 | Increased desertification of Turkey's arable land -22 Aug 08 It used to be regarded as one of Turkey's best growing regions. However, vast sinkholes are now appearing across what was once the country's agricultural heartland. Drought, shrinking water levels and more thirsty crops, mean the rich arable land is literally turning to dust. Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports from Konya, one of the region's where desertification of arable land is most evident. |
 | PM calls to stop conversion of arable land Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi calls to stop the widespread conversion of arable land to produce bio-fuel as it is creating global food scarcity. He said this at the opening of the Sixth Summit of D8 in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday. |
 | Re: Increased desertification of Turkey's arable land -22 Au bigmel1981 |
 | Expanding Deserts Consume Farmland The United Nations reports global warming is reducing rainfall and increasing temperatures in most and the world's deserts. A 2006 report suggests the changes are hurting many who farm on desert fringes. In West Africa, the effects are acute and making food scarce. Those living in farming regions along the Sahel desert have found their arable land shrinking as desert sands encroach. Kari Barber has this report from the Senegal-Mauritania border town of Podor about what desertification means to food production. |
 | Are Humans Smarter Than Yeast? Understanding exponential growth as a fundamental driver of global warming, environmental destruction, peak oil and natural gas, water and arable land shortages, social decay, resource wars, etc.. I am looking for people to help me translate this video into other languages. Commentarians...If you think understanding exponential growth is important, and that this video clip is helpful, I hope you will consider including a link to this clip in your signature line in your commentary on other blogs -- as appropriate. |
 | Big money to buy up the family farm Agricultural land trusts and corporate players may take a bigger chunk of the nation's arable land with global market dynamics making rural land purchases more attractive investments. As seen on www.farmonline.com.au From agricultural news, weather, classifieds and market reports to properties for sale, job vacancies and rural events, farmonline has it covered. |
 | 中國 China from the Inside - Shifting Nature 2-6 China from the Inside - Shifting Nature "I've had anonymous, threatening phone calls, saying, 'This isn't any of your business, so keep out of it. Don't stick your nose into matters that don't concern you.' That's one thing. But it's not all. I have been beaten up." -- Huo Daishan, environmental campaigner China is trying to feed 20 percent of the world's population on 7 percent of the world's arable land. A third of the world uses water from China's rivers. But rapid industrialization and climate change have led to bad air, polluted rivers and drought. Environmental activists, Party officials, academics and scientists are in a daily struggle over the damage to nature in China. Environmental campaigner Huo Daishan has been trying to save the heavily polluted Huai River, which provides water for 150 million people. Research took him to its main tributary, the Shaying, into which over a million tons of raw human sewage and untreated waste water are dumped daily. Rather than clamping down on polluters, local government protects local industries. Along the Huai's main tributary, 50,000 people suffer from cancer. In one village alone, 118 people have died. The Deputy Minister of the Environment accepts that many cancer cases are related to environmental pollution, but says he is powerless to shut down polluting companies. Other stories explore northern China's dire water shortage, which is being remedied by channelling water from the south in what will be the biggest hydraulic project in world history. A project in the arid Ningxia region has benefited nearly half a million people, but elsewhere relocation from dam areas, like the Three Gorges, is causing huge social upheaval. |
 | Democracy at Work in Rural Puerto Rico? Part 2 On Part 2 the Federals continue with an insecticide experimenting "nontoxic for human." Who are they kidding? An a woman who bough a mansion by canning beans? Yeah, right. A 4-H Club movement in Puerto Rico? That's scary. Anyway, the positive things that arrived to Puerto Rico with the Americans was not out of their benevolence, but a secondary effects of their need to mark some sort of socioeconomic progress while they took control of Puerto Rico's advantageous geographical location in the map, as they mention it themselves here. All this agricultural promotion and mass conditioning was a big lie, as today 33% of our arable land is under military control. Curiously, they do not show a single black Puerto Rican. |
