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Sustainability

Interview: Development Expert
Relies On Resilience of Villagers

Geographer Edward Carr has spent much of his time working in sub-Saharan Africa, where climate change and other environmental threats present a growing challenge to the local people. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, he describes how his experience in Ghana taught him that villagers were “repositories of information about how to improve the human condition cheaply and with minimal environmental impact.” Carr contends that any outside aid, including funds for adapting to a warming world, must build on this inherent resilience. “One of the most important and fascinating things that comes out of my experience,” says Carr, “is that people are enormously capable with access to very limited resources, while managing serious economic and environmental instability.”
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20 Dec 2011: Mexico City Closes Dump
In Push to Boost Recycling and Reuse

Mexico City has announced plans to close one of the world’s largest open-air garbage dumps as part of an initiative to convert more of the city’s waste into reusable materials or energy. By the end of the year, garbage trucks will no longer be allowed to drop trash at the Bordo Poniente, a massive dump that has received more than 76 million tons of trash since it opened after the devastating 1985 earthquake. At its peak, the dump received about 12,700 tons of garbage daily. A recycling separation facility and composting plant will remain open at the site. According to a plan announced by city officials, a large concrete company, Cemex SAB, will buy 3,000 tons of trash daily to convert into energy. Mexico City is searching for other dump sites to use until a new recycling program is instituted in 2012. Meanwhile, Seattle became the latest U.S. city to ban plastic grocery bags and also passed a 5-cent fee on paper bags in an attempt to reduce its waste stream.
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12 Dec 2011: Increased Bicycling Will Help
EU Meet Climate Targets, Report Says

If all Europeans bicycled as much as the people of Denmark, the European Union could achieve up to one-quarter of its target for carbon emissions reductions in the transportation sector by 2050, a new report says. According to the European Cyclists’ Federation, the average Dane cycles about 2.6 kilometers a day. If that rate were achieved across the EU, it would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 55 million to 120 million tons annually, or 5 to 11 percent of the EU’s overall emissions target, by 2020. (By 2020, the EU has vowed to reduce emissions 20 percent below 1990 levels). By 2050, a large-scale shift to cycling would represent a cut in C02 emissions of 63 million to 142 million tons, or 12 to 26 percent of the target reduction for the transportation sector. Since the EU is unlikely to meet its targets with more efficient technology alone, the report says that a shift away from cars is critical.
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09 Dec 2011: ExxonMobil Forecasts
Major Shift to Greener Vehicles

A new report from ExxonMobil predicts that nearly half of the world’s cars will either be hybrids or powered by alternative fuels by 2040. While hybrids now account for just about 1 percent of all vehicles worldwide, the oil giant forecasts that hybrids and alternative energy vehicles will move to the mainstream as governments increasingly push for better fuel efficiency. The ExxonMobil report, “The Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040,” predicts that overall energy demand will remain flat in developed nations over the next three decades, but demand in developing nations such as China and India will increase nearly 60 percent from 2010 to 2040. The report also predicts a worldwide boom in shale gas production and forecasts that 30 percent of the world’s electricity will be produced from natural gas, while demand for coal will peak before seeing “its first long-term decline in modern history.”
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Interview: Exploring Humanity's
Place in the Journey of the Universe

As a pioneer in the field of religion and ecology, Mary Evelyn Tucker has long believed that science and policy alone are not enough to deal with the Earth’s most pressing environmental challenges. What’s also needed, she says, is a spiritual or religious framework for valuing the natural world, a sense that “there is something here that’s larger than us, something that’s given birth to all life forms and sustains us.” That is the essence of a new film she co-produced, Journey of the Universe, which is premiering on PBS. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Tucker describes the evolution of her work and how it is brought together in Journey of the Universe. While the film does not include any overt religious references, it seeks to evoke a sense of what she calls “wonder and awe.” Says Tucker, “There is a broad spiritual sensibility, which many environmentalists share, but often don’t talk about or want to name.”
Read the interview
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29 Nov 2011: Map Shows Population Density
As Planet Reaches 7 Billion People

