Over at Eco Women: Protectors of the Planet! you can find eight resolutions for 2012. A few of them make sense: turn off any unnecessary appliance; choose tap water over bottled water; cut down on meat. These are, if not necessarily environmentally sensible, at least economically sensible. I have quibbles with their list but itContinue reading “Resolved to go organic in 2012? Consider these 10 points.”
Tag Archives: Agriculture
Comparing organic farming to conventional. Is one better for the environment?
Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution, estimated we could feed four billion people if we used organic farming. The earth now is home to seven billion people and will probably go to nine billion before leveling off and declining, according to the United Nations. Organic farming means 50% of our world population would dieContinue reading “Comparing organic farming to conventional. Is one better for the environment?”
Working landscapes, environmental correctness
According to a 2001 agricultural economic report, “urban expansion claimed more than 1 million acres per year between 1960 and 1990″ in the United States, and that expansion follows one of two two routes: 1. expansion of urban areas or 2. large-lot development (greater than 1 acre per house). (Heimlich 2001) Land trusts throughoutContinue reading “Working landscapes, environmental correctness”
Hello rainforest, it’s me, organic
I like local produce: local pears, local wines, and ripe local tomatoes. I like buying from the folks who produced them. Maybe it can even put me in touch with the seasons. Those are good things, but buying local food does not imbue such commerce with environmental greenness. And buying organic, may be less green.Continue reading “Hello rainforest, it’s me, organic”
Locally produced organically grown. Better for the environment?
Last week we looked at the locavore movement (called Not livin’ la vida locavore). My conclusion was that while local is tasty, food-miles are less than half the energy of storage and prep. Transport accounts for only 14 percent of the energy of a product in the food system. The locavore movement also touts organicallyContinue reading “Locally produced organically grown. Better for the environment?”
Deforestation: causes and cures
Cute, clever, incorrect. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations’s Forest Resource Assessment for 2005 uses the word “alarming” 20 times to describe the trend lines for deforestation. And, a commonplace inference is that forests are rapidly disappearing due to logging. Yet deforestation is not necessarily the result of logging (illegal orContinue reading “Deforestation: causes and cures”
New Zealand Forestry and California Dreaming
“We Californians are really not very good conservationists – we’re very good preservationists. Conservation means you use resources well and responsibly. Preservation means you are rich enough to set aside things you want and buy them from someone else.” – William Libby, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley New Zealand harvests trees. Today, with overContinue reading “New Zealand Forestry and California Dreaming”
Nullius in Verba 