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"Beyond Food Miles Posted Mar 9, 2011 by Michael Bomford NOTE: The following article is concerned strictly with the energy equation of the food sytem and is intended to stimulate questions about how best to grow, transport, store and prepare (ideally local) foods. There are many reasons to favor local food, including supporting local economies and building local food security.      "There is nothing as deceptive as an obvious fact" -Sherlock Holmes   A locavore is "a person who endeavors to eat only locally produced food."[1] What better diet could there be for an energy constrained world? After all, feeding Americans accounts for about 15% of US energy use,[2] and the average food item travels more than 5,000 miles from farm to fork.[3] It seems obvious that eating locally will go a long way to reducing food system energy use.   Yet cracking the case of America's energy-intensive food system demands that we look beyond the obvious. A local diet can reduce energy use somewhat, but there are even more effective ways to tackle the problem. Single-minded pursuit of local food, without consideration of the bigger picture, can actually make things worse from an energy perspective.[4]   If you realize you're spending too much money, the first thing to do is figure out where it's going. Cutting back on pizza won't make much difference if you're spending most of your money on beer. Similarly, the first step in reducing food system energy use is to figure out where all the energy is going. That's what a team of economists working for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) did last year, in a report called Energy Use in the US Food System.     Where the energy goes: Energy used in the food system as a proportion of total energy used in the US in 2002.[5]     The report contains some surprises. Transportation is the smallest piece of the food system energy pie. Even farming isn't a particularly big contributor. The big energy users t

"'WASH' strategy improves access to safe water and sanitation in Niger © UNICEF video A boy drinks from a UNICEF-installed well in Zabon Moussou, Niger, which supplies water for 1,750 people. By Nina Martinek As part of the launch of 'Progress for Children No. 5: A Report Card on Water and Sanitation', UNICEF is featuring a series of stories focused on achieving the 2015 targets set by Millennium Development Goal 7 - to halve  the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. GUIDAN GAZOBI, Niger, 8 September 2006 - Access to safe drinking water is a daily struggle for the people of Niger, especially women and girls, who are responsible for collecting water for their families. As a result, girls frequently miss school and women's health is adversely affected, often resulting in low birth weight in their young children. Infant and child deaths "We have to go beyond the food availability issue and tackle the lack of access to basic services like health, safe water, hygiene and environmental sanitation, which is contributing on a large scale to malnutrition," says UNICEF Representative in Niger Aboudou K. Adjibade. © UNICEF video Women carry water home for their families from the cemented well in the village of Zabon Moussou. In rural Niger, 64 per cent of the population does not have access to safe drinking water. Many people drink pond water that is shared with livestock, is contaminated by guinea worms and registers high levels of chemicals such as fluoride and nitrates. Indeed, a majority of infant and child deaths in rural Niger are linked to contaminated water, lack of hygiene and inadequate sanitation. Unsanitary environments and unsafe water threaten not only the survival of young children but also their and physical and mental development. Illnesses such as diarrhoea cause and exacerbate malnutrition, and can result in long-term stunting. Water, sanitation and hygiene UNICEF's ob

"Maintaining the planet's stable climate would seem like a good idea. Scientists have now identified what they think are the nine Earth systems that do just that. But their analysis suggests we have already crossed three of the boundaries that keep us a safe distance from dangerous thresholds. Maintaining the planet's stable climat"

"Compass Youth Camp 2016 Promo Mighty Wanitprapha 147 views"

Freer Trade Could Fill the World's Rice Bowl TWITTER LINKEDIN SIGN IN TO E-MAIL OR SAVE THIS PRINT REPRINTS SHARE By TYLER COWEN Published: April 27, 2008 RISING food prices mean hunger for millions and also political unrest, as has already been seen in Haiti, Egypt and Ivory Coast. Yes, more expensive energy and bad weather are partly at fault, but the real question is why adjustment hasn't been easier. A big problem is that the world doesn't have enough trade in foodstuffs. Enlarge This Image Alanah Torralba/European Pressphoto Agency Filipino port workers unload sacks of rice imported from Vietnam to be distributed by the National Food Authority. Related Times Topics: Rice Blogrunner: Reactions From Around the Web Managing Globalization: Can rice Farming Be Laissez-Faire? The damage that trade restrictions cause is probably most evident in the case of rice. Although rice is the major foodstuff for about half of the world, it is highly protected and regulated. Only about 5 to 7 percent of the world's rice production is traded across borders; that's unusually low for an agricultural commodity. So when the price goes up - indeed, many varieties of rice have roughly doubled in price since 2007 - this highly segmented market means that the trade in rice doesn't flow to the places of highest demand. Poor rice yields are not the major problem. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that global rice production increased by 1 percent last year and says that it is expected to increase 1.8 percent this year. That's not impressive, but it shouldn't cause starvation. The more telling figure is that over the next year, international trade in rice is expected to decline more than 3 percent, when it should be expanding. The decline is attributable mainly to recent restrictions on rice exports in rice-producing countries like India, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Cambodia and Egypt. At first glance, this seems understandable, bec

A very good article on the causes of famine in Kenya at the moment. See highlighted bits. 

"he air traffic control system over the United Kingdom keeps the nation's airspace safe"

"he paradox: "Transport is the only development sector that worsens as incomes rise. While sanitation, health, education and employment tend to improve through economic development, traffic congestion tends to worsen." So writes Michael Engelskirchen in his Sourcebook on Sustainable Transport. It's hard to disagree when you look around and see supercars, songtaew, taxis, buses, bikes, pick-ups, and tuk tuks trundling bumper-to-bumper along the Bangkok's clogged arteries. But in 15 years, maybe it won't be so bad. That's when the city could (and should) be the proud owner of a rail system promising change at the fabric of its being. "