With the world’s population now surpassing 7 billion, a Boston-based design firm has published a map illustrating the planet’s population density, including detailed visualizations of the most densely populated cities. Dencity, created by Fathom Information Design, uses circles of various sizes and hues to represent population density, with larger, darker circles showing areas with fewer people, and smaller, lighter circles representing the world’s most crowded cities and regions. China, home to eight of the world’s 20 most populated cities, contains a series of tightly packed orange and yellow dots. Likewise, the populous nations of India and Pakistan are almost uniformly dense until they reach political boundaries or geographic features, such as the Himalayas. Meanwhile, the larger, darkly hued dots illustrate less populated regions, including Saharan Africa and Siberia.
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16 Nov 2011: Major Investment Needed
To Avert Food Crisis, Study Says

An international commission says billions of dollars must be invested in agriculture and food distribution to avoid a catastrophic increase in hunger worldwide in the coming years. In a new study, the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change said a coordinated series of responses is needed to feed a growing world population in the face of climate change, ecosystem degradation, and rising food prices. By significantly increasing sustainable agriculture, the group says, the world can use farming as a tool to fight climate change since healthy soils could absorb carbon dioxide rather than releasing it. Other recommendations include intensifying agricultural production while reducing greenhouse gas emissions; targeting populations that are most vulnerable; improving access to nutritional foods; and improved efficiencies to reduce loss and waste in food production.
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11 Nov 2011: New Irrigation Device Pulls
Water From the Air in Driest Conditions

A student at Australia’s Swinburne University this week received the James Dyson Award for a device he says is capable of harvesting moisture from the air for use in irrigation, even in the world’s driest places. Developed by Edward Linnacre, the Airdrop is a wind- or solar-powered device that sucks air underground through a coiled metal pipe, where the cooler temperature of the surrounding soil slowly causes it to condense. The device ultimately collects the water in an underground tank before it is pumped back to the roots of nearby crops via a sub-surface drip irrigation system. According to Linnacre, a prototype that he developed in his mother’s backyard was able to produce about one liter of water per day. He hopes the technology can be used for agriculture in even the driest conditions. “There are water-harvesting technologies out there, but there’s very few low-tech solutions,” he said. “A low-tech solution is perfect for rural farmers, something that they can install, something that they can maintain themselves.”
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New Website Features Leading Scientists
and Writers Talking on Natural History

A recently launched website, The Natural Histories Project, explores the value of natural history in the 21st century as articulated by some of the field’s leading voices. In a series of conversations recorded earlier this year, dozens of scientists, writers, and educators discuss the role of natural history in society and how it should be taught to the next generation, as well as innovative directions in research, technology, and environmental management. “I feel that it’s an incredibly exciting time to be a naturalist, perhaps the most exciting time to be a naturalist that’s ever existed on this planet,” says Joshua Tewksbury, a University of Washington biologist and one of the organizers of the project.
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01 Nov 2011: New Bridge in Wales
Made from Recycled Plastic Waste

European engineers have completed a 90-foot bridge over the River Tweed in Wales that is made completely from recycled plastic, the first thermoplastic bridge to be built outside the U.S. The bridge, which consists of 50 tons of recycled high-density polyethylene materials that would have otherwise been buried in landfills, is able to support vehicles as heavy as 44 tons. Because it is made of plastic, it will never rot or rust, and will not require chemical treatment, painting, or regular maintenance, according to Vertech Composites, the UK-based firm that designed and built the bridge. And with an expected lifespan of about 50 years, that would yield a savings of $300 per-square-foot during its lifecycle compared with bridges made of standard building materials, the firm says. In completing the project, Vertech engineers worked with several groups, including Rutgers University’s Advanced Polymer Center, which also helped construct a thermoplastic composite bridge at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
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25 Oct 2011: More than 3.8 Million Trees
Cut Annually for Disposable Chopsticks

A published report calculates that about 3.8 million trees in China are cut annually for the production of disposable chopsticks, contributing to the loss of China’s regional forests. According to a report in the New York Times’ Green blog, about half of those chopsticks are used in China, 39 percent in Japan, 12 percent in South Korea, and 1 percent in the United States. Environmental activists say that wooden utensils can be phased out, and China has taken steps to discourage their use, imposing a tax on disposable chopsticks in 2007. In addition, more than 2,000 restaurants in Beijing and Guangzhou have stopped using wooden chopsticks in favor of reusables, which have a lifespan of about 130 meals. Last year, students from 200 Chinese universities built a series of “trees” using 80,000 discarded chopsticks and displayed them in a busy Beijing mall to call attention to the issue. In Japan, however, many restaurants have resisted switching to reusable chopsticks.
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24 Oct 2011: Study Offers New Insights
Into Planting Flood-Tolerant Crops

