Wednesday-Night

Genetically modified oilseed rape, one of the four main commercial GM crops. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty
Background: The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety; SciDevnet GM crops and Agriculture & Environment; Monsanto vs Percy Schmeiser
Related posts and Food on Wednesday-night.com

May 24
Sowing seeds of discontent
Since the dawn of civilization, farmers have saved seeds from the harvest and […]

Before doing our usual tour d’horizon of news and events around the globe, we would like to call to your attention much pleasanter local happenings: the Octet Plus (with Holly Jonas and David Oliver) concert on Saturday, 26 April; the Infinitheatre fundraiser (John Mavridis) on Tuesday 29 April - featuring […]

More on Biofuels
April 05, 2008
Scammers see green dollars
Scam artists can smell a fad. They feed on naive enthusiasm. In the green movement, they’ve found enough naive enthusiasm to sustain them for years.
(The Ottawa Citizen) Many consumers are learning, slowly, not to be dupes. They’re figuring out how to detect the same old polluting products […]

We had promised that Beryl would be with us last week to talk about the new publication, The MetropolitaIn, that he will launch next month. He was unavoidably detained, but assures us that he will be present tomorrow night.
As always, we have the U.S. presidential campaign on the Agenda and certainly this week we cannot […]

Jatropha curcus
Flickr/jurvetson
[BEIJING] Using China’s forests and ‘idle land’ to produce biofuels could pose a threat to biodiversity, warned experts at an international meeting.
Spike Millington, chief technical advisor to the European Union-China Biodiversity Programme, raised the problem earlier this month (7 March) at the International Workshop on Biodiversity and […]

March 12
While we scarcely agree with the all of the thoughts voiced in this article - not all biofuel production is bad - , the point is that the impact of the biofuel craze on world hunger could become devastating.
(The Ottawa Citizen) The poor pay the price
David Warren
A few weeks ago I wrote in […]

We welcome two new faces this week, guest experts, who bring knowledge of at least three extremely pertinent topics to the table.
Danny van Gelder will introduce his cousin, Mark Kruger, an economist by training, who serves as Minister Counselor/Head of Section (Economics and Finance) of the Canadian Embassy in Beijing and key link between the […]

January 22, 2008
Europe Cutting Biofuel Subsidies Redirects Aid to Stress Greenest Options
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Governments in Europe and elsewhere have begun rolling back generous, across-the-board subsidies for biofuels, acknowledging that the environmental benefits of these fuels have often been overstated.
But as they aim to be more selective, these governments are discovering how difficult it can […]

January 17, 2008
(Christian Science Monitor) Even as some states are mandating ethanol as part of the fuel mix, new research suggests that some biofuels are less ecofriendly than they seem.
Creating fuel from plants seems like a win-win proposition. It reduces dependence on foreign oil, and it […]

Light Bulbs to Light Trucks, Efficiency Shapes New Energy Law
WASHINGTON, DC, December 19, 2007 (ENS) - Congress on Tuesday passed a new energy bill and sent it along Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House in a hybrid Prius car. Today President George W. Bush signed the measure, which includes the first increase in […]