Topic: Less of What We Don’t Need

“In July 2020, a study conducted by researchers at Tomsk State University in Russia and the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research in Austria showed satellite images revealing that palm oil production that received sustainable certification actually caused deforestation in Sumatra and Borneo that has threatened the habitats of several endangered mammals over the past…

This survey was published in the journal Ecological Economics.  My survey received responses from 461 scholars, from 66 countries. The purpose was to find out what future pathways countries in different income groups should follow for local and global sustainability to be achieved. Instead of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), affluent countries should focus directly…

The green revolution was essentially the sudden and destructive removal of the rich traditional bio-diversity of our farms, the achievement of many generations of farmers going back to hundreds and in some cases thousands of years. This was done to serve the interests of rich countries and their agribusiness interests by dictating that only the…

The Canadian government turned what should have been an ordinary photo opportunity with Ukraine’s president into a political debacle when a Ukrainian Nazi collaborator was honored in parliament. Now Canada’s history of admitting Ukrainian SS volunteers is facing new scrutiny… Instead of just introducing Zelensky and swearing to defend him no matter what, the Canadian parliament…

In private, Juan Orlando Hernández vowed to “stuff the drugs right up the noses of the gringos,” while in public, he was heartily embraced by Obama administration officials, including the current US president, Joe Biden. Despite possessing intimate knowledge of Hernández’s criminal activities, officials in the Obama White House worked tirelessly to keep his presidency…

The agriculture industry has a lot to be worried about. Meat emits around a third of global emissions of methane, and action to cut this greenhouse gas has been identified by the UN and world leaders as the quickest route to slowing global heating.  The term “regenerative agriculture” is likely to be a hot topic…

The city of Darna has a history of floods given its geographic location (coastal and surrounded by mountains). In 1959, a major flood struck the city leading to 15 deaths. The government in power from 1969 to 2011 contracted with Yugoslavian companies in the 1970s to construct two dams to prevent such losses. These dams…

A report this Spring showed that while renewable capacity continues to grow like topsy, emissions continue to rise. We are just building a larger energy capacity, not reducing emissions.  Shouldn’t we know that historically new energy sources add to instead of displacing existing sources of energy; that renewables aren’t decreasing fossil fuel use, and that we shouldn’t expect more renewable capacity to…