Scientists say they have identified the molecular mechanism that enables plants to detect and cope with low oxygen levels that occur when roots or shoots are inundated with water, a development they say could help farmers breed high-yield, flood-tolerant crops as flooding becomes more common globally. In a study published in Nature, researchers from the University of California, Riverside and the University of Nottingham in the UK describe the subtle changes they observed in the metabolism of plants after they were fully or partially submerged. Specifically, in tests on Arabidopsis, a small flowering plant species, they identified proteins that are actually unstable when oxygen levels are normal, but become more stable when oxygen levels drop, such as during exposure to increased amounts of water; this trait enhances the plants’ ability to survive in flood conditions. Researchers say that in years to come scientists might be able to manipulate this trait, called the protein turnover mechanism, to develop crops capable of surviving flood conditions.
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21 Oct 2011: Database Highlights Projects
That Convert Runoff into Public Resources

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has launched a public database of 479 projects that use green infrastructure techniques to divert and process urban stormwater before it reaches rivers, lakes, estuaries and other waterways. By using such methods as rain gardens, green roofs, and bioretention — which replicates the uptake and storage of chemicals and sediment by wetlands — designers say the projects have improved the quality of water in their cities and towns, while converting urban stormwater into a valuable resource for communities. Most of the projects listed — including the restoration of an Atlanta brownfield site into a public park and the transformation of a dilapidated Bronx playground into a recreation area that captures and filters stormwater — represent redevelopment or retrofits that have returned unproductive or out-of-use space to the public. Significantly, ASLA found that the deployment of such “green infrastructure” strategies tended to lower development costs, primarily by doing away with expensive, hard runoff-treatment options.
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17 Oct 2011: ‘Fertilizer’ Trees Provide
Boost to African Crop Yields, Study Says

The planting of so-called “fertilizer trees,” indigenous tree species that draw nitrogen from the air and replenish the soil, has significantly improved the crop yields in five African nations over the last two decades, researchers say. Since the 1980s, when the World Agroforestry Centre started working with local farmers to identify trees that can help improve soil fertility, more than 400,000 small farmers in parts of Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have planted these “fertilizer” trees, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability. In some cases, farmers who have planted these tree species — including fast-growing varieties of acacia — had twice the maize yields as those who did not, increasing incomes and food security. In Zambia, for instance, the income for farmers using fertilizer trees were $233 to $327 per hectare, compared with $130 for unfertilized fields. Across the region, the higher yields produced 57 to 114 additional days of food. The trees also improved water efficiency, said Oluyede Ajayi, senior scientist at the World Agroforestry Centre and lead author of the study. “The trees are helping reduce the runoff and soil erosion that is a key factor behind food production shortfalls in Africa,” he said.
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14 Oct 2011: Electricity from Cow Manure
Has Market Potential, Case Study Says

A case study in Vermont suggests that it is economically feasible for dairy farms to convert cow manure into electricity using anaerobic methane digestion, provided there is adequate commitment from utilities, farmers, customers, and government agencies. During a seven-year period, six dairy farms participating in the Central Vermont Public Service Corporation’s (CVPS) so-called Cow Power program were able to generate about 12 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, and more than 4,600 customers voluntarily paid $0.04 more per kilowatt-hour, or about $470,000 annually, to use that power, according to a study published in the Journal of Dairy Science. “The Cow Power program represents a successful and locally sourced renewable energy project with many economic and environmental benefits,” said Qingbin Wang a University of Vermont professor and lead author of the study.
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13 Oct 2011: Five-point Plan Proposed
To Feed World in a Sustainable Fashion

An international team of scientists has unveiled a plan that they say would double food production by 2050 while reducing the global environmental impact of agriculture. Reporting in the journal Nature, scientists from the U.S., Canada, Sweden, and Germany said that the only way the world community could sustainably feed the estimated 9 billion to 10 billion people expected on the planet later this century would be by taking the five following steps: halt expansion of farmland into tropical forests and wild lands; more efficiently use large swaths of underutilized farmland in Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, boosting current food production by nearly 60 percent; make more efficient use of water, fertilizers, and chemicals, which are currently overutilized in some areas and underutilized in others; shift diets, especially in the developed world, from excessive meat consumption; and reduce the amount of food that is discarded, spoiled, or eaten by pests, which currently amounts to about a third of the food supply. “For the first time we have shown that it is possible to both feed a hungry world and protect a threatened planet,” said the study's lead author, Jonathan Foley, of the University of Minnesota.
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12 Oct 2011: Global Meat Production
Increased 20 Percent Since 2000, Report Says

