http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2008/03/20080306_a_main.asp
This is one of the most interesting radio shows i've heard lately, if you got some time give it a go. The underlying issue here is how to feed humanity; if industrialized agriculture, including or not GM seeds, is really necessary for this task. Because there seems to be a payoff with industrial agriculture or agribusiness, which is mainly an environmental one. Large scale agriculture requires high inputs of chemicals for it to work which means pollution, and the massive mono crop fields mean loss of biodiversity (animal and plant) on the other hand it seems that organic agriculture does not offer enough yield -production- to feed everybody... but all this is debatable. It all ties up with the theme of sustainability: since the discovery and use of oil at the end of the 19th century we started a path into unsustainability which goes in several directions, first is the issue of depletion: with increasing popultation and increasing consumption we not only deplete the hydrocarbons that are our energy base, but as well all of the other resources: minerals, forests, water, you name it, and all this generates pollution, which degrades the base where we get the resources from.... but I'm extending from the issue here, if anybody is interested in this issues I really recommend "Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update by Donella H. Meadows , Jorgen Randers, Dennis L. Meadows" The original book was released about 34 years ago, and it used system dynamics to put different models of what would happen resource-wise in the future if trends continued.
http://www.clubofrome.org/docs/confs/meadows_abstract_21_08_04.pdf
This makes a better synopsis... This book has had a great impact on me, maybe you will think that it is full of pessimism, and it is to some degree, but the Authors offer solutions and rays of hope at the end.
This is one of the most interesting radio shows i've heard lately, if you got some time give it a go. The underlying issue here is how to feed humanity; if industrialized agriculture, including or not GM seeds, is really necessary for this task. Because there seems to be a payoff with industrial agriculture or agribusiness, which is mainly an environmental one. Large scale agriculture requires high inputs of chemicals for it to work which means pollution, and the massive mono crop fields mean loss of biodiversity (animal and plant) on the other hand it seems that organic agriculture does not offer enough yield -production- to feed everybody... but all this is debatable. It all ties up with the theme of sustainability: since the discovery and use of oil at the end of the 19th century we started a path into unsustainability which goes in several directions, first is the issue of depletion: with increasing popultation and increasing consumption we not only deplete the hydrocarbons that are our energy base, but as well all of the other resources: minerals, forests, water, you name it, and all this generates pollution, which degrades the base where we get the resources from.... but I'm extending from the issue here, if anybody is interested in this issues I really recommend "Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update by Donella H. Meadows , Jorgen Randers, Dennis L. Meadows" The original book was released about 34 years ago, and it used system dynamics to put different models of what would happen resource-wise in the future if trends continued.
http://www.clubofrome.org/docs/confs/meadows_abstract_21_08_04.pdf
This makes a better synopsis... This book has had a great impact on me, maybe you will think that it is full of pessimism, and it is to some degree, but the Authors offer solutions and rays of hope at the end.
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