Agriculture
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The Economic Argument Against GMOs: a Top Ten List
Ask an economist to give an opinion about any controversial subject in society, and they’ll turn to the data and start digging for answers. While I’ve covered the economics of GMOs in the past, Dr. Vandana Shiva, on a recent visit by the visionary sustainability guru to my home state of Hawaii, opened my eyes to […] More
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Introducing the Biodiversity Offset standard
One of those projects I’ve kept an increasingly excited eye on is the Business and Biodiversity Offset Program (BBOP .. an acronym which always makes me want to dance!). This month is something of a BBOP milestone as they’ve published their very first standard. This takes the initial 10 principles around which BBOP is based […] More
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Peace Corps and Sustainability: Today and The Next 50 Years
As a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV), I am honored and anxious to celebrate the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s signing of the executive order that created the Peace Corps. March 1, 2011 will mark over 10 years since I served as a water & sanitation volunteer in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa and will be a celebration […] More
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Sudan: Open for Business?
As most people are aware these days, Sudan, a country that has undergone so much hardship since it became Africa’s (geographically) largest country on January 1, 1956 is on the cusp of splitting into two. A complex issue anyway one looks at it, with economic and cultural concerns at the forefront. However, for a continent […] More
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Ben & Jerry’s Fair Trade Blogger Fest
I am in Burlington, Vermont attending the Ben & Jerry’s Fair Trade Blogger Fest. Earlier this year, the ice cream company announced its plans “to go fully Fair Trade” for all its global flavors by the end of 2013… definitely an ambition goal. So for the next two days, bloggers from around the country will […] More
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A Meeting of the Minds: Sustainable Agricultural Summit Begins
Today kicks off the American Business Conference’s 4th part of a global series of Sustainable Agricultural Summits. And what better city for this summit to take place, but San Francisco. California is home to 81,500 farms and ranches and tallied revenues of $36.2 billion last year alone. That figure represents 11.2% of the nation’s total. […] More
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Quick! Define Deforestation!
When people hear the word “deforestation,” the image that comes to mind is logging. Logging is tied to paper and fiber-based products, which are subsequently labeled forest-killers. That’s some powerful imagery. But is it accurate? More
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Hospitals Use Purchase Power to Increase Antibiotic-Free Proteins in the Marketplace
Fletcher Allen staff member, Anne Rowell, sets out pizzas under a display of Wednesday’s special: a cheese steak sandwich, made with beef raised locally without the use of non-therapeutic antibiotics. The roll and cheese are also Vermont products and the side of pasta salad is home made. Annually, Fletcher Allen uses about 40,000 pounds of […] More
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The High Price of Rubber & the Devastation of Southeast Asia
Slash-and-burn agriculture may be bad for the environment, but in southeast Asia, the cure may be worse than the disease. Endorsed by multiple governments, at both the local and national levels, as well as numerous business interests, everyone from individual farmers to massive corporations has been replacing the traditional slash-and-burn, more technically known as swidden, […] More
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Green Muck Has Biofuel Investors Chomping at the Bit
When you visit the Khosla Ventures website, you are greeted with a quote that articulates the spirit of the movement that we are trying to capture at the Inspired Economist. It reads, “Innovative bottom up methods will solve problems that now seem intractable- from energy to poverty to disease. Science and technology, powered by the […] More