Don’t forget to check out IISD for highlights of the “High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy.” So you can find out what’s being achieved, besides bringing Rome to a standstill, that is. Jeremy is there, earning his keep, hence his silence. No doubt he’ll blog all about it when the dust settles.
Talking about Vavilov
The New York Botanical Garden hosted a World Science Festival panel discussion about Nikolai Vavilov on 31 May. The moderator, Carl Zimmer, has a video of a conversation with co-panelist Peter Pringle on his blog. ((Later: Ok. actually, the video is at bloggingheads, but there’s a link from Zimmer’s blog, The Loom.)) Pringle is the author of The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov.
Later stiil: Check out the comment from Cary Fowler on Svalbard, though.
It’s all interconnected
I like trying to see the world through other people’s eyes. That’s why I’ve been skimming the blog of Thomas P.M. Barnett, ever since he gave one of the greatest TedTalks I have ever watched. He looks at food as a military strategist, but one who is a leading thinker of new approaches to conflict. I wonder what you’ll think of this headline from his blog:
Urbanization yields globalization yields rising income yields more food demand yields bigger farms yields more migration to cities yields …
A really interesting and really stimulating take on one future of food production. And while we’re on the subject, how about this:
Consumption preferences for genetically heterogeneous varieties, supported by the market either directly or indirectly, are what seems to be key in biodiversity preservation.
That’s the conclusion of a post from the blog at RMAP (Resource Management in Asia-Pacific). Maylee Thavat discusses local seed systems and subsistence farmers, and how the two interact. I think there’s a fundamental issue here, and that’s the distinction between growing food that you and those you interact directly with may eat, and growing something that you sell (in order to buy food). Nor do I think it is limited to subsistence farmers. I’ve talked to industrialized farmers growing hundreds of hectares of potato varieties for the supermarkets who wouldn’t dream of eating the food they sell. They have a couple of rows of a decent variety out the back for their own use.
Maybe you’ve had similar experiences?
Cities have no agrobiodiversity, it seems
UNEP and UN-Habitat announced today the publication of “case studies from around the world on cities, ecosystems and biodiversity.” I’ve had a quick look at a number of the summaries of studies on individual cities, including that on Rome, but unfortunately could find little evidence that agricultural biodiversity was even considered. That is a pity. Lots of agriculture goes on in cities, even cities in industrialized countries, in small homegardens and on terraces, in allotments and along roadside verges. ((Later: Coincidentally, this article on urban agriculture in Manila cropped up in my RSS feed today, but only after I’d written the above.)) The people involved are dedicated and knowledgeable. Often, they grow old, rare varieties and otherwise unusual species. Why not enlist them into the more general biodiversity conservation effort?
It’s a miracle
Synsepalum dulcificum is apparently the latest thing in the salons of the chic.
CARRIE DASHOW dropped a large dollop of lemon sorbet into a glass of Guinness, stirred, drank and proclaimed that it tasted like a “chocolate shake.â€
Nearby, Yuka Yoneda tilted her head back as her boyfriend, Albert Yuen, drizzled Tabasco sauce onto her tongue. She swallowed and considered the flavor: “Doughnut glaze, hot doughnut glaze!â€
Could there be a new export market for the “miracle berry” with its extraordinary ability to change the way things taste?
Speaking of which, I was at a nursery the other day and noticed that they offered plants of Stevia rebaudiana. that’s another of those well-known miracle plants, which is itself sweet, rather than making other things taste weird. I was interested because last I heard, Stevia was not permitted in Europe. Admittedly I haven’t kept up; maybe it is now. Anyway, I niblled on a bit of leaf, and it was remarkably sweet.