Mental health, public health, global health. New and interesting developments in technology and the arts. Meditation research. And occasionally cute animals.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Of all the inadequacies revealed by the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, maybe none is as fundamental as the failure of companies, markets and government to put a price tag on natural assets.
From deep-sea fishing grounds to shallow-water nurseries to hurricane-blunting wetlands, multiple Gulf ecosystems have demonstrable utilitarian and economic value. Yet except for one think tank, nobody has tried to calculate that value.
The weedkillers atrazine and simazine were introduced in 1958. Ten years later, a plant nursery in the US that had been regularly using the pesticides reported that they were no longer effective against a plant called common groundsel – the first confirmed case of herbicide resistance.
Half a century on, the number of known strains of resistant weeds stands at 357 and counting. “Herbicide resistance is a fantastic example of evolution in response to human-induced selection pressure,” says Stephen Powles of the University of Western Australia in Perth, who studies the problem.
Brazilian scientists have developed a way of using fibers from bananas, pineapples and other plants to create plastic that is stronger and lighter than the petroleum-based stuff. So-called nanocellulose fibers rival Kevlar in strength but are renewable, and the researchers believe they could be widely used within a couple of years.
In 2010 the U.N. agreed to a resolution declaring the human right to
For more than 50 years microbiologists have warned against using antibiotics to fatten up farm animals. The practice, they argue, threatens human health by turning farms into breeding grounds of drug-resistant bacteria. Farmers responded that restricting antibiotics in livestock would devastate the industry and significantly raise costs to consumers. We now have empirical data that should resolve this debate. Since 1995 Denmark has enforced progressively tighter rules on the use of antibiotics in the raising of pigs, poultry and other livestock. In the process, it has shown that it is possible to protect human health without hurting farmers.
In the wee hours of Friday morning, delegates attending the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity in Nagoya, Japan, reached an ambitious agreement to save the world’s ecosystems. Representing almost 200 countries, the delegates pledged to protect 17 per cent of land and inland waters and 10 per cent of the oceans by 2020. Today, 13 per cent of land is protected but only 1 per cent of the oceans.
A report by the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations recently concluded that the ocean doesn’t have nearly enough fish left to support the current onslaught. Indeed, the report suggests that even if we had half as many boats, hooks, and nets as we do now, we would still end up catching too many fish.
(Source: crookedindifference)
In the ultimate “closed loop” energy project, a garbage truck fleet near San Francisco runs on the methane produced by decomposing landfill trash.
New Orleans plans to pipe semi-treated sewage into a bayou to help regrow a cypress-tupelo wetland and protect the Lower Ninth Ward from flooding.
Australia is turning to desalination as fresh water in many parts of the country runs short following years of drought. It is not alone. Many countries are eyeing the oceans as a potential source of drinking water as populations grow and rainfall patterns change. Even the relatively rain-drenched UK now has its first large-scale desalination plant, opened earlier this year on the river Thames in east London.
Kenneth Boulding (economist)
