"The Crisis in Clean Energy" - Foreign Affairs Magazine

The July/August 2011 issue of Foreign Affairs Magazine published an article on the downward cycle in the clean energy field. Inherent to the field, advancements in clean energy take time and require an investment in research. As the world economy experiences challenges and investors re-evaluate, the current  VC activity in the greentech and cleantech field is down.

Foreign Affairs Article: The Crisis in Clean Energy

In the long run, moving away from carbon-based, oil dependent energy sources is important for many reasons including national security and climate change and so the cycle is expected to make its way back up at some point.

The cleantech market is seeing some consolidation and tougher times but the motivations that drive the need for innovation in clean energy haven't disappeared and so it's a matter of when things will pick back up and not whether they will.

The New Normal: Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters

Natural disasters affect the food system in direct and in-direct ways: destroying crops and farms and amounting to billions of dollars in damage.

2011 has seen a significant number of extreme natural disasters that have left tens of billions of dollars in damage in the US.  Some recently published reports present the figures over the last few decades. 

Changes in population centers in flood plains, severe droughts and wild fires, tornados, floods, hurricanes and other disasters are becoming more expensive as urban areas grow and as people move to areas that are prone to disaster.  Climate change also has a partial role in the increase.

A link to the article

How Food Prices Affect Your Weight

Morgan Clendaniel recently posted about studies showing that changes in food prices make significant impacts on the choices people make regarding their diet.

Some of the research suggests that reducing prices on healthy foods like fruits and vegetables is more beneficial than raising prices on unhealthy food.

The way in which small changes in food prices affect weight and community health and how related the two are is very interesting.

a link to the article

Just 10 inches from oblivion

Geoffrey Lean from the Telegraph writes about one of the more critical but not very popular environmental problems that is affecting food production and global health -  topsoil erosion, degradation and how it is affecting food production.

link to Telegraph article

This is arguably one of the most significant environmental challenges we're facing today, especially as the demand for food crops increases as rapidly as it has been.

honey bees and food crisis

"Viruses and mites have, according to the U.N., killed 85% of bees in the Middle East, 10% to 30% of bees in Europe, and nearly a third of American bees each year. This is a big deal--over 70 of the 100 crops that provide 90% of the world's food are pollinated by bees (that's $83 billion worth of crops)."


Interesting statistics about the honeybee situation around the world and the way it affects food production

link to article

Corn Rallies to Highest Price This Month on Inventory Drop; Soybeans Gain

Commodity consumption rates continue to rise, prices are too.

Figures and futures for corn and soybeans in the US.

A link to the article

New federal policy aims to expand US fish farming

The US government has decided to encourage domestic fish farming in the country's oceans in order to reduce dependence on imports.   What kind of impact will intensive ocean fish farming have on the ocean?

Wonder if they're considering implementing advanced techniques like the ones developed Grow Fish Anywhere -  Arazim has been working GFA to create a sustainable aquaculture market.


A link to the article 

A link to Grow Fish Anywhere, the startup that is developing and implementing a patented fully closed, zero discharge intensive aquaculture system that is suitable both for fresh and sea water fish.

Ethanol Industry Welcomes Compromise

Interesting changes proposed to the corn ethanol industry in the US.

link to the article

Clifford Krauss wrote a piece in the NYtimes on the proposed legislation (link above).

Agencies See Decade of High Food Prices

WSJ article from a few weeks ago predicting a sustained period of high food prices


link to the WSJ article


LONDON—Food prices will be up to 30% higher on average over the next decade as slowing

grains production fails to keep pace with rising demand, the Organization for Economic

Cooperation and Development said Friday.

Bayer Settles With Farmers Over Modified Rice Seeds

A bloomberg piece published on-line at NYtimes.com about a huge settlement of scores of lawsuits over GMO rice.

link to the article

A Bayer AG unit will pay $750 million to settle claims with about 11,000 United States farmers who said a strain of the company’s genetically modified rice tainted crops and ruined their export value.

G20 farm ministers tackle high food prices, agreeing to a watered-down declaration that fell short of France's proposals to tighten regulation of commodity markets.

Update:  looks like the other farm ministers weren't convinced to support France's push for new regulations


link to article

Credit: Reuters/Jacky Naegelen

(Reuters) - G20 farm ministers settled a deal on Thursday to tackle high food prices, agreeing to a watered-down declaration that fell short of France's ambitious proposals to tighten regulation of commodity markets.

G20 agriculture summit to discuss food security and regulating global markets

Rising food prices were discussed in Europe recently: interesting French position on tariffs and regulations.

link to the article


"World food prices that rose 37% in a year, driving 44 million more people into poverty, are a “plague” that needs action from world leaders now, said French President Nicolas Sarkozy during the two-day Group of 20 agriculture ministers in Paris." A market that is not regulated is not a market, it’s a lottery in which fortune smiles on the most cynical, instead of rewarding hard work, investment and the creation of value” underlined Sarkozy."