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: Carbon negative farming? Cover crops, rotational grazing and no till agriculture could capture greenhouse gas emissions
Farmland to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Everyone seems to agree this is a good idea. But how do we do ...
Colombian university develops next-generation oil-producing transgenic crops
In products as common as wine, beer, cotton, flowers and others from the food sector such as soybeans and corn, ...
Viewpoint: ‘A toxic soup of insecticides, herbicides and fungicides is wreaking havoc’ on soil in farms around the world
Like citizens of an underground city that never sleeps, tens of thousands of subterranean species of invertebrates, nematodes, bacteria and ...
Video: GLP’s Jon Entine at Aspen Institute conference — Why organic advocates should stop demonizing biotechnology and embrace a sustainability-focused ‘all tools in the agriculture toolbox’ philosophy
Advancing gene editing could be one tool to reduce chemical use in agriculture, but it faces the critical judgment of ...
Podcast: Will gene editing’s potential be realized in agriculture? GLP’s Jon Entine and Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb talk about the future of genetic modification
The Genetic Literacy Project’s Jon Entine and Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb talk about why gene editing has yet to make ...
‘They offer a magical vision of a better future but not in this world’: In Foreign Policy, social scientists opposed to conventional agriculture spark fierce organic vs intensive farming debate
A recent back and forth has stirred up controversy over at Foregin Policy. Are “Big Ag” and intensive farming destroying ...
Viewpoint: Is aquaculture good for the planet? Here’s a carbon footprint sustainability snapshot
Reliable figures on the carbon footprints of different aquaculture species are hard to find – not least due to the ...
Beer and sustainable farming: How brewing waste can disinfect soil and increase yields
Despite the simplicity, beer brewing generates substantial amounts of by-products, including large amounts of spent grain, which are difficult and ...
How climate change is disrupting animal ‘food webs’ and what it might mean for the future
It seems like each day scientists report more dire consequences of climate change on animals and plants worldwide. Birds that ...
Could the current fascination with ‘regenerative agriculture’ spur production of more sustainable eggs?
Over the past decade, producers have skillfully persuaded consumers to pay four times the price for a dozen eggs that ...
Space wine: How sending grapevines into orbit could protect the wine industry from devastating impacts of climate change
[A] group of scientists is cultivating the next generation of mutant grapes, which they hope will be resistant to shocks ...
Ditching disposable: How a circular food system — where waste becomes new products — could boost food security and the economy
Linear economies follow a “take-make-dispose” plan in which raw materials are collected, transformed into a product and used until discarded ...
Greenhouse gas emissions from farming wild lobster and shrimp often eclipse livestock emissions. Animal-free chickpea-based seafood could cut our carbon footprint
In 2016 alone, marine-fishing vessels released 207 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, compared to just 47 million in ...
Search for the perfect cell-donor cow: Why cultured lab-grown beef is the future of sustainable meat
At a glance, the formula for cultured – or lab-grown – meat is simple. Take some animal cells, feed them ...
How CRISPR gene editing could dramatically reduce health threats posed by disease-carrying mosquitoes
Mosquitoes are one of humanity’s greatest nemeses, estimated to spread infections to nearly 700 million people per year and cause ...
Replacing unrecyclable plastics: Sustainable ‘biopolymers’ are made from tree bark and compost
Trees, crops and even organic waste can be transformed into a bewildering array of plastics to use in products ranging ...
Futuristic food: From 3D-printed meals to DNA-based diet analysis, here are the 10 biggest food tech breakthroughs over the last decade
[F]ood tech has changed how we eat, for good. So, what’s the driving force behind this activity? And where have ...
Viewpoint: Organic lobbyists show ‘sheer hypocrisy’ opposing UK emergency authorization of neonicotinoid sugar beet seed treatments — while supporting environmental waiver for ‘acutely toxic’ copper sulfate
The Government was right to make provision for a temporary and limited derogation for the use of the neonicotinoid seed ...
‘Zero input’ seaweed burger? This sustainable kelp-based patty requires no fertilizer, land, or fresh water to produce
With the increasing consumer demand for plant-based meat alternatives, kelp could be an important sustainable solution: a zero-input crop that ...
Video: To feed nearly 8 billion people, we need to grow more food on less land. Vertical farming could increase yields by up to 700%
Vertical farming is a form of agriculture that grows plants indoors in floor-to-ceiling, tower-like walls of plant-holding cells. Instead of ...
Billions of baby male chicks are slaughtered every year because they can’t lay eggs. Here’s how CRISPR gene editing could prevent them from being culled after birth
The problem: Chick culling is the practice of killing small, day-old male chicks with a variety of fairly gruesome methods ...
How important is soil quality to addressing climate change? It’s critical, and here’s a blueprint for refocusing American R&D
COVID-19 and the resulting economic crisis have highlighted and exacerbated the plight of American farmers, while also threatening already dwindling ...
Fast-growing genetically modified salmon arrives in South America, as Brazil approves AquaBounty fish sales
Genetically Modified (GM) salmon producer AquaBounty said [June 1] it has received regulatory approval from Brazil’s National Biosafety Technical Commission ...
Viewpoint: ‘Trading one moral catastrophe for another’ — Why swapping beef for chicken won’t fix animal agriculture’s ‘devastating’ environmental impact
[O]ften, the messaging is that we can save the world by switching out our beef consumption for chicken. The problem ...
Hemp is a ‘dream crop’ but challenging to work with. Here’s how Calyxt is mobilizing gene-editing technology to produce fiber with less water and pesticides than cotton
Calyxt, a Minnesota-based plant technology firm, has transformed the hemp genome to provide a “proof of concept” that the crop ...
Africa cracks down on ravenous locust swarms by ignoring Greenpeace’s anti-pesticide rhetoric
As nations around the world struggle with COVID-19 and related economic lockdowns, African countries are fighting another plague: swarms of ...
Viewpoint: National security and agriculture — Why the US needs a forward-thinking farming blueprint that ‘encourages local produce, livestock raising and meat processing’
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed an ignored truth of the American agriculture system: While the U.S. agricultural system is able to ...
