are … Continue reading For A (Climate-) Healthy 2014
Right now, I’m taking a class on “Economic Growth and Sustainable Development”. In it, we discuss a lot of economic notions on how to deal with non-renewable resources that might run out in the future, and how to accommodate economic growth within the confines of a finite planet. While I have found our discussions fascinating, … Continue reading Our Climate Budget – Already in the Red?
Well, the Warsaw summit on climate change has turned out to be a major disappointment, with many prominent NGOs walking out prematurely to signal their protest at governmental inaction and last-ditch agreements remaining vague and postponing real commitments to future meetings. Commentators especially deplored the lack of urgency that seemed to reign among the negotiators, … Continue reading What Does Warsaw Mean for Agriculture?
A couple of years ago, the world thought it had found a solution toward more sustainable transportation patterns – instead of pumping fuel out of the ground, why not grow it? The subsequent ethanol craze is one of the best examples of how policy decisions can have very real – one could even say, dramatic … Continue reading The Ethanol Saga – A Tale of Politics, Interest Groups, and Scientific Head-Butting
Well, after another couple of hours of editing (why does the final version always take so long to get consistent? And why did we nearly forget to include our most important source in the bibliography? Questions…) I finally sent off our Cost Benefit Analysis project to our teacher and thought that since my friend and … Continue reading Drilling in the Rainforest – Is it Worth It? Our Yasuni CBA
I was going to write this up as well, but saw Noah already did a superb job on it – so, apparently climate change WILL affect food supplies in big ways until 2050. Lots of work cut out for us in the food policy business!
Happy Saturday! While environmental management had never been the forte of the Soviet Union, its collapse had even more dire environmental consequences, with the abandonment of mineral and chemical factories and the shirking of responsibilities for clean-ups, and the subsequent development of the oil and gas sector by oligarchs that now constitute one of the … Continue reading Weekend Reads – Post-Soviet Contributions to Fight Climate Change
I love information that is being visualized, and this is a particularly interesting assembly of stats on corn production in the US, including its use in ethanol. Also the “ethanol supply” curve shows the huge impact that policies (such as mandatory renewable fuel use) can have on food systems. All the more important to get … Continue reading Fields of Gold: Changes in the US Corn Industry