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?
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Oatly pioneers carbon impact labels on food. Is this unregulated junk science or useful information?
Four of its so-called Oatgurts are now carrying an eco-label intended to help consumers “compare the climate impact of different ...
Anne Hathaway leverages celebrity status and invests in ‘animal-free protein’ and precision fermentation. Will it drive consumer acceptance?
Actress Anne Hathaway’s investment in food-tech startup The Every Co., announced yesterday, brings more than capital – it also brings ...
Viewpoint: Are Americans being duped by the organic label and claims by its proponents?
The claim that organic farming produces tastier food is simply unsupported by scientific consensus at this time. However, this claim ...
Micro-algae a panacea for sustainability woes? Microorganisms have the ability to treat wastewater, eat up plastic, feed plants, produce food, and control pests
Every drop of seawater is teeming with microscopic life. But researchers in Europe believe that one particular kind could be ...
Viewpoint: ‘One of the greatest human accomplishments’ — GM insect-resistant cowpea quintuples yields without pesticides
African farmers, especially smallholders, will need to achieve much higher yields than they do today. Fulfilling this will require concerted ...
From 2,000 to 330,000: Monarch butterfly count soars in California since 2020 low — but still far below millions in the 1980s
The population of western monarch butterflies wintering along the California coast has rebounded for a second year in a row ...
Big Meat is alive and thriving: Plant-based and cellular meat may be a commercial flop
Meatless meat, it turns out, seems less a world-changing innovation than another food trend whose novelty is wearing thin ...
Here’s a primer on the technology behind lab-grown meat
Between population growth and rising economic status, global demand for food protein is expected to continue to increase for a ...
Viewpoint: ‘Going organic isn’t cheap’ — What does it cost farmers to switch from conventional farming to organic?
Farmland has to stop using industrial-strength pesticides and fertilizers on land for three years before it can meet the U.S ...
Viewpoint: It’s time for consumers to get over the ‘ick factor’ of lab-created food
Many people feel weird about eating innovation, as if Big Biotech is ramming science down their throats. They cringe at ...
CRISPR co-creator: 2023 sees mobilization of gene editing to develop crops that resist climate change, as world food demand rises
Crispr is being used experimentally to increase yield, reduce pesticide and water use, and protect against disease. The next space ...
As seafood demand soars and the ocean is denuded of fish, plant-based salmon offers sustainable path forward
It is estimated that by 2050 demand for food overall will increase by 70% , while seafood demand will increase ...
Viewpoint: Regenerative agriculture is the best way to overcome environmental impacts of conventional farming, claims Boston Consulting Group
Regenerative agriculture, we argue, is the only approach to farming that can overcome the agriculture industry’s status quo by significantly reducing the ...
Video: What does it take to feed the United States? Comparing organic and conventional crops and food
What does it take to feed a nation the size of the United States? Well, the good news is… a ...
What is a ‘sustainatarian’? A ‘regenivore’? Are fad diets targeting climate change just a new wave of virtue signaling?
Terms like "climatarian" are getting newfound attention from corporate America as young consumers gravitate toward what they perceive as "green" ...
How do we build houses on Mars? Bricks made of bacteria and fungi filaments could help
Rather than hauling construction materials or prefabricated modules aboard a spaceship, astronauts bound for Mars could bring synthetic bacteria cultures ...
Perspectives on cultured meat: Differences driven by ethics, education, ethics and views on how to address climate change
Last week I asked, “What do you think about meat grown in a lab? Would you eat it? Will your ...
Viewpoint: Biotechnology can help address climate change fluctuations and deliver sustainable food and farming, says World Economic Forum
Biotechnology holds part of the key to enabling a transformation of our economy and our food systems ...
‘Like turning on a light-switch’: Gene-edited duckweed poised to revolutionize biofuel by eating up pollution and spitting out oil
Scientists have figured out how to coax copious amounts of oil from duckweed, one of nature’s fastest-growing aquatic plants. Converting ...
Biomimicry and four other technologies that can limit carbon emissions from food production
Here are five major innovation trends that could help to curb the worst of the climate impact ...
Viewpoint: ‘We’re pushing our food systems past their breaking point’ – Why acre for acre, algae is a model sustainable food
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), believe algae could be a new kind of superfood thanks to its high ...
Cuba poised for production of wheat modified by radiation mutagenesis that adapts to extreme heat and climate fluctuations
The history of Cuban science is full of the challenges faced by daring, diligent and, above all, persistent researchers. An ...
A ‘New Green Revolution’ is brewing — just in time, as the world population breaks past the 8 billion mark
You can mark the date on your calendar: On November 15, 2022, a mother will give birth to a baby ...
Meat made from milk? Dairy-based alternative ‘meats’ may soon be on the menu
Here comes the new field of “dairy-based meat.” Meats made from all natural milk. One of the most nutritious materials ...
Floating Dutch dairy farm produces 200 gallons of milk a day — Here’s how this quirky project offers an answer to rising sea levels and the ‘global land squeeze’
Samuel L Jackson can have his snakes on a plane. Peter and Minke van Wingerden have concocted something even wilder: ...
Viewpoint: Optimizing seeds — Hybrid and CRISPR gene editing technology key to addressing climate-induced food insecurity
In recent years, public investment into developing hardier crops that can withstand higher temperatures, water stress, and pests has flatlined. In countries ...
Carbon tax on farming to reduce carbon emissions? New Zealand is pioneering this new policy. Here’s why its touted benefits may not be a sure thing
Agriculture contributes an estimated one-quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. The economy in New Zealand, a tiny country at the ...
