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: Food activists lobbied for an organic-only, no synthetic pesticide model in Sri Lanka. Here’s why it went so catastrophically wrong
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised in his 2019 election campaign to transition the country’s farmers to organic agriculture over a period of years. The ...
Viewpoint: What are the barriers limiting Africa from adopting genetically engineered and hybrid-improved seeds?
Over the last 15 years, development organizations including USAID, the UK’s DFID, and most prominently the Gates Foundation, have invested millions ...
Viewpoint: Human activity and modern agriculture are threatening pollinators
The arrival of the Anthropocene has brought with it considerable challenges for wild bees. In particular, the spread of industrial ...
Ghana closer to commercializing disease-resistant GMO cowpeas
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has submitted an application to the National Biosafety Authority (NBA) requesting for ...
Brazilian researcher exposes ‘magical thinking’ of agroecology advocates and GMO opponents
When I did field research to understand the reasons why rural workers preferred to plant GM soy (year 2003), the ...
Will climate change threats force crop biotechnology skeptics to rethink opposition to food innovation?
Some might argue that [CRISPR] could help alleviate some of the carbon emissions from agriculture and reduce some types of ...
‘Window to act is closing’: Climate change is already devastating our global food system, UN report co-author says
In a cautionary tale to the world, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – a group organized by the ...
Viewpoint: Food advocate makes plea for increased commitment to agroecology
To truly understand the dynamism of food systems and catalyze meaningful change, diverse forms of evidence, knowledge and expertise, including ...
‘Organic label doesn’t always mean safer,’ study finds: Spinosad insecticide more damaging to beneficial insects than synthetic imidacloprid neonicotinoid banned in Europe
Very low concentrations of the popular organic insecticide spinosad have profound effects on beneficial insect species, including vision loss and ...
Genetically modified crops pose unique dangers? We’ve used nuclear energy to improve fruits, vegetables and grains for almost a century–including organic foods
Getting fruits and vegetables from seed to plate is an obstacle course that involves navigating climate changes, pests and diseases, ...
Here’s how climate change is poised to devastate the most productive agricultural region in the world
The San Joaquin Valley – the most profitable agricultural region in the United States, with eight million acres of farmland ...
Viewpoint: Are we overusing agricultural chemicals? Not if we we want increased yields, lower prices and more sustainable practices
We would be remiss to ignore the positive effects that modern crop protection has had for us. Without pesticides, crop losses ...
We may soon be able to genetically engineer a synthetic alternative to palm oil, helping to preserve biodiversity. Here are the challenges
Tom Jeffries and Tom Kelleher met at Rutgers University in the 1970s while studying industrially useful microbes. Jeffries went on to ...
Kenya debates final approval of genetically engineered corn
The approval for commercialisation of genetically modified maize now lies with the Cabinet after scientists concluded field trials and handed ...
GLP Podcast: Biotech fish ‘invade’ Brazil; TikTok GMO-sterility myth debunked; Bad diet and dementia
A genetically engineered "GloFish" is swimming freely in Brazil's streams. Should we be worried? Despite a popular conspiracy circulating on ...
Viewpoint: Here’s why you should be concerned about nanoplastics
Tire particles from the world’s billions of cars, trucks, bikes, tractors, and other vehicles escape into air, soil, and water ...
Viewpoint: Why it’s reasonable to question if regenerative agriculture is really more sustainable than conventional farming
Scientists have been accused of mounting a sustained attack on regenerative agriculture and splitting the science community. Not all, but ...
Living Carbon has engineered a poplar tree that soaks up carbon and fights climate change. What are the barriers to rolling this out?
A California biotech company seeking to create fast-growing trees that can rapidly soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide has announced its ...
Viewpoint: ‘I live in India and I am launching a civil disobedience movement against the moratorium on GMO insect resistant eggplant.’ Here’s why
India’s farmers... need technological freedom. In my letter, I asked PM Modi to lift the 2010 moratorium on genetically modified (GM) ...
Viewpoint: ‘Sanctimonious’ biodynamic farming promoted by rockstar ‘Sting’ rebuffed by Italy’s president and Nobel laureates
Sting may swear by it, but the rock star’s trick of using dung, animal intestines and cow horns to get ...
Viewpoint: German science communicator says EU cannot reach sustainability goals without plant based diets and crop biotechnology
There is a simple solution to quickly reducing the climate-damaging greenhouse gases from agriculture: everyone should stop eating meat and ...
Gene editing can increase yields, improve nutrition, fight climate change — and bring native species back to African agriculture
Gene editing is making it easier for researchers to help local plants varieties adapt to changes in the local environments ...
Genetic engineering breakthrough could cut fossil fuel use in industrial compounds
Rothamsted scientists have engineered a plant to produce a range of vital chemicals used in the manufacture of common everyday ...
How biotech aids biodiversity
As the basis for food, housing, clothing, medicine, industrial raw material and potentially many more benefits to human well-being, biodiversity ...
Genetically-selected crop breeding has increased yields more than 600% over 2 centuries. Gene editing could dramatically accelerate that
Humans have improved plants for their utility through selective self-pollination, crossing, and progeny selection for >10,000 years, largely based on ...
Are your organic clothes eco-friendly and chemical free? Fraud rampant in India exports, world’s largest cotton market
“This product contains independently certified organic cotton grown without chemical pesticides, chemical fertilizers and genetically modified seeds,” the product description ...
Regenerative vs organic: As focus shifts towards addressing climate change impacts, what does that mean for organic agriculture’s future?
As organic products make it into the hands of more consumers than ever before, it’s clear that the industry is ...
