Group items tagged

"This article... was written by GRAIN and the Pesticides Eco-Alternatives Centre (PEAC) in China to raise Chinese farmers' awareness about the broad historical context of industrial agriculture, and how it paved the way for the introduction of modern varieties of crops and agricultural technologies."

After Felicia's post about farmer suicides in India related to the use of GMO cotton seeds, I thought some might be interested in a more upbeat article about efforts to raise farmer's awareness about industrialized agriculture, etc.

This TED conversation led by Yu-An Chen in Jersey City question why there are not more "kitchen scientists" and why isn't the practice of science more accessible?   The conversation runs for the next four days (Feb 9, 2012).

Thanks Felicia. I was not aware that TED had conversations until I followed your link; I was only aware of TED Talks.

This article talks about the use of GIS and building energy consumption data to create and info graphic of NYC.  This seemed linked to the conversation about combining visuals and data to effective awareness and to motivate change.

Founded in 1971, Friends of the Earth is an international organization representing over 77 grassroots environmental groups. The organization is mentioned several times through Dickson's book and has been involved in questioning key scientific developments and their potentially harmful effects on human life and the planet. These technologies include nuclear, genetics, carbon emissions and even nanotechnology. They appear to work primarily through direct action and awareness campaigns.

For more than 30 years the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Philadelphia Green program has used horticulture to build community and improve the quality of life in Philadelphia's neighborhoods and downtown public spaces. In that time there have been significant signs of rebirth in the city, and the work of Philadelphia Green has played an important role in the environmental, social, economic, and aesthetic changes taking place.

It would be interesting to know how programs like this and other environmental stewardship and conservations efforts link to increased awareness, support and engagement in policy efforts.

A group of sci­en­tists is call­ing for major fed­eral ac­tion in order to deal with the threat posed by Mon­santo's GMO crops, now pe­ti­tion­ing the EPA to ad­dress the issue head on.

Thanks Felicia - This supports what I had read about Monsanto corn during my CCD research. But I was not aware of the BT-rootworm issue, only the super-weeds mutating because of RoundUp resistance that has also been genetically modified in Monsanto corn. Honeybees do collect pollen from corn when they are desperate even though they are not needed for pollination of corn.

not an extreme climatic event, but an example of improving science-policy connections

Seems they have radio broadcasts too, so I'll keep an eye open for this talk on their site. But also thanks for sharing this site itself as I was not aware of this organization.