A fit of (oil) peak
‘IT’S THE END of the world as we know it, and we feel fine.’ Grist.org editors look on the bright side, and name a reform agenda.
Food & Water
China faces water crisis
Eighty percent of China’s rivers no longer support fish. Most surface waters are polluted and many rivers no longer reach the ocean. The per-capita water availability in northwest China is only one-quarter of the world average and the second lowest on the planet.
Sustainable Willits: unanimous vote for economic localization
A statement calling for sustainable local production of necessary goods and services including food was unanimously endorsed by the city council of Willits, California, the most Peak-Oil-aware city in the USA.
Maverick methods work just fine for both produce and the planet
Say it can’t be done and he’ll do it. So, when maverick farmer Michael Ableman ran a farm in California, he grew tomatoes without a drop of irrigation. “My goal is to be 80 per cent fossil oil-free in the next couple of years,” he declares.
Poor Africans hit hard by rising world oil prices
Africans are struggling to cope with stubbornly high global oil prices which are forcing many to walk long distances to work or schools, go hungry as food prices skyrocket, and depend on candles to light their homes.
Attack of the $3 tomato
How Portland’s snooty tastes are saving Oregon farms, luring kids back to the land and even-gasp!-teaching Republicans and Democrats to get along.
Living on the Hundred-Mile Diet
For one year we would only buy food and drink for home consumption that was produced within 100 miles of our home [in British Columbia]… This may sound like a lunatic Luddite scheme, but we had our reasons. The short form would be: fossil fuels bad. [A delightful series on local food]
Environment Headlines – 18 August, 2005
Judge Reluctant to Rule on Global Warming / Cars replacing industry as Sound’s worst foe / Climate change: Heat and light / Will Climate Wake Up Call Be Answered? / Nuclear Waste: The 1,000-Year Fudge
Sustainable World Coming
Independent scientists, economists, politicians, and activists met to share knowledge and ideas for sustainable food systems as the industrial model is close to collapse. (First conference of the Sustainable World Global Initiative held July 14-15)
Faster CO2 emissions will overwhelm earth’s capacity to absorb carbon
If current production of carbon from fossil fuels continues unabated, by the end of the century the land and oceans will be less able to take up carbon than they are today, a new computer climate model indicates.
Sustainability and Environment – 31 July, 2005
US food aid needs to encourage local farmers /
When hybrids turn NASCAR /
Bill McKibben on Cuban agriculture /
Tipperary eco-village gets planning permission /
New climate pact: For good or bad? /
Six-country pact ‘not meant to undermine Kyoto’ /
Statement of UNEP on new pact /
National Geographic on global warming
Organic farming uses less energy for same yields
Organic farming produces same the corn and soybean yields as conventional farms, but consumes less energy and no pesticides, a Cornell study finds.
