Group items tagged

In SOAN249 today we briefly touched upon genetically altered Salmon, I looked into it more tonight--here's what I read. It seems like a crazy idea, like we talked about in class the Salmon are eating and being treated not so much as fish but another species. Fish live in the ocean, and Salmon are carnivorious, the fact that we are feeding them corn and other plant based materials, furthers the absurdity of the idea. Its taking an animal and reconstructing not only the biological make up but reconfiguring the behavioral patterns and 'lifestyle'.

"Rampant unemployment, rising food prices, a collapsed housing market, ballooning debt -- to Jeremy Rifkin, the American economist and president of the Foundation on Economic Trends , these are not simply symptoms of a temporary economic malaise. Rather, they are signs that the current world order -- long infused with and defined by fossil fuels -- is collapsing around us."

An interesting piece that highlights the need for sustainable fisheries. This article discusses the damage deep-sea fisheries have done to ocean life; sea life at the bottom of the ocean is significantly slower than other forms of fisheries.

This article talks about KiOR's plans to use "non-food biomass" and convert it into gasoline and diesel through biocrude technology. KiOR plans to use both wood chips and crude oil to create gasoline. This procedure, KiOR claims, will reduce "direct lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by over 80% compared to the petroleum-based fuels they displace."

Grasshopper, anyone? This article expands upon a notion I have heard about several times before, but haven't considered its possibilities on large-scale. Many countries, such as Japan and Mexico, are already comfortable with bug consumption. It has proven to be extremely nutritious in amino acids and protein. It is also very efficient space-wise, as discovered in Japan. No matter the practicality of bugs in curbing global warming, the consumers must be willing to eat them. In American culture, bugs are perceived as dirty and disease-ridden. What would it take to reshape citizens' attitude around bugs to allow this expansion?

Ninety five percent of the corn gene has been successfully mapped out. Scientists claim that with this genetic information, they will be able to "develop new maize varieties that withstand prolonged heat and drought, use nutrients such a nitrogen more efficiently, or pack more nutrition per kernel."