There are many reasons for scientific research, from product development to saving the planet; all are justifiable to a degree, but sometimes the objectives get a little out of whack and affect the science. Here is an elephant example.
Humans could only live in certain parts of the world because we domesticated animals, our partners in global expansion and world domination. When we got there, we also had an eye for profit.
Sounds impossible, but there is more sustainability content on the web than Kardashian content. A hopeful outcome until we look at interest.
Everyone with sufficient, safe and nutritious food all the time is perhaps the most egalitarian definition in the diplomatic lexicon. We like it and here is why.
None of the integration of food, ecology and diet advocated here on sustainably FED is easy. There are many challenges in a more ecological way of feeding everyone well.
Farmers know what to do; they are smart folk. They adapt even when asked to think outside the box.
Nature includes biodiversity and biodiversity helps deliver ecosystem services while conservation assigns value to some of the components. How sure are you of the meaning of these technical terms?
A great fortune is bestowed on those born into a time of plenty. We are blessed with wealth that can distort our worldview. Sometimes another one is required.
Finding and keeping enough food is every organism’s bane. The endless foraging means risking being foraged or failing to find enough food. Success is longevity and the ultimate aim of making more.
Animals eat plants, humans are animals, so humans eat plants. Indeed, we eat many different plants according to this simple logic. Some animals eat other animals. Humans are one of these animals.
Overshoot is when the consumption of resources exceeds the amount available, which should trigger the ecological principle of density-dependence to pull consumption back below the resource limit. We had better hope this...
I want to alarm you. I know it is not the way to gain likes or shares, but it has to be done, so here it is… One-third of the people on earth today suffer from malnutrition.
Scientists are human too or so it is said. But unlike most of the customers in the local pub, they tend not to criticise outside of their discipline. Here we look at why that is a problem.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights set an agenda for the common achievement of all peoples, a worthy aspiration that should be at the front of everyone's mind. Here we ask what it means for food.
Humans use more energy today, roughly 173,000 terawatt-hours (TWh) than at any other time in history. This is an unfathomable number so let’s bring it back to a more human scale.
Almost all of the food grown to feed everyone well requires soil. This universal truth has been with humans every step out of Africa and across the planet.
Farming is a tough gig. Uncertainty, volatility and so many factors that cannot be controlled makes you wonder why anyone would take it on. Thankfully many do, including our buddy Joe.
Mark
