Older Americans are more food insecure, with dramatic increases in age categories ranging from 40 to 49, 50 to 59 and 60 and older. The AARP Foundation’s August 2011 report, “Food Security Among Older Adults,” measured survey responses from older Americans in these three age categories. Respondents were then grouped as marginally food insecure; food […]
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has produced four comprehensive Assessment Reports since 1990 detailing the science behind climate change, the impacts, ways to mitigate our radical forcing of the climate system, and ways to adapt to the clear, present, and intensifying dangers that this crisis engenders. The IPCC has also produced some extremely […]
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced her intention of lifting her country’s ban on sales of uranium to India. Although this will set up a clash within the Labor and Green coalition, she probably doesn’t have to muster the votes to push this through the Australian Parliament; an executive order may well suffice. Even […]
The Keystone XL Pipeline extension proposed by TransCanada is current in planning limbo after the November 10 decision by the Obama administration not to make a decision on going ahead with or killing it. If and when built, it would bring crude from Alberta, Canada’s oils sands to the Gulf Coast of the US. The […]
As I noted recently, the pressure is building on the Keystone XL pipeline. 350.org and the many brothers and sisters who have been affiliating themselves with their actions to stop the pipeline – and indeed the tar sands development in Alberta – were in Washington in August and exercised their civil disobedience muscles. Hundreds were […]
I went to hear a most interesting talk the other night, centered on how we need to get much smarter, quick, about agriculture and what we eat. Jonathan Foley, the Director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota, gave the broad outlines of our dilemma relative to climate change and […]
Attempting to quantify the depth of damage to global food security by the food crisis of 2006-2008, UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released its annual “The State of Food Insecurity in the World” report. The theme of the report coincides with the recent World Food Day celebration and related events, examining how food price […]
I’ve written about or referenced the Keystone XL project and the Alberta tar sands a fair number of times, including at this post for DeSmogBlog. The picture shows protesters at the White House last summer. The folks at 350.org led the demonstrations there and are organizing another action for November 6th. The pipeline and the […]
On October 19, seven American solar manufacturing companies asked the government to slap 100% tariffs on Chinese solar imports alleging unfair trading practices. The Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing’s President Gordon Brinser said, “Chinese producers have used – and continue to use – continuous increases in production capacity and output, fueled by unprecedented levels of […]
Easy conversion of biomass to oil for transportation fuels and other purposes? It’s a fine thing, particularly if you are using waste products like forest or agricultural wastes, or garbage. I have two caveats, though: (1) Why not make the biomass into biochar? It does more good than just providing fuel. It also provides […]
The International Energy Agency’s chief economist, Fatih Birol, stated yesterday that the oil industry needs about $38 trillion in investment to meet global demand for energy through 2035. He was speaking at a two-day ministers’ meeting foreshadowing the contents of the World Energy Outlook, due out November 9. Breaking the figure down, $10.0 trillion is […]
World Food Day 2011 will be commemorated on Sunday, October 16th, starting two weeks of programs and events focusing attention on the effect that volatile swings in food prices are affecting the poor. World Food Day was originally started to celebrate the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and has since […]
The good folks at Masters in Environmental Science have collated some very good infographics on climate change that are worth your seeing. Here is one on the “carbon footprint” that shows how different countries are performing both on a gross output basis and per capita. (All credit here to Miller-McCune, the excellent media outlet, and […]
Even before it was a country, the United States has drawn people eager to realize the opportunities that it affords to new arrivals. For refugees living in the United States, however, their arrival often accompanies a traumatic break from their homelands because of conflict or persecution. The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement initiated a program […]
Working with a local telecommunications company, the World Food Programme (WFP) has developed a program in the Ivory Coast to facilitate cash transfers that can be used by thousands of Ivorians to by food despite a climate of political violence. WFP provides $75.00 per month to households, benefiting 54,000 people in the Ivory Coast. However, […]