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Revitalizing China’s Dust Bowl
Mara Hvistendahl, WorldChanging
Western China is turning into a massive dust bowl. Desertification now affects fully one-third of the world’s population — and what’s happening in Western China represents the largest conversion of productive land to desert anywhere in the world, consuming over one million acres of land each year. The dust isn’t confined to the west: every spring, massive sandstorms roar through Beijing, blanketing the city with tons of dust.
The October issue of the Canadian magazine The Walrus has an excellent feature by Patrick Alleyn on efforts to combat desertification in China (subscription-only, but 10-day trials are available). Benoit Aquin’s startling photos, which accompany the article, have been circulating on Chinese bulletin boards.
In China, desertification is exacerbated by overgrazing by sheep and other animals. As Chinese make more money, they are eating greater quantities of meat; by last year, herd numbers had increased fourfold over 1960s levels. The Chinese government has responded by imposing grazing bans and relocating rural residents to settlements that are effectively ecological refugee camps.
(8 October 2007)
Startling: “what’s happening in Western China represents the largest conversion of productive land to desert anywhere in the world” -BA
Bird seed prices take wing
Joel J. Smith, The Detroit News
Cracked corn and sunflower seeds don’t sell for chicken feed any more.
The price of traditional bird seeds has soared 50 percent or more in the past six months, prompting many backyard bird lovers in Metro Detroit to either bear the extra cost or switch to cheaper grub for their feathered friends.
As demand for commodities such as corn and sunflower oils grows, for reasons ranging from alternative fuel politics to healthier drive-through french fries, price increases are making themselves felt beyond the human food chain.
“The bird feed industry is under siege from everywhere,” said Gary Phillips, owner of the Backyard Birds store in Plymouth, which sells about six tons of bird feed a month. “It’s like the perfect storm.”
Retailers say the majority of their customers are elderly and they spend a lot of their leisure time feeding and watching birds. Many of them are on fixed incomes, and the higher prices are hurting their budgets.
(8 October 2007)
A lot of ingredients go into rising grocery bills
Associated Press
Booming China, biofuels use, weak dollar mean costs will continue upward
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NEW YORK – This morning, your bowl of cereal and milk probably cost you 49 cents. Last year, it was 44 cents. By next year, it could be 56 cents. It’s enough to make you cry in your cornflakes.
The forces behind the rise in food prices – China’s economic boom, a growing biofuels industry and a weak U.S. dollar – are global and not letting up anytime soon. Grocery receipts are bulging because the raw ingredients, packaging and fuel that go into the price of foodstuffs cost more than they have in decades.
It’s the worst bout of food inflation since 1990, but not yet worrisome to the economy, said John Lonski, chief economist of Moody’s Investor Service.
(8 October 2007)