Global meat production has grown by 20 percent in the last decade and tripled since 1970, increases that have far exceeded the rate of population growth during the same periods and pose significant threats to the environment, the economy, and public health, a new report says. According to the Worldwatch Institute report, much of that growth is due to the rise of large-scale factory farming in developing countries such as China. Such industrial-scale farming not only poses health risks to livestock and ultimately introduces massive amounts of antibiotics into the environment, it also generates significant emissions of potent greenhouse gases, including methane and nitrous oxide, the report says. Earlier reports have found that livestock operations account for as much as 18 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. While the new report says people in the developed world consume more than twice as much meat as those living in developing nations (80 kilograms annually per person, compared with 32 kilograms), it predicts that demand for livestock products in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia will nearly double by 2050.
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11 Oct 2011: Virgin Plans Flights
Using Fuel from Industrial Waste

Virgin Atlantic Airways has announced plans to fly commercial routes using a waste-based, synthetic gas fuel that produces half the carbon emissions of the typical jet fuel. Using technologies developed by partners LanzaTech and Swedish Biofuels, Virgin says it will capture and chemically treat gas waste from industrial steel production facilities into an ethanol that can be be converted into jet fuel. The company plans to run test flights in New Zealand within the next 18 months and begin commercial operations in China by 2014. LanzaTech, a New Zealand-based biotechnology firm, estimates that the process will be able to utilize gas waste from 65 percent of the world’s steel mills. In addition to using waste that would otherwise be burned, the technology would not rely on agricultural biofuels that could drive up global food costs. “With oil running out, it is important that new fuel solutions are sustainable,” said Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic, “and with the steel industry alone able to deliver over 15 billion gallons of jet fuel annually, the potential is very exciting.”
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06 Oct 2011: Green Buildings in Europe
To Quadruple by 2016, Report Says

European mandates for improved energy efficiency and reduced carbon emissions will help drive a steep growth in the market for green construction in the coming years, with the amount of certified green building space projected to nearly quadruple by 2016, according to a new market study. With all new building construction and major renovations subject to nearly zero-energy standards by 2020, a report from U.S.-based Pike Research projects that the percentage of total building space certified as green will increase from less than 1 percent to more than 2 percent, to 687 million square meters. That market will largely be shaped by ambitious European Union targets, including a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from all buildings by 20 percent by 2020, increase the use of renewable energy sources by 20 percent, and reduce overall energy consumption by 20 percent. Another critical factor, however, will be unstable energy costs, the report says. “Price volatility and future carbon legislation present significant risks to organizations as future energy costs could rise unpredictably,” said Eric Bloom, a senior research analyst. The largest markets for green construction in Europe will be France and Germany, according to the report.
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26 Sep 2011: Major Rivers Have Enough Water
to Sustain Growing Populations, Study Says

A new study says the world’s major river systems contain more than enough water to meet global food production needs in the 21st century. Following a five-year study of 10 river basins — including the Nile, Ganges, Andes, Yellow, and Niger — scientists with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) found that the greatest water challenge facing the planet is not scarcity but the inefficient and inequitable distribution of water. “Huge volumes of rainwater are lost or never used,” said Alain Vidal, director of CGIAR’s Challenge Program on Water and Food. In regions of sub-Saharan Africa, he said, even “modest” improvements in rainwater harvesting could yield two to three times more food production. Elsewhere, regions in Asia and Latin America exist where food production could be increased by at least 10 percent, according to the report, which is published in the journal Water International. According to a recent UN report, global food output will have to increase 70 percent by 2050 to feed a growing world population.
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26 Sep 2011: Wangari Maathai, Nobel Laureate
And Environmental Activist, Is Dead at 71

Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist whose advocacy for social justice and ecosystem preservation in post-colonial Africa earned her the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, has died after a battle with cancer. Maathai, 71, who during four decades skillfully articulated the benefits of environmental sustainability to ordinary citizens, was co-founder of the Green Belt Movement, which helped Kenyan women plant trees on their farms, school properties, and church compounds as a means of preserving the environment, sustaining watersheds, and teaching new skills. Since 1977, the organization has planted an estimated 45 million trees across Kenya and has expanded to other African nations. Maathai spoke around the world about environmental justice and poverty, but remained focused on issues in Kenya, serving as a parliamentarian and assistant minister. “Wangari Maathai was known to speak truth to power,” said John Githongo, an anti-corruption campaigner in Kenya. “She blazed a trail in whatever she did.”
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20 Sep 2011: Global Energy Consumption
To Grow 53 Percent by 2035, Report Says

