Kayaking along canals to pick up your groceries, walking a few minutes to the metro station, or cycling down pedestrianised streets to meet the neighbours: if you want to live in Copenhagen’s North Harbour, a car would be obsolete.
NASA’s Crop Monitor anticipates decreases in crop yields by examining weather data
Food production is influenced by myriad conditions: Weather that is too dry, too wet, too hot, or too cool can severely affect a farmer’s ability to grow crops. A NASA funded-project called the Crop Monitor for Early Warning is working…
Deforestation-linked palm oil still finding its way into top consumer brands: report
Pledges by major brands to stop buying palm oil from companies known to destroy rainforests have failed to stop the clearance of a total area of forest the size of Los Angeles in just the last three years.
That’s the finding from a new report by Greenpeace, which sought to gauge the progress made by leading consumer brands and palm oil firms in making good on their promises to break the link between the palm oil they buy and the destruction of rainforests and other ills.
Children and smokers face pesticide danger
Pesticides used in food, tobacco and marijuana production are placing children and smokers in potential risk, a study has found. Farmers across the world use pesticides to keep bugs and weeds at bay during the growing process. However, this often means these potent chemicals find their way into our bodies and can build up over time. An analysis of data from the US suggests that children and smokers of tobacco are being exposed to the highest levels of pesticide residues.
Record high profits for EU fishing fleet linked to use of sustainable methods
The 2018 Annual Economic Report on the EU Fishing Fleet shows record-peak levels in economic performance of the EU fishing fleet in 2016 and closely links this achievement to the use of sustainable fishing methods.
There can be no sustainable development without profound changes in food systems
Food systems are situated at the crossroads between the many issues and contradictions surrounding sustainable development: food and nutritional security, human and ecosystem health, natural resource renewal, climate change, territorial dynamics, political stability, and social justice. An international group of experts, including researchers from CIRAD, is calling for profound changes in food systems in order to meet the sustainable development goals (SDGs) set by the UN in 2015, and the terms of the Paris Agreement on climate. The authors propose a four-pillar strategy.
Could the next anti-cancer drug be made from seafood?
Biomedical scientists at the University of Salford found that sugars from the common cockle (Cerastoderma edule) were approximately as effective as some standard chemotherapy drugs at relative lower dosage. And they say ‘cockle-chemo’ could be particularly suitable for children as…
Efficient cookstoves take up a new task in Kenya: heating
When Joyce Njenga replaced her traditional open-fire hearth with an energy-saving stove, she was pleased it lived up to its promised efficiencies: using less firewood and halving cooking times. But it also keeps her family warm in cold weather.
Biodiversity isn’t just pretty: it future-proofs our world
A small boy hauls enthusiastically on his fishing rod. The line flies up and a needle-spined fish strikes him in the eye. Desperate to stay outdoors, he ignores the pain, but his sight deteriorates over the following months. He continues to pursue his love of nature but, now blind in one eye, he is confined to studying creatures that are easy to see: insects. He grows to become the global authority on ants, and in later life is given the moniker ‘the father of biodiversity’.