Food & agriculture – Aug 6
US: Global Warming Could Slam Food Supply /
UK: Vegetable prices to soar as heatwave blights harvest /
China’s shrinking farmland
Food
Biofuels – Aug 6
Peaches touted as future fuel source / Gasoline’s fledgling rivals: the race to power your car / Australia: Opposition U-turn on fuel
Our changing climate: assessing the risks to California
Because most global warming emissions remain in the atmosphere for decades
or centuries, the choices we make today greatly influence the climate our children and
grandchildren inherit. The quality of life they experience will depend on if and how
rapidly California and the rest of the world reduce these emissions. (Excerpts.)
A conversation with Vinod Khosla
In my recent essay Vinod Khosla Debunked, I challenged Mr. Khosla to a written debate on his recent ethanol claims. Mr. Khosla e-mailed me shortly after that essay appeared, and offered to discuss the matter by phone. [Khosla is an influential venture capitalist now promoting ethanol.]
Cuba: the accidental revolution
The Nature of Things with David Suzuki celebrates Cuba’s success in providing for itself in the face of a massive economic crisis, and how its latest revolutions, an agricultural revolution and a revolution in science and medicine are having repercussions around the world.
Part 1: 7pm July 30 CBC
Part 2: 7pm August 6
Solutions & sustainability – July 30
Social ecologist Murray Bookchin dies at 85 / Redefining American beauty, by the yard /
The environmental benefits of vegetarianism / Sustainability Network Newsletter #60
Back(yard) to the land Family grows its meals on tiny urban lot
For most people, eating organic means a trip to the local whole-foods store and, often, a hit to their wallets. For the Dervaes family, eating organic requires only a trip to the garden. The family of four raises 3 tons of food each year — enough to supply three-quarters of their diet and maintain a thriving organic produce business to boot.
Biofuels – July 26
Green energy: ethanol and biodiesel / Redesigning life to make ethanol / Biofuel demand creates chain reaction in crop prices / Ethanol’s rise prompts worries of a corn crunch / Agency seeks to develop military aviation biofuel
Peak Oil and Community Food Security
As evidence accumulates foretelling the imminent shock of “petrocollapse,” one central concern of communities – including organized neighborhoods and small towns – should be the safety and continuity of their food supply.
Homestead security equals free-range chickens, a good dog, and Jerusalem artichokes
People routinely insure themselves against the unlikely, but most have given neither thought nor preparation to the biggest problem facing most of the world: famine.
Solutions & sustainability – July 25
Eco-party celebrates art of simple living /
The Un-Coal /
Go green, Miliband tells UK supermarket bosses /
Green Wonders of the World (building) /
Is buying local always best? /
Principled eaters gather at grill
Food shortages – July 24
Grain Drain /
Wheat price soars as world granaries run low /
India grows a grain crisis /
Zimbabwe: ‘Power Cuts Could Reduce Wheat Yield’ /
Lester Brown: The grain needed to fill an SUV’s tank could feed a person for a year /
Food crisis in Lebanon
