Proof that GMO can harm environment?

Genetically Engineered Corn May Harm Stream Ecosystems
National Science Foundation
October 9, 2007
[link]

Uploaded with Skitch!

Graduate ECAs

This semester I've gotten involved in:

Faculty Applicants Review Committee
Department Ethical Review Committee

It may sound glam at first but all I can say is that all these ECAs are really bad for research health. Think I shall take the profs advice and try to stay away from these things in future semesters. If I can!

A mixed diet is still better than vegetarianism?

A report from Cornell University reports that "Diet with Some Meat Uses Less Land than Vegetarian Diets".

"Surprisingly, however, a vegetarian diet is not necessarily the most efficient in terms of land use," said Peters.

The reason is that fruits, vegetables and grains must be grown on high-quality cropland, he explained. Meat and dairy products from ruminant animals are supported by lower quality, but more widely available, land that can support pasture and hay. A large pool of such land is available in New York state because for sustainable use, most farmland requires a crop rotation with such perennial crops as pasture and hay.

Thus, although vegetarian diets in New York state may require less land per person, they use more high-valued land. "It appears that while meat increases land-use requirements, diets including modest amounts of meat can feed more people than some higher fat vegetarian diets," said Peters.

"The key to conserving land and other resources with our diets is to limit the amount of meat we eat and for farmers to rely more on grazing and forages to feed their livestock," said Jennifer Wilkins, senior extension associate in nutritional sciences who specializes in the connection between local food systems and health and co-authored the study with Gary Fick, Cornell professor of crop and soil sciences. "Consumers need to be aware that foods differ not only in their nutrient content but in the amount of resources required to produce, process, package and transport them."

But I think what they are describing is essentially a more subsistent agriculture and would not be suitable for intensive, high-profit margin type agricultural production. Therefore, a lot of what is required for this system to succeed is to critically reduce meat consumption and also to develop a better local food system. This all depends on the crop rotation with hay that is the practice in the temperate countries. I am not very sure how this works in tropical areas but many small-scale farms, especially some organic farms, breed animals like chicken and vegetable to create a close loop of animal dungs for fertilizer and some veg for feed while having diet of both.

Somebody should do a life cycle assessment comparison of various diets.

Ecological Footprint of Asia

Marine ecological footprint of the live reef fish food trade
K Warren-Rhodes, Y Sadovy, H Cesar - SPC Live Reef Fish Information Bulletin, 2004
Link

Asia-Pacific Region 2005: The Ecological Footprint and Natural Wealth
M Progress, T Sustainability, C Profiles - assets.panda.org
Link

Ecosystem appropriation by Hong Kong and its implications for sustainable development
K Warren-Rhodes, A Koenig - Ecological Economics, 2001

Keywords
Water Footprint
Foodprint

Books on ecological footprint and indicators

The new indicators of well-being and development / Jean Gadrey and Florence Jany-Catrice.
Hampshire : Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
HSSML Books HD75 Gad 2006

Sustainable development indicators in ecological economics
Cheltenham, UK ; Northampton, MA : Edward Elgar Pub., c2006.
CL Books HC79 Env.Su 2006

Impact of rich countries' policies on poor countries : towards a level playing field in development cooperation / Robert Picciotto & Rachel Weaving, editors.
New Brunswick : Transaction Publishers, c2004
CL Books HD82 Imp 2004

Quantifying sustainable development : the future of tropical economies / edited by Charles A. S. Hall ; associate editors, Carlos Leon Perez, Gregoire Leclerc.
San Diego, Calif. : Academic Press, 2000.
CL Books HC695 *Env.Qu
CL Closed Stacks (Loans Desk 3) HC695 *Env.Qu cd-rom

The business of consumption : environmental ethics and the global economy / edited by Laura Westra and Patricia H. Werhane.
Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, c1998.
CL Books GE42 Bus

Sustainable measures : evaluation and reporting of environmental and social performance / edited by Martin Bennett and Peter James with Leon Klinkers.
Sheffield : Greenleaf Publishing, 1999
CL Closed Stacks HD30.255 Sus