A new report by the U.S. Energy Information Agency predicts that worldwide energy consumption will surge 53 percent between 2008 and 2035, with China and India accounting for about half of the growth. As their economies continue to expand, China and India are expected to double their energy demand by 2035, and combined they will consume about 31 percent of the world’s energy, according to the report, International Energy Outlook 2011. The report calculates that global energy use, which was about 505 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in 2008, will rise to 619 quadrillion Btu in 2020 and reach 770 quadrillion Btu in 2035. China, which passed the U.S. as the world’s largest energy consumer in 2009, will use about 68 percent more energy than the U.S. within 25 years. The report says that renewable energy is the fastest growing source of electricity, with an annual growth of about 2.8 percent. By 2035, about 15 percent of the world’s power will come from renewable sources, the report estimates. Eighty percent will come from fossil fuels, especially coal, with China accounting for 76 percent of the world’s projected net increase in coal consumption.
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15 Sep 2011: Empire State Building
Becomes The U.S.’s Tallest LEED Structure

The Empire State Building in New York City has been awarded LEED Gold certification following a two-year retrofit that is expected to cut energy use in the landmark building by 38 percent by 2013. Two years ago, the owners of the 102-story building began renovations they say will cut energy costs by $4.4 million a year, including a retrofit of windows, improved insulation, and renovations to the cooling plant located in the basement. Malkin Holdings, which supervises the building, also agreed to buy 55 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy annually from Green Mountain Energy, a renewable energy and carbon offset retailer. Over 15 years, the renovations are expected to reduce the building’s carbon emissions by 105,000 metric tons. The green upgrades are part of a $550 million initiative known as the Empire State ReBuilding Program, which includes a litany of sustainable practices, from the use of eco-friendly cleaning and pest control supplies to installation of meters that allow tenants to manage their own energy use. The tower is now the tallest building in the U.S. to receive LEED certification.
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12 Sep 2011: Decades of Deforestation
Contributed to Africa Famine, Group Says

Decades of forest destruction have turned once-productive lands into desert across the Horn of Africa, worsening a devastating famine that has killed tens of thousands of people in Somalia and elsewhere, forestry experts say. A new study by the Center for International Forestry Research, conducted in 25 countries, shows that forests provide about one-quarter of household income for people living in or near them, offering a critical defense against poverty. In parched regions like the Horn of Africa, forests help retain moisture and soil nutrients, providing a defense against wind erosion and a source of food and energy. According to an international coalition, the clear-cutting of forests and degradation of land across the region have done more than the drought to convert once-productive grazing areas into a barren landscape. The group, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, has called for increased investments in reforestation and agroforestry projects across the region, saying similar efforts in Kenya and Niger have revitalized forests and provided critical food and other resources.
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26 Aug 2011: Open Source Ecology Project
Targets Blueprint for Sustainable World

A team of U.S. volunteers is developing an open-source database they say will ultimately provide a do-it-yourself guide on how to construct each of the 50 industrial machines needed “to build a small civilization with modern comforts.” Launched in 2003 by Marcin Jakubowski, who describes himself as a “self-made industrial engineer,” the Open Source Ecology project so far has made prototypes of eight of the 50 machines, including a high-volume brick press, a hydraulic tractor, and a 3D printer. All the designs, instructional videos, and budgets are posted to an online wiki. The project, which is supported through small donations, ultimately hopes to provide inexpensive, accessible, and materially sustainable technologies for any setting, whether urban or rural, or in the developed or developing world. “We want a repository of published designs so clear, so complete, that a singleburned DVD is effectively a civilization starter kit,” Jakubowski said during a TED presentation this year. He hopes to prototype all 50 machines by early 2013, and by 2014 to exhibit a functional, small-scale, industrialized community demonstrating that “we can lead self-sustaining lives without sacrificing our standard of living.”
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22 Aug 2011: Growth of Urban Areas
Poses Long-Term Threats, Study Says

