Biofuels – Apr 27
MIT: The case for burying charcoal
Reduce corn stover for ethanol to preserve soil quality?
Food & Water
Our world is finite: Is this a problem?
We all know the world is finite. We also know that growth is central to our way of life. At some point, growth in resource utilization must collide with the fact that the world is finite. We are now reaching that point. (Includes discussion questions)
Food & agriculture – Apr 22
Michael Pollan on the farm bill: “You are what you grow”
Agriculture and climate change in the Philippines
Where are the lifeboat communities?
Since the limits to growth first came into sight in the Seventies, the creation of “lifeboat communities” to preserve civilization’s legacy through the approaching dark ages has been much discussed. Very little has been done, though, to transform that discussion into action. Crucial lessons can be learned from that failure to act.
Biofuels – Apr 19
Chavez backpedals on ethanol; car buff says ethanol is insanity
Ethanol may cause [slightly] more smog, deaths
Competition between food & fuel, expert warns
U.S. needs to perfect cellulosic ethanol – can it?
Food & agriculture – Apr 19
Boom in oilseed rape – a blessing or a curse?
Save our oceans, eat like a pig
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
Albert Bates, guide for our post-petroleum, globally warmed future
“We have an individual preparedness to be concerned with, and that involves securing a supply of food, water, shelter and other basic needs for yourself and your immediate community. And then we have a larger social preparedness, without which there is no hope for the individual to survive.”
You are now entering an oil-free zone
Some towns in the UK aren’t waiting to see whether there will be alternative energy sources when the oil runs out – they’re already trying to do without it. (Transition Towns)
Food & agriculture – Apr 17
Preparing for a world without honeybees
GAO: U.S. food aid practices are wasteful
Astyk:
Food security and relocalization
WSJ:
Ethanol helps lift food costs
Humus, Humility, and Humanure
The Latin root for humus, humility, and humanure are all the same, and translates as “earth.”
Food & agriculture – Apr 13
The self-sufficient gourmand (on 1/3 acre)
Urban farming thrives in Cuba
WorldChanging on apiculture
Peak Soil: Why cellulosic ethanol, biofuels are unsustainable and a threat to America
Biofuels are not sustainable or renewable. Why would we destroy our topsoil, increase global warming, deplete and pollute groundwater, destroy fisheries, and use more energy than what’s gained to make ethanol?
(Detailed analysis)
