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Dinner Table Diplomacy
July 19, 2010 2 min. read

While tackling drought and famine may be some of the top concerns for today’s developing nations, the steady growth of the demand for specialty foods in the United States over the past decade may have the potential to assist in the growth of their economies. Now making up almost 16% of U.S. food sales, the […]

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O Brave New Renewable World
July 18, 2010 3 min. read

We looked in the last post at the virtually limitless potential of renewables to supply all of our energy needs: electricity, heating and cooling, and transportation. Indications are that we are well advanced on this path.  I tell people that if you’d told me a dozen years ago we were going to see the penetration […]

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Renewables – Are We Winning?!
July 16, 2010 4 min. read

When I was at the Urban Green Expo last fall, the Energy Maha Guru Amory Lovins gave a riveting talk.  He said:  “The Renewable Revolution has been won.  Sorry, if you missed it.”  I let out a yell.  Well, as I’ve been noting here, this is not mere hyperbole.  Here’s more evidence. In Europe, they’re […]

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EU reconsiders "Frankenfoods"
July 15, 2010 2 min. read

This week, the highly controversial issue of genetically modified organisms (or GMO’s for short) was thrown into the limelight, when members of the European Union proposed a new policy meant to broaden the availability of such foods known to many Europeans as “Frankenfoods.” The flexibility of this new policy is aimed at enabling countries like […]

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Shine, Baby, Shine
July 15, 2010 1 min. read

Larry Hagman, forever known as J.R. Ewing from “Dallas” (but better remembered by me as Major Tony Nelson, master of Jeannie the genie) is doing a series of ads for SolarWorld, one of the biggest PV manufacturers.  Hagman has the largest solar array of any residence in the US, maybe the world.  He has also […]

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Some Great New Graphics
July 14, 2010 2 min. read

The Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) is an information and analysis tool on global climate change developed by the World Resources Institute.  It contains a truly impressive array of databases and graphics, excellent for delving deeply into questions of who, what, when, where and why greenhouse gases are being produced.  It has data for the […]

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Nigeria: Gearing up to fight food shortages
July 12, 2010 1 min. read

An AllAfrica.com article reports that state authorities and aid agencies in northern Nigeria are preparing to combat predicted food shortages. This follows poor and erratic rainfall in 2009 and predicted poor rainfall again this year. The Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) warned that 12 million people across northern Nigeria could face a lack of basic […]

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‘Business as usual’ crop development won’t satisfy future demand
July 12, 2010 2 min. read

Recent studies undertaken by the University of Illinois state that new methods of crop development must be adopted in response to climate change if grain production is to meet future demand. Don Ort, a University of Illinois professor of crop sciences and USDA/ARS scientist argues that “global change is happening so quickly that its impact […]

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Food makes the G-20 agenda
July 9, 2010 2 min. read

At the 2010 G20 Summit held recently in Toronto, world leaders committed to more funding to address climate change and food security across the globe. Predictably, the global financial crisis has impacted those living in poverty the most, raising food prices above the reach of millions, resulting in an estimated addition of 109 million people […]

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Of Pipelines and Tar Sands
July 9, 2010 4 min. read

After some reflection, I can think of nothing good to say about the Alberta tar sands.  The best thing that most people say here is that Canada is not Saudi Arabia or Venezuela and therefore if the US is importing billions of barrels a year (4.28 in 2009), then we’re getting more (900 million) from […]

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More GHGs from China and India
July 5, 2010 3 min. read

Amid all the doom and gloom that the media and some of the major environmental groups promulgated before, during and after Copenhagen last December, some voices pointed out that there were important breakthroughs.  One important group, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), noted that “… for the first time, all major economies, including China, India, […]

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