A land conservation game? It must show the tradeoffs between limiting development and preserving land? Hopefully I'll remember to try to get it before I teach Resources again!
https://twitter.com/RRCAP_AIT/status/901025603981332480
Saturday, August 26, 2017
Monday, August 21, 2017
GMOs, farming, and suicide
Activist Vandana Shiva, a Ph.D. with a strong voice that has risen to the defense of India and Indian farmers in particular for decades, has long blamed GMOs for increases in farmer suicides. For example, on her page vandanashiva.com she writes, "300,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide, trapped in vicious cycles of debt and crop failures, 84% of these suicides are attributed directly to Monsanto’s Bt cotton."
While GMOs have problems, mostly associated with the extent to which they support modern industrial monocropping-based agriculture, this doesn't seem to be a fair criticism. Keith Kloor takes the position down quite thoroughly here, starting from the numbers themselves and looking into their basis. Another study, recently published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health (and summarized here, since the original paper is behind a pay wall) finds no evidence to support the claim.
Farmers around the world can be at higher risk for suicide, in part because of "the nature of their work, which can be isolating, financially precarious, and physically demanding." The world needs farmers! Perhaps the key is to provide more support for their mental health rather than attacking some of the technologies they use.
While GMOs have problems, mostly associated with the extent to which they support modern industrial monocropping-based agriculture, this doesn't seem to be a fair criticism. Keith Kloor takes the position down quite thoroughly here, starting from the numbers themselves and looking into their basis. Another study, recently published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health (and summarized here, since the original paper is behind a pay wall) finds no evidence to support the claim.
Farmers around the world can be at higher risk for suicide, in part because of "the nature of their work, which can be isolating, financially precarious, and physically demanding." The world needs farmers! Perhaps the key is to provide more support for their mental health rather than attacking some of the technologies they use.
Externalities of automobiles
Nice summary by UC Berkeley's Max Aufhammer...
https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/2017/08/21/the-economics-of-an-electrified-autonomous-future/
https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/2017/08/21/the-economics-of-an-electrified-autonomous-future/
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Update on food waste
This past semester I again had a group of students choose to look at the issue of food waste. This article is an update on the topic.
http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkins-center-for-a-livable-future/news-room/News-Releases/2017/government-efforts-to-reduce-wasted-food-gaining-traction.html
Yet another article by Marc Bellemare appeared a few days later in the Wall Street Journal, based on a paper he published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. One point he makes is that some loss is inevitable, and that working hard to stop all waste is effort that might go to a more productive use.
http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkins-center-for-a-livable-future/news-room/News-Releases/2017/government-efforts-to-reduce-wasted-food-gaining-traction.html
Yet another article by Marc Bellemare appeared a few days later in the Wall Street Journal, based on a paper he published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. One point he makes is that some loss is inevitable, and that working hard to stop all waste is effort that might go to a more productive use.
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