th comments
Manuel said: "This is great news! I hope all cities pass this into law.The practice of using plastic bags just to quickly dispose of them has been going on far t..." [read]

Jay Knecht said: "What are the performance stats for the Son of Max? ..." [read]

gazelle said: "@ Dallas: The book, and the supplementary videos in the "How It All Ends" youtube series, address this in detail, but I'll try to paraphrase:..." [read]

Barry said: "Kofi Annan has about as much of a clue about electric cars and developing countries as Ann Ann the Panda. He underestimates the ingenuity o..." [read]

JJ said: "Very cool. I didn't thought that biodesel might be our future fuel...." [read]

Derek said: ""I guarantee you this will spark huge debates around the world," she said. "We have to delve into this in a way that hasn't been done in a long tim..." [read]

Vertical Farm + Fish Tank + Solar Power = Balanced Diet

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 11.18.09
Food & Health

inka system closed loop vertical farm
Inka Biospheric systems

It has been a science fiction dream: the completely integrated, closed loop system "micro-farm." And we get it with the Inka Curve, a vertical minifarm that provides herbs, grasses, fruits or vegetables grown on a vertical "bio-quilt."

Article continues: Vertical Farm + Fish Tank + Solar Power = Balanced Diet

Genetically Engineered Agriculture Results in Increased Herbicide Usage; Weed Resistance, Farming Costs and Health Concerns on the Rise

by Sara Snow on 11.17.09
Food & Health

genetically engineered crops
Image via TheSquigglyLine.

If gentically engineered (GE) crops mean more chemicals, farmer costs, and health risks...is that a good thing?

If you've listened recently to public radio, you may have heard the following promotional announcement on Marketplace, produced by American Public Media: "Marketplace is supported by Monsanto, committed to sustainable agriculture; creating hybrid and biotech seeds designed to increase crop yields and conserve natural resources."

The problem with this ad, according to research published by The Organic Center, and also a recent article on Bloomberg.com, is that it is just not true.

Article continues: Genetically Engineered Agriculture Results in Increased Herbicide Usage; Weed Resistance, Farming Costs and Health Concerns on the Rise

Homemade Bone Meal: A Partial Solution to Peak Phosphate?

by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 11.14.09
Food & Health

chicken bones phosphate fertilizer photo
Image credit: Asymmetric

A looming peak oil crisis isn't the only thing we have to worry about. Jeremy has already noted that the world could be facing a severe phosphorus shortage over the coming century, a shortage that would seriously curtail our ability to grow food. (Phosphorus is a vital plant nutrient used as fertilizer.) Warren has already pointed out that recycling human urine could help preserve this precious resource, a task that's easy enough for the home gardener. But what other measures can we take at home to keep the phosphrous in our gardens? It turns out that part of the answer may lay in the bones. (The other part may lie in leaving the bones well alone.)

Article continues: Homemade Bone Meal: A Partial Solution to Peak Phosphate?

FDA Backs Off On Plan to Ban Some Gulf Oysters

by Daniel Kessler, San Francisco, California on 11.14.09
Food & Health

20090521-oyster-reef.jpg
photo: The Nature Conservancy

The Food and Drug Administration announced today that it will back off on its plan to ban as of 2011 the sale of raw oysters from the Gulf Coast during part of the year because they have been linked with about a dozen annual deaths from poisoning. The move met stiff resistance from oysterman and foodies who say that frozen oysters are no substitute and that the ban will ruin a cultural tradition.

Article continues: FDA Backs Off On Plan to Ban Some Gulf Oysters

Eating Animals, Or What Not to Eat on Thanksgiving

by Kristin Underwood, Sacramento, CA on 11.13.09
Food & Health

Cover Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran FoerPhotograph Author Jonathan Safran Foer

Eating Animals, the new book by Jonathan Safran Foer (of Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close fame) takes a look at what it actually means to give up meat, take it out of our vocab and eliminate it from our most gluttonous popular, holiday traditions. If you've read The Jungle or Fast Food Nation, or any variety of farming-industry tell-alls, this is like a 2.0 version. Safran Foer attempts to look more closely at what it means to be human and change an entire way of thinking. Like John Mayer said, "We're never gonna beat this if belief is what we're fightin' for." Then again, apparently the book was powerful enough to turn Natalie Portman vegan. No kidding.

Article continues: Eating Animals, Or What Not to Eat on Thanksgiving

Friendly Aquaponics: Commercial and Home-Scale Fish and Vegetable Production

by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 11.12.09
Food & Health

friendly aquaponics photo
Image credit: Friendly Aquaponics

It always appeals to me when I see a business that lists, as one of its goals, to "put ourselves out of business as soon as we can" by spreading its knowledge as freely as generously as possible—especially when Leonard Nimoy is quoted as inspiration. But I suspect Friendly Aquaponics in Hawaii will be in business for some time to come. And that's no bad thing. If their website is anything to go by, their aquaponics system is one of the most impressive I've seen.

Article continues: Friendly Aquaponics: Commercial and Home-Scale Fish and Vegetable Production

Window Farms: Vertical Gardens Behind Urban Glass

by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 11.12.09
Food & Health

window farm brooklyn photo
Photos: Window Farms

With city space at a premium and urban sprawl devouring previously prime agriculture land, vertical farming has been touted as one possible solution to the metropolitan masses. We've covered many of the grand schemes, most of which are likely to remain no more than stylish computer renderings of an architect's skyscrapery wet dreams.

Window Farms take the vertical farming notion and make it both real, and more human scale. Whether they are more functional art than a real direction forward for urban agriculture is a matter for conjecture. But at least the prototypes are out there growing stuff, which is way more than can be said for a CAD rendering.

Article continues: Window Farms: Vertical Gardens Behind Urban Glass

The Copenhagen Conference on Food Security

by Lester Brown, Washington, D.C on 11.11.09
Food & Health

old mother hubbard imageOld Mother Hubbard's Cupboard Was Bare. Image credit:StoryBookLane

For the 193 national delegations gathering in Copenhagen for the U.N. Climate Change Conference in December, the reasons for concern about climate change vary widely. For delegations from low-lying island countries, the principal concern is rising sea level. For countries in southern Europe, climate change means less rainfall and more drought. For countries of East Asia and the Caribbean, more powerful storms and storm surges are a growing worry.

This climate change conference is about all these things, and many more, but in a very fundamental sense, it is a conference about food security.

At Earth Policy Institute, we note that we need not go beyond ice melting to see that the world is in trouble on the food front. The melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets is raising sea level. If the Greenland ice sheet were to melt entirely, sea level would rise by 23 feet. Recent projections show that it could rise by up to 6 feet during this century.

Article continues: The Copenhagen Conference on Food Security
We'll be working on better category archives soon. In the meantime, take a look at the weekly archive if you really want to dig around, or use the search box at the top of the page.

TreeHugger breaks it down for you in a series of in depth how-to articles that will help you green your life. No time like the present!

th ads