 | Obama: Is this your Change? Your Hope? Like Stalin, CHE Why did you move the DNC PARTY HEAD QUARTERS? So the dead can vote or so they can play Chicago style! Despite the infamous January 5, 1930 decree, in which the deadline for the complete collectivization of the Ukrainian SSR was set for the period from the end of 1931 to the spring of 1932, the Ukrainian SSR authorities decided to accelerate the completion of the campaign by autumn of 1930. The high expectations of the plan were outperformed by local authorities even without the assistance of the 7500 "Twenty-Five Thousanders who had reached some areas only by mid-February [22] -- by March 70.9% of arable land and 62.8% of peasant households were suddenly collectivized. The "Dekulakization" plan was also "over-performed". Almost 200,000 households (3.8% of total peasant households) were affected by the requisition of property, land, and houses. Some of the peasants were arrested and deported "to the north". Many arrested 'kulaks' and "well-to-do" farmers resettled their families to the Urals and Central Asia, where they were often exploited in others sectors of the economy, such as timber cutting.[16] The term 'kulak' was ultimately applied to anybody resisting collectivization as many of the so-called 'kulaks' were no more well-off than other peasants. Stalin forcibly starved and murdered 14.5 million from 1931-1934. NYTimes Walter Durante denied the Holocaust. "Holodomor" death by starvation. |
 | Garrett Hardin on Overpopulation and Carrying Capacity Garrett Hardin interview on Overpopulation, Carrying Capacity, and Quality of Life. Increased population makes things worse. There are various ways to influence population growth: tax incentives and government policies. More people mean more congestion and demands upon arable land. Discussion of energy, solar power, desalinization. Aesthetics and standard of living. Ecology, wilderness. Carrying capacity versus cultural carrying capacity and quality of life tradeoff. Garrett closes with: "If I've upset you... fine!" Read more about Garrett Hardin at http://www.garretthardinsociety.org View more short videos at http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/videos/videos.html Video copyright 1990 Educational Communications, Inc. PO Box 351419, Los Angeles, CA 90035. 310.559.9160. Permission required for other than personal viewing. |
 | Jan Irvin - Cannabis / Hemp / Marijuana Part 1 Jan Irvin is the co founder of Gnostic Media -- http://www.GnosticMedia.com -- and co author of The Pharmacratic Inquisition DVD. He is also the founder of http://www.Hemp4Fuel.com, and the author of The Holy Mushroom, Evidence of Mushrooms in Judeo-Christianity. In this radio interview with Mike Chambers of TNR -- www.truthnetradio.com -- Jan discuses the advantages of Industrial Hemp and how Marijuana could help rescue the US economy, diminish our fuel costs, and save our planet! What would you say if you just found out today that Marijuana was one of the most useful plants on the planet? These clips reveal what you won't learn on FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, BBC, or CBC or other mainstream media outlets. Did you know that Marijuana, properly known as Hemp, could as a raw material, save the US economy? This has nothing to do with smoking weed, but using it for building material, clothing, soap, paint, fuel, paper, plastic, dynamite, etc. In fact, Marijuana is the world's #1 sustainable, renewable resource for the overall majority of the world's industry needs. Hemp used for fuel could be grown on 6 to 10% of arable land in the US and supply all of our country's energy needs. But you won't hear George Bush and his cronies discussing the truth about 9/11 while waging war in the Middle East over oil, while at the same time waging war on US citizens in the War on Drugs. We could end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan today, because they were never about terrorism. We wouldn't need future wars in Iran if we could use Hemp at home today. This should be today's headline news! Why aren't we being told that our energy and industry could be supplied by a weed? Here is America's free energy source, and it comes from a seed. Learn why Jack Herer is offering $100,000 for anyone to prove this information wrong. http://www.gnosticmedia.com/ http://www.pharmacratic-inquisition.com |
 | A Convenient Reality: Sustainable Farming in Skyscrapers Santa Fe Sky Farms will revolutionize the way the world eats. By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth's population will reside in urban centers. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim. An estimated 109 hectares of new land (about 20% more land than is represented by the country of Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming practices continue as they are practiced today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use (sources: FAO and NASA). Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. What can be done to avoid this impending disaster? IN A HIGH-TECH ANSWER TO THE "LOCAL food" movement, some experts want to transport the whole farm—shoots, roots, and all— to the city. They predict that future cities could grow most of their food inside city limits, in ultraefficient greenhouses. "Vertical farms," proponents say, could produce more food using a fraction of the resources that traditional farms consume. The lives of millions of people may depend on it. Dickson Despommier, a parasitologist at Columbia University and an avid proponent of vertical farming, calculates that with projected population increases, the world will need 1 billion more hectares of arable land by 2050—roughly the area of Brazil and far more land than will be available. |
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