Jul 14
The Demise of Biodiversity I come from a family of amateur farmers. For as long as I can remember, my backyard in New Jersey has been filled with several types of cucumber, tomato, hot peppers, basil and lettuce plants, all courtesy of the tender ministrations of my grandfather and father. Growing up around such a …
Jul 13
2)Biofuels: a Trojan horse? In a previous post I discussed one of the reasons why some crops (such as corn and soybean) have gained so much importance in our agriculture. Our food system and our food quality are set up in a way that inevitably increases the demand of these two crops, and economical and …
Jul 13
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) announced on July 7th that it will be coming together with Spain to organize the First International Congress on Ethics and Tourism. The conference will be held on the 15th and 16th of September in Madrid and will cover issues such as responsible tourism, fair tourism and poverty reduction, and the role of the …
Jul 12
Debunking Some of the Myths About Organic Food Last week I wrote on the importance of understanding your food, based on knowing where your food comes from, and how to eat organically or locally in a bid to be environmentally friendly and health conscious. While making the move to organic foods products is a good …
Jul 11
There are currently one billion people around the world who are hungry. With inefficient farming practices, poor distribution, record high food prices, and a global population that’s expected to reach over nine billion by 2050, food security is a huge challenge worldwide. Plain and simple: current methods aren’t working, and changes must be made in …
Jul 05
A few weeks ago I was walking in New York City without direction nor destination. By a series of fortunate events, I unexpectedly came across a really good conference held at the New York Center for Architecture. The conferece was discussing the winner of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge (from the Buckminster Institute). The Buckminster Fuller …
Jul 05
Ever since the successful cloning of a mammal, Dolly the sheep, cloning has been a hot and controversial topic. In addition to the moral and ethical issues with cloning, most of the recent focus has been on whether it’s safe to use the offspring of cloned animals as a food source. Animals like pigs and …
Jul 04
Since this is a holiday weekend, I thought I would post something a bit more lighthearted: a Youtube video about voluntourism and sustainable travel in Laos. Voluntourism, or volunteer tourism, has gained a lot of popularity in recent years as tourists search for ways to have a unique vacation experience and give back to the …
Jun 30
Currently, the Eastern part of Africa is experiencing one of the worst droughts on record. More than ten million people are affected in countries such as Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Uganda. With increasing food prices, dry land, failing crops and dying livestock, many Africans in these countries simply don’t have access to food. Malnutrition …
Jun 30
A Carp by Any Other Name Would Taste So Delicious Asian carp, originally brought to America in the 1970s to clean ponds, has since escaped to major waterways, reproduced at lightening speed, and has now become an invasive species. Able to grow up to 100 pounds, these carp eat so much that they threaten other …
