Jerry J. Toman | The Green Economy Post: Green Careers, Green Business, Sustainability

Reining in the Agri-Biz Juggernaut

By Jerry_Toman on July 14, 2009 Comments Off on Reining in the Agri-Biz Juggernaut ADM, Agri-Biz, beef, beef industry, bio-fuels, carbon footprint, Cargill, CHP, Combined Heat and Power, dead-zones, ethanol, fertilizer, genetically modified food, global warming, greenhouse gases, Gulf of Mexico, horticulture, intellectual rights, Jerry J. Toman, Monsanto, permaculture, pesticides, power rights, ScM, toxic run-off, urban areas, water rights

This the third article in the series The Two-Headed Dragon ~ Energy/Water/Food Scarcity and Climate Change. Top Ten Policies that Feed it, and Two New Technologies that Could Enable us to Slay It and Save the Planet focuses on the issue of big agribusiness; how it is is dominated by a very few very large corporations; the big problems this dominance is creating for farmers and the environment and some things we can do to restore our agricultural system to one more in tune with nature and that serves the interests of most citizens.

Messing with Mother Nature—Building Dams and/or Levee Systems on Medium and Large River Systems

By Jerry_Toman on July 8, 2009 Comments Off on Messing with Mother Nature—Building Dams and/or Levee Systems on Medium and Large River Systems Arizona State University, Belo Monte, Brazil, California, CAPE, Caspian Sea, Central Valley Water Project, China, Colorado River, Convective Available Potential Energy, dead-zones, Egypt, El Nino, Electric Plant at Niagara, global weather cycles, Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico, High Aswan Dam, hydraulic systems, Jerry J. Toman, large dams, levee system, Madeira River, Martin J. Pasqualetti, Mississippi River Basin, natural ecosystems, Netherlands, New Orleans, Nile, petroleum, Philip M. Fearnside, rock weathering, San Joaquin-Sacramento River, Scott Kelly, subtropical, Three Gorges Dam, topsoil, trace-mineral fertilization, tropical, Tucurui Project, Volga

This, the second article in the series The Two-Headed Dragon–Energy/Water/Food Scarcity and Climate Change — the Top Ten Policies that Feed It; Two New Technologies (and One Old) that Could Enable us to Slay It and Save the Planet focuses on the unintended side effects of large dams and levee systems. It specifically discusses how they are causing serious environmental problems downstream that are becoming more damaging than the benefits that these dams and levee systems provide. In many ways this cautionary tale is applicable to many other technological and large scale engineering interventions into natural systems, especially when these technologies and engineered systems are not well understood.