Can traditional water-harvesting systems teach us how to solve contemporary water problems? Michael Kenneth Cowan says we have a lot to learn from the ancient and troubled ecology of the Middle East
… Michael Kenneth Cowan | 1st June 2008 News Water Rain Harvesting Drought Middle East Waterways Aquifers Desertification Fresh Water Drought Privatisation Natural World Food …
Can food crops really be engineered to thrive - and to yield more - under drought conditions? After 25 years we're still waiting for the flood of evidence, says Prof Jack Heinemann
… One of the most important global resources is water, and as a result drought may be the … yield. Already some 70-86 per cent of fresh water drawn from the ground by humans is used … thirst or limit other demands on water, we can expect the problem of finding …
With vast areas decimated by industrial farming, the salad days are over for mass-produced olive oil. Laura Sevier looks at the effect its rise in popularity has had on the European landscape, and at some more sustainable brands.
… hazard (with negative impacts on the soil, water supply and wildlife), and when it comes … groves with few or no agrochemicals, less water and less machinery. Olives are picked … run-off of soils and agrochemicals into water bodies.’ ‘Anywhere in the main …
The World Bank’s 2008 World Development Report makes a grim prediction of what is to come:
… energy converters, require a lot of water and feed, and add to global methane … CO 2 . So much for modern efficiency. Without water, agriculture grinds to a halt. In developed countries with clean tap water widely available, it’s easy to forget …
Head chef of pioneering Shoreditch eco-restaurant The Water House, Marie Gonfond shares a few recipes...
… Eco-restaurant - The Water House Andy Gold | 1st November 2008 … Recipe Campaigns Organics Food And Farming Waterhouse_MAIN.jpg Head chef of pioneering Shoreditch eco-restaurant The Water House, Marie Gonfond shares a few …
The UK’s organic brewers are calling time on beer corporations, as Rachel Clode discovers
… grain is washed or ‘steeped’ in tanks with water for around 60 hours. The wet grain is … The malt is cracked in a mill, mixed with water in a mash tun then the recipe is refined … to sugar, the brew is sampled, before hot water is added to kill the enzymes. The wort, …
The UK’s organic brewers are calling time on beer corporations, as Rachel Clode discovers
… grain is washed or ‘steeped’ in tanks with water for around 60 hours. The wet grain is … The malt is cracked in a mill, mixed with water in a mash tun then the recipe is refined … to sugar, the brew is sampled, before hot water is added to kill the enzymes. The wort, …
The coast of Peru is being blighted by a fishmeal industry that's sprung up to satisfy the West’s voracious appetite for salmon – now marine life, human health and whole ecosystems are paying the price. Andrew Wasley and Jim Wickens report
… of meal and oil are situated in European waters and in the Pacific bordering Peru and … is not sustainable. Peru’s Pacific waters contain a vital fishery and one of the … costal shelves and force nutrient-rich cool water to the surface. The nutrients support …
From its flowers and berries to the fungi littering its branches, the elder is a one-tree feast, says Fergus Drennan
… one), chop and grind to a pulp with boiled water; strain through a pillowcase to remove … and return to a large pan of boiling water, whisking in the melted fat. Cover and … Remove solidified fat that forms on the water’s surface and repeat process from …
Can organic farming feed the world? Ed Hamer and Mark Anslow say yes, but we must eat and farm differently
… eating birdsfoot trefoil to ordinary grass. 4 Water use Agriculture is officially the most … a staggering 72 per cent of all global freshwater at a time when the UN says 80 per cent of our water supplies are being overexploited. This …
It usually takes a major public health crisis to remove profitable toxins completely from marketplace. In the meantime most of us continue to be exposed to a variety of profitable poisons, including:
… this chemical is also routinely added to the water supply of some six million Brits. … polluting soil and, more alarmingly, water supplies. MTBE is a known health risk …
Seaweed is delicious, nutritious, a veritable cure-all and just one of the reasons Fergus Drennan does like to be beside the Great British seaside
… are mostly marine but can also be brackish water algae, ranging in size from the … draw all their nutrients from the surrounding water and have holdfasts, stipes, lamina, … a blanket and cover with a single layer of seawater-rinsed seaweed. Turning over once, most …
Growing your own would be vital if the shops shut for good. Steve Solomon has the key to a persistent vegetable state
… requiring a little more land, a lot less water and a lot less time and effort. A key … competition between them, conserve soil water and make weeding a simple matter of …
Battling a fractured back and the vagaries of the weather high in the Pyrenees, is the biodynamic dream of wine writer turned grower Monty Waldin about to turn sour?
… Roussillon had left many local villages with water shortages. Mutterings about global … a hen house and chickens, and dug a small water reservoir, which would also serve as a … the width of your arm, it also means you can water, weed or pick each of your crops from …
Chemicals, pesticides, GM and agrofuels – when it comes to food production it seems the lunatics are running the asylum. But there is hope in some new approaches
… fell even as fertiliser use climbed. Soil, water and people suffer the toxic legacy. …
Hardy, long-lived and self-sufficient, perennial vegetables are a gardener’s dream. From rhubarb to the air potato, they are a gift that keeps on giving
… for nutrients and minerals, and require less watering. Aside from rhubarb, asparagus and …
A year ago, my brother, who is probably a better gardener than me (even though he does insist on giving half his land over to mangel-wurzels, whatever they are) gave me a book called "Gardening and Planting by the Moon"
… sometimes throw the baby out with the bathwater. Because, if I’m being honest, there is … on the long-noted influence of the moon on water on Earth. The moon’s pull causes the … and out, and seems to do the same for groundwater, too. Knowing the moon’s phases can …
Globally over 60 billion animals are farmed for food every year. The 2006 Report from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, predicted that global meat consumption will more than double by 2050 (from 2001).
… that they can no longer walk to the feed and water outlets in their shed or cannot stretch …
It was bred to aid the rural poor, but one bird is also helping break industrialised farming’s stranglehold on India. Andrew Wasley meets the remarkable Giriraja
… so severe some are unable to reach food and water, say campaigners. During transportation …
What could be more cheerful than this ubiquitous breakfast fruit? But if you’re not buying them Fairtrade and organic, argues Ed Hamer, then you’re buying into a modern agricultural scandal
… to localised flooding and sedimentation of water courses and coastal regions. In 1996 it … from the leaves and into the soil and watercourses. In one month in 1994, five … or find their way into drainage ditches and waterways. Collection and recycling requires …