Sustainability indicators : measuring the immeasurable? / Simon Bell and Stephen Morse.
London : Earthscan Publications, 2005.
CL Books GE140 Bel 2005

Handbook of ecological indicators for assessment of ecosystem health [electronic resource] / edited by Sven E. Jørgensen, Robert Costanza, Fu-Liu Xu.
Boca Raton : Taylor & Francis, c2005.
Link

Environmental Indicators

Measuring environmental quality in Asia / Peter P. Rogers ... [et al.].
Published by the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University and the Asian Development Bank, 1997.
CL Books TD193 Mea

Community indicators measuring systems / edited by Rhonda Phillips.
Aldershot, Hants, England ; Burlington, VT : Ashgate, c2005
CL RBR HN110 Com.C 2005

Development of environment statistics in developing Asian and Pacific countries.
Manila : Asian Development Bank, 1999.
CL Reference GE160 Asi.De

Indicators of sustainable development in industrializing countries / Peter J. Peterson.
Bangi : Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 1997-
CL Books GE160 Dev.Pe v. 1
CL Books GE160 Dev.Pe v.5

Kompendium perangkaan alam sekitar = Compendium of environmental statistics : Malaysia 2004 / Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia.
Putrajaya, [Selangor] : Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia, 2005
CL SMC HA1792 Mkp 2004

Ecological indicators [electronic resource]
Journal

Agriculture and biodiversity : developing indicators for policy analysis : proceedings from an OECD Expert Meeting, Zurich, Switzerland, November 2001.
Paris, France : Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, c2003.
CL Books S494.5 Agr.Ag 2003

Sustainable Agriculture

Agriculture and the environment : papers presented at the International Conference on Agriculture and the Environment, 10-13 November 1991 / edited by C.A. Edwards ... [et al.].
Amsterdam : Elsevier, 1993.
Science Closed Stacks S494.5 Sus.Iae

Environmental impact assessment : guidelines for agricultural development
New York : United Nations, 1990.
LAW TD194.6 Env

Measuring environmental degradation : developing pressure indicators for Europe / edited by Anil Markandya and Nick Dale.
Cheltenham, UK ; Northampton, MA : Edward Elgar, 2001
CL Books GE160 Eur.M

Measuring & modelling sustainable development / Ian Moffatt, Nick Hanley & Mike D. Wilson.
New York : Parthenon Pub. Group, c2001
CL Books HC79 Env.Mf

Ecological indicators for the nation / Committee to Evaluate Indicators for Monitoring Aquatic and Terrestrial Environments ... [et al.].
Washington, D.C. : National Academy Press, 2000
SDE Information Resource centre QH541.15 Ind.Ec (long term loan?)

Urban sustainability indicators / Voula Mega and Jorn Pedersen.
Dublin, Ireland : European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 1998.
CL Books HT169 Eur.Me

Agriculture, trade, and the environment : discovering and measuring the critical linkages / edited by Maury E. Bredahl ... [et al.].
Boulder, Colo. : Westview Press , c1996.
CL CLosed Stacks HF1379 Agr

Presentations of the Week

Grad life is overwhelmed with presentations. I do not feel I have the ability to make good presentations any more. In fact, quality is dropping with every presentation I make. Diminishing returns.

My presentation skills were something I take pride in before but now, I am no longer sure about that.

Either way I have uploaded my presentations on Google Documents.

First was a research statement and literature review presentation for my Methods in Environmental Science module. I got a B+ in it because lecturers felt that I did not have a focus - too broad. But I agree and now we are working on developing an indicator instead.

Second was a talk on "Nature at Work" I gave the Industrial Design students from ID2221 who are doing eco-designs and biomimicry. It was a more general talk on places in Singapore and also the type of adaptations and cool relationships there are in nature. The presentation online is a practically image-less slide because the original file is 24MB and google documents only take 10MB. Just thought I'll store it for adaptation in future talks.

New books

Handbook of sustainable development
Giles Atkinson, Simon Dietz, Eric Neumayer (2006)
Northampton, MA : Elgar
Linc Link