Musings on sustainable food systems, agriculture vs. agroecology, and more!
For my new class, I was assigned the reading “The Limits to Growth: Malthus and the Classical Economists” by E. A. Wrigley. It’s a great primer into the worries classical economists had about the state of the economy, growth and population dynamics, and was interesting enough that I decided to look further into the issue. … Continue reading What Did Malthus Really Say?
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perfectly describe the issue, and I trust in your ability to read them too, if you want, and second I fear they will be out of date by the … Continue reading April Reads and Thoughts
Can we say, three cheers for learning new things? In recent weeks I’ve felt a little in a rut, writing my thesis and having limited classroom interactions, but I started a new course today on “20th Century Agricultural Economy and Politics” and it’s looking to be oh-so-interesting. One of our textbooks is called “Agriculture in … Continue reading Agriculture – The "Worst Mistake" in Human History?
Do you sometimes feel you are getting overwhelmed by news and don’t know where to start? But going back to old-fashioned print newspapers is not an option because you spend most of your waking hours in front of the computer (hi! join the club!) and, anyhow, you like topic-specific content, but not allllll of the … Continue reading On The Radar: The FAO's Food & Agriculture Spotlight
“It was the tension — between a restless idealism on one hand and a sense of impending doom on the other — that kept me going.” — Hunter S. Thompson
I know we have talked about this before, but I found this infographic made by Yes! Magazine a great means to dig down into what differences exist between food safety laws on both sides of the Atlantic. Especially since many of these laws could be on the table during international trade negotiations soon. Americans, Europeans, join … Continue reading Food Safety Law Face-Off
It’s nice to see that, once challenges are identified, sometimes we do take steps forward to address them. This is at least the purpose of the European food-waste prevention project FUSIONS (Food Use for Social Innovation by Optimizing Waste-Prevention Strategies) that was launched in 2012 and will run until 2016. Along with UK partner WRAP (Waste … Continue reading Tackling Food Waste – One Strategy at a Time
I love having friends from around the world – it’s the best way to broaden your horizons about what is happening in different countries! My friend Brooke (hi!) pointed me towards the Bettertarian campaign that was recently launched by Meat and Livestock Australia. It’s a pretty comprehensive website that argues for abolishing inflexible diet labels (such … Continue reading The #Bettertarian Campaign – Awareness Raising or Marketing Plot?
I just came back from a gloriously sunny run during which I listened to the latest This American Life episode, and was mesmerized by the third story. You can listen to it here or find the article that it’s based on here. It’s ostentatiously about investigating the latest food craze in San Francisco – artisanal … Continue reading On Toast, Coconuts, and Community
A new study conducted by the CGIAR in collaboration with a whole number of universities (its title is “Increasing homogeneity in global food supplies and the implications for food security” and was published in the PNAS journal) sheds some light on the realities of whether our diets are converging as much as we think they … Continue reading New Evidence on Erosion of Crop Variety in Food Supply – What Consequences?
