Sustainability & Climate Change
Food production needs are expected to roughly double over the next 35 years as the world population grows and people in under developed countries become more affluent and demand more calories. Healthy ecosystems are vital to the survival of all organisms. How can we grow crops without harming the environment? How can we balance technology and global food security? What is the right balance of organic and conventional farming? What role can genetics and biotechnology play without compromising the needs of tomorrow?
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Viewpoint: Why the entrenched environmental movement is incapable of solving the climate change crisis
Photo credit to Seaver Wang Every now and again, a series of events unfolds in such serendipitously perfect succession as ...
New Scientist viewpoint: We must use genetic technologies now to avert the coming food crisis
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Viewpoint: Land sharing vs land sparing — How can we increase crop yields without sacrificing climate and biodiversity goals
It is 12 months since I highlighted the scientific evidence pointing to the urgent need to take forward a land sparing ...
From genetics to the generation: What does the future hold for agrifood systems and food culture
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Urban farming is getting a modern makeover
Urban farming is [getting] a modern makeover thanks to technology. From beautiful gardens on top of tall buildings to sleek ...
‘Climate change is happening so fast that classical breeding approaches are not enough’ — The case for genetic engineering
“Scientists and engineers want to be ready when new crops are needed,” [Hiroshi] Maeda said. “Of course, we shouldn't push ...
Humans are adapting to global warming. What are the policy implications
On [September 23rd, 2024], the New York Times ran a David Wallace-Wells column called “Our Adaptation to Global Warming Is Largely Fictional” featuring ...
FAO chief: Gene editing key to protecting traditional foods
The “genetic revolution” in agriculture powered by gene editing can help preserve access to traditional foods in the future, protecting ...
As farming becomes more unpredictable, agricultural technology is stepping up to meet the challenge
Today’s farms and other agricultural operations work far differently than those of just a few decades ago, primarily thanks to ...
Citing the precautionary principle, South African high court rescinds approval of drought tolerant GMO corn
South Africa’s Supreme Court delivered a ground-breaking ruling that reversed the approval of [genetically] modified organisms (GMOs), specifically, a drought-resistant ...
Threatened by warming temperatures, wineries may be forced to turn to gene editing
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Viewpoint: Is the age of environmental activism coming to an end?
For the last 50 years, from the time of Greenpeace activists chasing whaling ships to today’s green NGO coalitions directing ...
Western diets need to change to meet sustainability challenges. How resistant will consumers be to munch on insects or plant-based meats
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Inching toward a global treaty on plastic pollution
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Plastic waste as food? Microorganisms may one day be able to feed a growing world population
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Viewpoint: A Trump revolution is coming to the Environmental Protection Agency. Here’s a guide to what might realistically happen
A return to the presidency by Donald Trump has raised questions about the future of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ...
Silicon Valley nihilism? Will reckless scientists introducing dubious technological innovations stir opposition to cellular agriculture?
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Why ‘peer review’ is no longer the gold standard for quality, objective science research
Today, I focus on the use and abuse of the peer-reviewed literature to produce tactical science which I define as: ...
Viewpoint: Why environmental activists often block innovations that could help fight climate change?
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Biotechnology is the way forward for many of Africa’s most pressing challenges
Biotechnology is one of the modern-day scientific innovations that are widely misunderstood, especially in Africa. Often regarded as a complex ...
UK moves ahead with crop gene editing but lags in approving precision breeding to contain animal diseases
Ministers are preparing to introduce legislation [permitting] the growing of gene-edited crops in England and Wales. [However,] the new legislation ...
Virtue over impact: Greens environmentalist policy likely to backfire
[There is] a particular kind of increasingly common environmental regulation: one that is short on impact but big on virtue ...
Rwandan farmers and scientists turn to genetic modification to rescue disease-threatened potatoes, maize and cassava
Rwanda could soon start using genetically modified maize, Irish potatoes, and cassava crops as confined trials are underway. Maize is ...
Intelligent food labels: Technological innovations to prevent food waste
With everyone talking about the problem of food waste worldwide, its effects are reaching way beyond just the food industry ...
The world’s wine production has dropped 10% mostly because of droughts, fire and ‘extreme environmental conditions’. China turns to AI for a solution
At a laboratory in Beijing, purple and green hybrid-species grapes are laid out on a board for testing, part of ...
Plastic for dinner? Newly discovered microbes may soon be a lunch treat
There are microbes that look at a plastic bottle and go, “Yum”. Do you think you’d ever look at a ...
Three technological advances that will power a food and farming revolutions
“Genetic editing for climate and disease resistance will protect growers in the developing world.” "[G]ene editing is not the same ...
