Sustainable development blog : ecology and humanitarian aid

Check out this You Tube video by Yolanda Dominguez. Read more »

As the threats to marine ecosystems continue to build thanks to things such as climate change, overfishing, pollution and non-sustainable uses of this finely balanced natural resource, a leading research scientist discusses what we can do about problems associated with the world's oceans.

Dr Dr. Alex Rogers, Scientific Director of IPSO and Professor of Conservation Biology at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, makes the important point that what is going on today in our oceans is morally corrupt, as we destroy an essential resource that will be needed to provide sustenance to people long past our own limited lifespans.

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Watch this great video from the Center for Investigative Reporting about the true price of gasoline. Read more »

More than 35 countries recently participated in a United Nations-sponsored effort to protect  traditional medicines from bio-piracy. At a three-day meeting in New Delhi they discussed a database that has been developed in India – the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) – that documents and protects centuries old knowledge about country’s traditional medicines and treatments. The idea is to try and help protect these traditional medicines, which should be the property of people and nations, from being patented by unscrupulous companies and individuals for profit.

Traditional medicine is, according to the World Health Organisation, "the sum total of knowledge, skills and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures that are used to maintain health, as well as to prevent, diagnose, improve or treat physical and mental illnesses."

Every natural environment, regardless of where it is, produces plants which can be used both as food and medicine, and all First Nations peoples retained knowledge and uses for them.

The plants used in traditional healing will vary from place to place, as is explained by Katsitsarishons (Suzanne Brant) is a Health Programs Coordinator at the First Nations Technical Institute, Tyendinaga 

Mohawk Territory in Ontario, Canada:

“Whatever [plant] you need is right around you. It’s conditioned to its environment, so it grows in certain soils and certain areas. It’s the same with us as human beings. We grow in a certain place, so we utilize those plants that are around us. And [plant use] shifts depending on where you’re at.” Read more »

Nairobi (Kenya), 22 February 2011

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today announced that India, with one of the fastest growing economies in the world that is embracing the process of a transition to a Green Economy, will be for the first time ever the global host of World Environment Day 2011 (WED) on 5 June.

This year's theme 'Forests: Nature at Your Service' underscores the intrinsic link between quality of life and the health of forests and forest ecosystems. The WED theme also supports this year's UN International Year of Forests.

India is a country of 1.2 billion people who continue to put pressure on forests especially in densely populated areas where people are cultivating on marginal lands and where overgrazing is contributing to desertification. Read more »

The truth about foie gras... Read more »

“Why You Can Now Kiss Organic Beef, Dairy and Many Vegetables Goodbye” screams a recent AlterNet headline. This story, like so many others that have appeared in the press over the past week or two, revolves around the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) decision to deregulate genetically engineered alfalfa.

Nitrogen nodules on alfalfa roots.

As most of these articles correctly point out, alfalfa is a major feed crop for the dairy and beef industries, and as a perennial, bee-pollinated crop, the risks of contamination spreading into non-GE alfalfa crops is great. I’m afraid Iwon’t be finding any good reasons to cheer this particular decision by the USDA, which I agree with most critics, is short-sighted and completely unnecessary from either a farming or consumer standpoint. But, nevertheless, the decision has been made and farmers in the Unites States will now be able to plant Roundup Ready alfalfa.

My question is why would they want to? Read more »

Anyone for a nice eco-sundae?

Picture courtesy: http://green-tea-powder.com

According to a recent report from Waterlink International food company, Unilever and "green energy" company, Paques are constructing a bio-digester at Read more »