With falling water tables, eroding soils, and rising temperatures making it difficult to feed growing populations, control of arable land and water resources is moving to center stage in the global struggle for food security. What will the geopolitics of food look like in a new era dominated by scarcity and food nationalism? Here are a few of the many facts from Full Planet, Empty Plates.
Category: Media
The New Global Food Crisis: Lester Brown’s Full Planet, Empty Plates
The phrase “global food crisis” may strike us in the developed world as a bit overblown. But in his new book Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity, Lester R. Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute, aptly demonstrates that our current food security situation is anything but normal… and could even represent the “weak link” to maintaining the standard of living to which we’ve become accustomed.
Join Us to Discuss Greening Your Holidays (While Still Having Fun)
Ready for the holidays? Need some help figuring out how to keep your celebrations green, healthy… and fun? Join us on our weekly Google Plus Hangout on Air to discuss how to create enjoyable holidays that still align with your values.
Join Us to Discuss Blog Action Day '12
Did you participate in this year’s Blog Action Day? Join us tomorrow to discuss your post at our weekly Important Ideas Hangout on Air at Google Plus.
By the Numbers – Data Highlights from Full Planet, Empty Plates
More than 150 data sets accompany Lester R. Brown’s latest book, Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity. These tables and graphs help to explain the precarious situation in which humanity finds itself, as the world leaves an era of food surpluses and enters one of food scarcity. Here are some highlights from the collection.
Join Us to Discuss & Dissect the Environmental Claims in Last Week's Presidential Debate
If somebody had told me that energy and environmental policy would get the level of attention they did in last week’s presidential debate, I wouldn’t have believed them. Given the areas of focus in candidate advertisements and stump speeches, none of us had any reason to believe that the President’s spending on green jobs and energy, or Governor Romney’s support of “clean” coal and “responsible drilling” would have been front and center in the debate. So let’s discuss…
Join Us to Discuss October Unprocessed at the Important Ideas HOA
Doing the October Unprocessed thing? Or think you couldn’t possibly go a whole month without processed food? Either way, join us for our weekly Important Ideas Hangout on Air tomorrow, where we’ll be discussing October Unprocessed with several of our top foodies.
Come Hangout with Us and Discuss Food Waste
How do we decrease the amount of food waste we create? How can we make better use of the food that doesn’t get eaten? What opportunities are we missing along the supply chain? Sounds like good topics for a discussion… so let’s discuss.
Community Gardens Provide More than Food in DC
What’s the main purpose of a community garden or other urban agriculture installation? Providing fresh food… often to neighborhoods without other outlets for it. Right? Yes… but community gardens are special places that do much more than provide space for growing food. Often, stronger connections between members of the community that garden serves grow along with the plants. Cintia Cabib’s film A Community of Gardeners explores that dynamic in Washington, D.C.
ReCraft: How to Upcycle Old Clothes into Beautiful Things
Got holey, worn old clothes laying around that you’d like to get rid of… responsibly? Before cutting them into rags or tossing them in the trash, take a look at the projects in this new book: you might just find more useful possibilities.
Could the Environment – and Our Kids – Use Another Superhero?
Did you play superhero as a child? Would you like your kids to have even more positive imaginative role models? Then check out Pacha, a new superhero for today’s kids.
How to Kick the Habit: Beth Terry’s Plastic Free
Fellow blogger Beth Terry has largely eliminated plastic from her life. Her new book Plastic Free shows you how you can do this, too, and the many reasons you might want to.
Environmental Economics Come to Louisiana's Atchafalaya Basin
What’s the value of a tree? Traditional economics will figure that value based on the amount of lumber (or other products) that can be made from that tree… after it’s been harvested. But what if that tree is part of a landscape that defines your way of life?