That seems to be the message from two stories published today, one on each side of the Atlantic.
In a news analysis, the New York Times notes that:
a reaction is building against policies in the United States and Europe to promote ethanol and similar fuels, with political leaders from poor countries contending that these fuels are [...]
Posts Tagged ‘food security’
- the biofuel backlash goes mainstream
Posted in energy, food, policy, tagged biofuel, ethanol, food security on April 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
- tax breaks for gardeners! Yeah!
Posted in economics, food, gardening, policy, tagged fiscal policy, food security, gardening, super-micro farming, tax on April 11, 2008 | 2 Comments »
if we want to encourage people to produce their own food, here’s a great idea: tax breaks for gardeners!
It’s the idea of Maine gardener and sustainability advocate Roger Doiron. He says:
There are different breaks that local, state and federal governments could offer home gardeners. Sales taxes on seeds, seedlings, fruit bushes and trees could be [...]
- forget guerrilla gardening, do it fairy-godmother style
Posted in food, gardening, tagged fairy-godmother gardening, food security, guerrilla gardening, monocultures, native plants on March 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Sure, we have reservations about turning vacant urban lots into vegetable gardens designed purely for the benefit of humans. But, as with all things, the real story lies in the nuance.
That’s why we admire people who take it upon themselves to replace human-designed but blighted urban landscapes (think: ivy-covered front yards and scuffed, litter-strewn [...]
- let’s eat like there’s a war on!
Posted in food, gardening, national security, tagged climate change, food security, Michael Pollen, national security, rationing, World War II on March 28, 2008 | 2 Comments »
That’s apparently the idea behind British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s new project.
Oliver’s idea, explains today’s Guardian,takes “inspiration from the Ministry of Food’s campaign to encourage families to Dig For Victory, grow their own food and make the most of their wartime rations.”
While it’s a gimmick, the notion also makes some sense. Second World War rationing [...]
- urban farming: neat idea, but what about the wildlife?
Posted in food, gardening, plants and animals, tagged food security, monocultures, native plants, super-micro farming, urban farming on March 28, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Yesterday we wrote about ’super-micro farming’ as a trend emerging in response to possible threats to our food supplies.
There’s further evidence of the trend in the San Fransisco Chronicle’s most recent ‘Home and Garden’ section. In a multi-page cover feature, the paper does a nice job of surveying current efforts in the city to [...]
- grow your own (ditch the lawn)
Posted in climate change, food, gardening, tagged climate change, food security, edible estates, micro-farming, allotments, security on March 27, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Climate change threatens to destabilize our lives, for both ill and (perhaps, even) good.
One mark of that instability will likely be a disruption in the way we produce and distribute food.
Could this be why the UK Independent finds the world suddenly ‘going crazy for allotments‘ — those small plots of land that cities lease their [...]
