Musings on sustainable food systems, agriculture vs. agroecology, and more!
This is one of those le sigh posts. Having been born in 1989, it sometimes feels as if it is upon our generation to figure out the way into a sustainable future. When analyzing current policy priorities, one would assume that the problems attached to indefinite per-capita consumption – concerning resource use, pollution and social … Continue reading Sustainable Consumption Policies: What Is Left of Rio?
Have you heard of agroecology? This is a holistic agricultural production system that is similar to organic methods, but yet not exactly the same. The Christensen Fund has made a great infographic that compares and contrasts the agroecological with the conventional system from sky to soil: As this handy policy brief explains, “based on a … Continue reading Agroecology: The Alternative of the Future?
Hej hej, I hope you had a relaxing weekend. I’m busy busy with interview preparations, but just wanted to check in to share these 10 awesome short films that were selected as finalists for the Real Food Media Contest. They promise to be really inspiring and to spread the word about sustainable farming and eating. … Continue reading Real Food Video Contest – Finalists Announced!
… or, alternative title: “Can anybody explain how the EU works?” Have you heard the news? The European Commission is set to approve a new variety of genetically modified corn (a variety called Pioneer 1507 which was developed jointly by Dow Chemical and DuPont) despite the fact that 19 out of 28 countries oppose its … Continue reading The EU GM Battle Goes in the Next Round…
I was pretty perplexed when I realized that exactly one year ago I wrote my first post on this blog – has it already been so long? It doesn’t feel like it at all, which just comes to show that I like doing it, I guess. And it’s so exciting that one year later, people … Continue reading Happy Blogiversary! And Thanks for Reading!
On Wednesday, as anticipated, the House of Representatives passed the Farm Bill after a 2 year impasse with 251 to 166 votes. The Democratic leadership of the Senate has already endorsed it, making it likely that it will pass the Senate floor as well in the coming week and be on President Obama’s desk soon. … Continue reading The USA Have A Farm Bill! Halle … Well … Yeah.
(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
Since my post about nitrogen fertilizer is still one of the most successful ones yet (who’d thought?), and I’ve been working non-stop this week on a paper to analyze phosphorus and its resource, phosphate rock, for a paper in my class Economic Growth and Sustainable Development, I thought I’d give you some insights into what … Continue reading 10 Things I Didn't Know About Phosphorus Fertilizer
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?
It seems in December there is always a surge of announcements that the next year will be dedicated to one cause or another. For 2014, it’s now supposedly the Year of the Brain, the Year of Crystallography, the EU-Russia Year of Science, but also… The International Year of Family Farming! The FAO launched a big … Continue reading 2014 Declared the International Year of Family Farming