Category: RT Newswire

http://sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/32443/title/Insects_%28the_original_white_meat%29>

“For crickets fed diets comparable in quality to the feed given to
conventional Western livestock, diet conversion efficiency is about
twice as high as for broiler chicks and pigs, four times higher than
sheep and nearly six times higher than steers, DeFoliart reports.
Insects’ quick reproduction and high fecundity makes them look even
more environmentally attractive. For the crickets, DeFoliart has
calculated, this translates into “a true food conversion efficiency
close to 20 times better than that of beef.”

Gracer likens these differences to gas-guzzling versus gas-sipping
vehicles: “Cows and pigs are the SUVs of the food world. And
bugs-they’re the Priuses, maybe even bicycles.”

http://sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/32443/title/Insects_%28the_original_white_meat%29>

————————————————————————————-

——————–
” … this is just the beginning.”
——————————–

Calgary Herald (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
Sunday » May 25 » 2008

Lemons in Victoria? Blame it on climate change
Retiree’s garden grows everything from olives to kiwi

Sandra Mcculloch — Canwest News Service
VICTORIA – When climate change hands you lemons, make lemonade.

Retired entomologist Bob Duncan and his wife,
Verna, are growing big, beautiful lemons against
a south-facing wall in his North Saanich, B.C.
backyard, something he couldn’t have done decades
ago when skating on Victoria ponds in winter was
a common occurrence.

News that lemons now flourish here doesn’t
surprise University of Victoria climatologist
Andrew Weaver, who adds that gardeners no longer
need to bring their geraniums inside over winter.

Continue reading

Published on Saturday, May 24, 2008 by Inter Press Service

Food Security Requires New Approach to Water
by Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, May 23 (IPS) – The ongoing food crisis, characterized by growing shortages and rising prices of staple commodities, has far reaching implications for the world’s scarce water resources, says a new study released here.

“More food is likely to come at a cost of more water use in agriculture,” according to the report titled “Saving Water: From Field to Fork“.

The emerging challenges facing the food sector include growing water scarcity; unacceptably high levels of under-nourishment; the proliferation of people who are overweight or obese; and of food that is lost or wasted in society.

Continue reading

Published on Friday, May 23, 2008 by The Independent/UK

Amazon Indians Lead Battle Against Power Giant’s Plan to Flood Rainforest
by Patrick Cunningham in Altamira, Brazil

The Amazonian city of Altamira played host to one of the more uneven contests in recent Brazilian history this week, as a colourful alliance of indigenous leaders gathered to take on the might of the state power corporation and stop the construction of an immense hydroelectric dam on a tributary of the Amazon.

At stake are plans to flood large areas of rainforest to make way for the huge Belo Monte hydroelectric dam on the Xingu river. The government is pushing the project as a sustainable energy solution, but critics complain the environmental and social costs are too high.

Continue reading