food

I’m not a vegan or even a vegetarian. I guess you could call me a reasonably discerning but practical omnivore but I’m becoming rather desperate to find something I can eat without feeling guilty about the harm I am doing to someone, something or to the environment.

The current social/political/economic system is based on the notion that greater economic/material well-being will lead us to "happiness." It doesn't seem to be working too well. Here's why. Although a certain degree of material well-being is necessary for a "decent" life, it is not a sufficient condition for "happiness." What's missing is a centuries-long colonization of the mind that has divorced human life from nature. Unless we reconnect, we will never find "happiness."

S 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010,  may be the most dangerous bill in the history of the US.  It is to our food what the bailout was to our economy, only we can live without money. 

“If accepted [S 510] would preclude the public’s right to grow, own, trade, transport, share, feed and eat each and every food that nature makes.

This is a great film about corporate farming to pass on. It is not 'anti-farmer' per se. It talks about corporate farming impact on land-tenure and communities, our health, animals' living conditions, and peoples' rights. It will make you laugh. See also "How to make our agricultural sector sustainable"

As the newsmedia clamours to whip the public into acceptance of the deal to sell the estimated 40 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Gorgon gas fields to the Chinese in a deal worth AU$50 billion and Liberal and Labor politicians try to claim the most credit for the deal, Professor Julian Cribb argues that we may well find ourselves, in future, without the sufficient gas to manufacture nitrogen based fertilisers necessary to maintain Australia's agricultural productivity.

Article by Professor Julian Cribb originally published on Online Line Opinion on 27 August 2009. The version here is slightly updated. Join in the discussion, there or here.
See also: Global Food Crisis pages on Science Alert, Garrett defends Gorgon approval in the SMH of 27 Aug 09, Gorgon gas project 'environmental vandalism' by Naomi Woodley for the ABC's PM of  Aug 09, Gorgon gas deal could set inflation hare running on the ABC news of 19 Aug 09,Joe Hockey claims Coalition credit for $50bn Gorgon gas deal byNicola Berkovic in the Australian of 19 Aug 09.

After breaking ground on the new, 1100 square foot White House garden, Michelle Obama named chef Sam Kass to head the White House Food Initiative. And Kass isn't a fan of big agriculture and mass fertilisers. All of this positive PR for organics feels very threatening to Big Ag. So one group, the Mid America CropLife Association, has sent an email defending chemical ag to Mrs. Obama. See the letter inside.
See also, Christopher Cook's classic book, Diet for a dead planet and a fascinating interview with the author, which will make you want the book.

See also: discussion on the Life After the Oil Crash Forum

Canadian mass immigration apologists would have us believe that the frightening loss of farmland to development is simply a matter of poor land use planning, and that absurd levels of immigrant can be jacked up even further without ecological cost if "smart growth" strategies are followed. History has proven that claim a delusion and a lie.

Vermont writer David Grundy argues that it is well past time that religious extremists in the United States were disregarded so that desperately needed family planning aid could be sent to the Third World in order to stop the current food crisis from getting worse.

Original article published on 5 Jun 08 in www.burlingtonfreepress.com

See also Why is the UN so complacent in the face of over-population peril? of 2 Jul 08 by Brian McGavin, Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis of 4 Jul 08 by Aditya Chakrabortty.

Whilst John Corboy, co-convenor of the misnamed Foodbowl Unlimited held out hopes 12 months ago that Australia may stand to gain from the impending collapse of China's and India's irrigated agricultural sectors, our fate may be little different should we fail to stand up to the corporate interests who gain from the over-extraction of water from the Murray-Darling system.

See also Fair Water Use media releases. For information on a related topic, see articles about the threatened privatisation of NSW's electricity assets.

What do rural areas in Japan 'look like'? What are the main features of Japanese agriculture that make it different from agriculture in other countries? This article includes photographs of a rural city in Japan as well as a "food and energy crisis survival guide" survey for the city.

The Internet enables consumers and farmers to sort through the claims and counter-claims about Genetically Modified (GM) foods in order to understand the threat they pose to our health and our control of our food supply.

Should Australia allow its agricultural soils to be destroyed because of economic pressures caused by our unsustainable booms in mining and real estate?

See also: Working the land - or not of 24 Jun 08 by Jenny Hume on Web Diary, Who owns your sewage? of 3 Jul 08 by Valerie Yule on Online Opinion, Last gasp for single desk marketing of Australian wheat of 17 Jun 08, Peak oil prices cause South Australian Farmers to call for 'fair market forces' of 10 Jun 08, Orwellian Waterworks: big-agribusiness and Victorian Gov of 27 May 08, Insight program's take on Labor Shortage of 17 Jun 08, A 10,000 year misunderstanding of 1 May 08 by Canadian soil microbiologist Peter Salonius, I will govern for all Victorians (caveat: but only if you are powerful and connected) of 26 Jun 08.

Over 500 farmers have turned out in force to protest at Parliament in Canberra in a last ditch attempt to persuade the Government not to ditch the single desk marketing of Australian wheat.

Agribusiness has been able to provide a massive amount of apparently cheap food to a huge number of people at a double cost. A cost to the soil and a cost to the nutritional value of the food itself. Post-carbon agriculture will be more labour intensive and provide more nutritious food, but how can it hope to feed a population which has trebled in Canada since the 1940's and is still growing at a world-record rate?