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.
Viewpoint: ‘Double advantage’ — Why organic farmers should be allowed to grow GMO seeds to pursue sustainability objectives
In recent years, with the expectation of quality life, human beings have turned to organic foods with 30-40% less product ...
Viewpoint: How biotechnology can make geopolitical food security upheavals less likely — Ukrainian War prompts global rethink about Europe’s reliance on ‘obsolete technologies’
Celebrated in symphonies, and storied in literature and cinema, the steppes of central Asia have long played a key role in the history ...
With August decision date to approve GMO insect-resistant cowpea in sight, Ghanaian scientist stresses role in reducing chemical usage and ensuring food security
Ghana’s food security will receive a good boost if the country’s first genetically modified crop gets environmental release approval from ...
GLP Podcast: Why non-smokers get cancer; Spotting diseases during pregnancy; Earth-friendly industrialized farming?
Many smokers don't get lung cancer. But why do so many non-smokers end up with the disease? A preliminary study ...
Appeal to nature: Daily Kos Logical Fallacies Bootcamp dismantles myth that natural products are automatically better for us
The argument is a simple one, and one that you’ve probably come across before. It runs along these lines: X is ...
Viewpoint: Innovation vs. ideology — How the US and Europe differ on the goal of ‘green’, sustainable farming
With its new Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy, the EU plans to expand organic farming, an approach that rules out ...
Not getting enough sunlight? Vitamin D-boosted gene edited tomatoes could improve nutrition for a billion nutrient-deficient people
Tomatoes (yes, they’re technically a fruit, though the U.S. government considers them a vegetable for “nutritional and culinary purposes”) can be genetically-engineered to ...
Viewpoint: USDA poised to spend $300 million to help farmers transition to organic to shore up supply chains. Here’s why that’s a bad idea for food security and the environment
[The USDA] plans on spending $300 million to help farmers transition to organic production. What?? USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack defended ...
Viewpoint: Green technology-rejectionist Vandana Shiva at center of Sri Lanka’s disastrous organic farming embrace and crop protection chemical rejection
The unprecedented economic crisis in Sri Lanka has been doing the rounds across mainstream media, academia, policy circles as well ...
Viewpoint: ‘Defenders of modern agriculture should vehemently push back against the notion that today’s food model undermines bee health or human health’
Since the introduction of neonicotinoid insecticides – the pesticides blamed for bee death – in the mid-90s, bee populations have ...
African scientists launch biodiversity genomics revolution
Though Africa is home to the second largest collection of biodiversity on earth, many of its unique plants, animals and ...
Eating poultry helps cut greenhouse gas impact of beef. Now a start-up is increasing production – by grinding up chicken bones
Fifty years ago, poultry made up about 15 percent of all the world’s meat. Now that fraction has ballooned to ...
Viewpoint: Sustainability challenges require us to rethink the role of meat in our world — How we raise livestock and process chicken and beef
Meat is a touchy topic. At the beginning of 2021, right-wing media jumped on a rumor that President Joe Biden ...
Video: ‘Weapon in our armory’ — Developer of Golden Rice says genetically modified crops are essential for food security as global warming makes crops more vulnerable
Nafees Meah, regional representative for South Asia for the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute, calls genetically modified crops "a weapon ...
Could cultivated, lab-grown meat put a dent in global warming?
What if there was a way to eat meat without farming and killing billions of animals per year, contributing to the climate ...
Viewpoint: ‘Arrogance of affluence and ignorance of ideologues’: EU’s failing agroecology Farm-to-Fork strategy — and what can be done to ensure sustainable farming and food
The world is teetering on the brink of multiple food security crises which will lead to famines, political and social ...
‘Milk without cows’? What consumers need to know about precision fermentation
“There is a real revolution going on here,” Jim Mellon, a biotech investor and the author of Moo’s Law: An ...
How seed gene banks are preserving biodiversity and providing a hedge against climate change
“It’s a tool against extinction — not just biological extinction but, also, the extinction of knowledge.” The facility at Palmira ...
Lab meat revolution? Promise and perils of cellular agriculture
If chicken nuggets are emblematic of contemporary capitalism, then they are ripe for disruption. Perhaps their most promising challenger is ...
The gene editing solution that could save one million African (cash) cows a year
All around the world millions of people feed their families and make their living from cows, whose meat and milk ...
Viewpoint: New Zealand’s case for genetically edited crops and foods
The world is struggling. The United Nations (UN) has calculated that the number of severely food insecure people had doubled ...
‘If tomorrow there were no transgenic crops, a third of humanity would starve to death’: Leading Cuban scientist outlines support for genetically modified crops
"If tomorrow there were no transgenic crops in the world, a third of humanity would die of hunger," advised Luis ...
Frying foods like wheat and potatoes can produce a carcinogen, acrylamide. A CRISPR gene-edited wheat in development could prevent that
Asparagine is a naturally occurring amino acid, and while most is made into protein, plants such as wheat can accumulate ...
‘We can’t go back to precolonial food self-sufficiency’: Current UK food policy blocks sustainable genetically modified crops and other agricultural diversification strategies
The UK has not been self-sufficient in food and drink production for hundreds of years. The first foreign outposts, trading ...
Viewpoint: Countries opening doors to genetically modified wheat and other cereal grains, but regulatory reluctance remains
Genetically modified wheat is finding paths into crop production in some parts of the world, and the science behind it ...
GLP Podcast: Vitamin-D boosted CRISPR tomatoes; Don’t fear monkeypox; Environmentalism is anti-technology
Consumers in the UK may soon have access to a gene-edited tomato that boosts their vitamin D levels. Monkeypox is ...
Viewpoint: Environmental advocacy groups continue to push misinformation about non-existent honeybee crisis, distorting public policy
Given everything bees contribute to our lives, it’s not surprising that the public’s interest in pollinators has increased over time ...
