The Generator is founded on the simple premise that we should leave the world in better condition than we found it. The news items in this category outline the attempts people have made to do this. They are mainly concerned with our food supply and settlement patterns. The impact that the human race has on the planet.
Identify new industries for north Australia: Taskforce members have also been asked to consider other new industries for northern Australia across Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
The Australian, 2/5/2007, p.6
Source: Erisk net
In the next 40 years, according to the UN Environment Program, world food output must rise 110 per cent to meet the demands of population growth and improving diets in places such as China, India and Latin America, notes Julian Cribb, adjunct professor of science communication at the University of Technology, Sydney in The Australian (12/7/2006, p.36).
Facts on Australian food wasting:
• Of all the nutrients applied on our farms, up to half are wasted, in that they do not go to crops or pastures but are lost to soil lock-up, weeds, erosion, leaching or run-off.
• The industry that processes our food spends $750 million a year just to dispose of its waste.
• One-third to one-half of all the food that enters our shops, supermarkets, restaurants and homes is thrown away.
• Our cities waste 97 per cent of their sewage effluent and its nutrients.
Wasted food could feed 30-60 million people: If these estimates are sound, in theory it is possible to feed an extra 30 million to 60 million people on an Australian diet with the nutrients we presently chuck into landfills and the ocean.
Price of fertiliser to continue huge increases? In the past 30 years, the price of fertiliser has risen by an average 1000 per cent, about twice the rate of oil price increases. What’s going to happen in the next 40 years when world food output has to more than double?
Nutrients to become scarce commodities? Nutrients may become expensive and even scarce commodities, especially as some of them are being used to grow transport fuels and therefore replace oil.
Australian dairy industry pioneers nutrient cycle research: Australia has an excellent record in learning to manage nutrients on farms. The dairy industry in particular has done much pioneering work on the nutrient cycle to minimise the loss of nutrients down the creek.
Humans lose ’45pc of all terrestrial bioproductivity’: US environmental scientist Peter Raven recently remarked that humans use or destroy 45 per cent of all terrestrial bioproductivity.
The Australian, 12/7/2006, p. 36
Source: Erisk Net
If you’re going to talk about poverty, food, and the environment in the
United States, you might as well start in the Corn Belt.
This fertile area produces most of the country’s annual corn harvest of
more than 10 billion bushels, far and away the world’s largest such
haul. Where does it all go? The majority — after accounting for
exports (nearly 20 percent), ethanol (about 10 percent, and climbing),
and excess (another 10 percent) — anchors the world’s cheapest food
supply in purchasing-power terms.
Our food system is shot through with corn. It feeds the animals that
feed us: more than 50 percent of the harvest goes into domestic animal
operations. About 5 percent flows into high-fructose corn syrup, adding
a sweet jolt to soft drinks, confections, and breakfast cereal. All
told, it’s a cheap source of calories and taste. Yet all this
convenience comes with a price — and not just an environmental one.