A new study says the explosive growth of urban areas worldwide over the next two decades poses significant risks to human populations and the global environment, from the loss of agricultural land and wildlife habitat to increased vulnerability to the effects of climate change. Using satellite data on urban growth, the study calculates that the world’s total urban area quadrupled in size from 1970 to 2000 — an increase of about 22,400 square miles. By 2030, that urban footprint will expand by another 590,000 square miles to accommodate the more than 1.47 billion additional people expected to be living in the world’s cities, according to the study, conducted by researchers from four U.S universities — Yale, Arizona State, Texas A&M, and Stanford. “[Cities are] going to be growing and expanding into forests, biological hotspots, savannas, coastlines — sensitive and vulnerable places,” said Karen Seto, an associate professor of urban development at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and lead author of the study, published in the online journal PLoS ONE.
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16 Aug 2011: Rising Food Costs Compounding
East African Famine, World Bank Says

The volatility of global food prices has contributed to the growing humanitarian tragedy in the Horn of Africa and will continue to keep the world’s poorest populations on the edge of starvation, according to a new report by the World Bank. While the emergency was triggered by prolonged drought conditions, near-record prices for staple crops such as maize, sugar, and wheat have compounded the situation, the Food Price Watch report says. According to the report, global food prices overall are nearing the record levels of 2008 and remain 33 percent higher than last summer, with the price of maize 84 percent higher, and wheat prices up 62 percent. “Persistently high food prices and low food stocks indicate that we’re still in the danger zone, with the most vulnerable people the least able to cope,” World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick said in a statement. About 29,000 children under the age of five have died in Somalia in the last three months, and 600,000 more children across the region remain at risk. Contributing to the rising prices, the report warns, is the extensive use of agricultural lands for biofuel production, specifically the U.S.’s corn ethanol sector.
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15 Aug 2011: Initiative Asks Companies
To Assess Their ‘Plastic Footprint’

An international initiative this fall will encourage hundreds of organizations to assess their use and recycling of plastics in a push to call more attention to the vast amounts of plastic waste entering the environment. While many companies and organizations are familiar with their “carbon footprint” and are taking steps to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, the founders of the Plastic Disclosure Project say there is less awareness of just how many non-biodegradable plastics in the global supply chain end up in the planet’s ecosystems. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), only about 10 percent of the roughly 300 million tons of plastic produced each year is recycled, and about 7 million tons end up in the world’s oceans. The new plastics project, created during last year’s Clinton Global Initiative, will send annual surveys to participating organizations to assess their use of plastics and their recycling programs. “What we’re trying to do is to have companies manage and use plastic much more wisely, and to receive recognition for doing so from both customers and investors,” Doug Woodring, a Hong Kong-based entrepreneur and one of the project’s leaders, told the New York Times.
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03 Aug 2011: Crops With Deeper Roots
Could Boost CO2 Storage, Study Says

Breeding crops with deeper roots could significantly reduce atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide and make crops more drought resistant, according to a study by a researcher at the University of Manchester. Reporting in the journal, Annals of Botany, professor Douglas Kell calculated that breeding crops whose roots extend 2 meters underground, rather than the 1-meter roots common to many crops, could double the amount of carbon captured from the atmosphere. Kell reported that creating crops and plants with deeper and bushier roots would also lead to more water and nutrient retention and produce more sustainable plant yields as the world warms and droughts increase in water-stressed regions. “This doubling of root biomass from a nominal 1 meter to 2 meters is really the key issue,” said Kell.
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28 Jul 2011: ‘Land Grab’ in Africa Threatens
Continent’s Food Security, Study Says

China, India, Libya, Saudi Arabia and other countries are buying up vast amounts of farmland in Africa, threatening the food security of millions of impoverished people on the continent, according to a new study. The Worldwatch Institute reports that to ensure the food security of their own people, nations across Asia and the Middle East are gobbling up African land. The Washington, D.C.-based group reports that from 2006 to mid-2009, foreign investors purchased 15 to 20 million hectares (37 to 50 million acres) of African land and that millions of additional acres are being sold to governments and not being officially documented. “People are always saying that Africa needs to feed itself,” said Danielle Nierenberg, director of Worldwatch’s Nourishing the Planet Project. “It can’t do that if the Chinese and the Saudis are taking up the best land for production of food.” The Worldwatch report was based on more than 17 months of interviews with 350 farmers’ groups, NGOs, government agencies, and scientists in 25 countries across sub-Saharan Africa. The land boom also is threatening African wildlife as foreign firms plant crops on wetlands and other wild lands.
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