ethicalcorp.com - by Mallen Baker - October 4, 2012

Mallen Baker argues that it’s irresponsible not to make contingency plans, especially when the potential failures concern the fundamentals – such as food

Imagine your critical business systems depend on one computer server. This server is huge – it has immense capacity – but you have grown into that space and now every single day you are pushing it to its limit. . .

. . . Now let’s substitute the global food system for the server. Here we have a system that is operating at full capacity. Any hiccups in normal production can lead to serious problems. This year we have seen such hiccups.

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(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE - .PDF FILE) - Food prices (black line) and food riots and the Arab Spring (red lines). See food riots paper.

necsi.edu - September 28, 2012 - Karla Z. Bertrand, Greg Lindsay, Yaneer Bar-Yam

This summer’s droughts in the American Midwest have pushed corn and wheat prices above their previous highs in 2011 and out of the reach of the world’s poorest, threatening to trigger a new wave of global unrest — perhaps even a second Arab Spring.

After a sharp rise in July — the steepest monthly climb since February 2011, according to the World Bank — prices stabilized in September at around $9.00 per bushel for wheat and $7.50 per bushel for corn. On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that domestic corn supplies totaled 988 million bushels as of Sept. 1, the lowest level in eight years.

http://necsi.edu/research/social/foodprices/briefing/

(ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLES IN THE LINKS BELOW)

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - September 25, 2012

Most Americans do not pay much attention to how much water they use when they take a shower or when they water the grass, but Michael Sullivan, a global executive at IBM thinks this will change.

“Water is a finite resource,” Sullivan told the panel. “What we’re dealing with is that there’s a finite supply, and as the population grows and industry grows, we’re stressing that finite supply.”

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submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - September 26, 2012

According to the July 2011 census, more than thirty-seven million people live in the state of California, increasing the pressure on the state’s water sources. Desalinating sea water as a solution to the scarcity of fresh water is not a new technology — it has been around for more than four decades — but it has more recently been considered as a way to address California’s chronic, and growing, water shortage.

The Seattle Times reports that the idea has run into problems, and rising construction costs, energy requirements for running desalination plants, and legal challenges have limited desalination in California to only one plant producing drinking water.

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ers.usda.gov - September 25, 2012 update

The most severe and extensive drought in at least 25 years is seriously affecting U.S. agriculture, with impacts on the crop and livestock sectors and with the potential to affect food prices at the retail level. Below is current information on potential impacts of the drought on key commodities and food prices. We will update the material periodically as information becomes available.

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UPDATE (8-21-19): The government source within the link above has unpublished this report.  An archived version of this report can be accessed within the link below . . .

WEB ARCHIVE - USDA - U.S. Drought 2012: Farm and Food Impacts
https://web.archive.org/web/20130116030109/http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/in-the-news/us-drought-2012-farm-and-food-impacts.aspx

Ranjana Bhandari and her husband Kaushik De, who recently failed in their attempt to prevent Chesapeake Energy from drilling for gas near their home, stand near a Chesapeake Energy gas well in Arlington, Texas September 16, 2012. Picture taken September 16, 2012.
REUTERS/Mike Stone

reuters.com - By Brian Grow, Joshua Schneyer and Anna Driver - October 2, 2012

(Reuters) - Ranjana Bhandari and her husband knew the natural gas beneath their ranch-style home in Arlington, Texas, could be worth a lot - especially when they got offer after offer from Chesapeake Energy Corp.

Chesapeake wanted to drill there, and the offers could have netted the couple thousands of dollars in a bonus and royalties. But Bhandari says they ultimately declined the deals because they oppose fracking in residential areas. . .

. . . This June, after petitioning a Texas state agency for an exception to a 93-year-old statute, the company effectively secured the ability to drain the gas from beneath the Bhandari property anyway - without having to pay the couple a penny.

Image: The Marburg virus: 'If tourists were tripping in and out of some python-infested Marburg repository, unprotected, and then boarding their return flights to other continents… it was an international threat.' Photograph: Science Photo Library

guardian.co.uk - September 28th, 2012 - David Quammen

Astrid Joosten was a 41-year-old Dutch woman who, in June 2008, went to Uganda with her husband. At home in Noord-Brabant, she worked as a business analyst. Both she and her husband, Jaap Taal, a financial manager, enjoyed annual adventures, especially to Africa. The journey in 2008, booked through an adventure-travel outfitter, took them to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, home to mountain gorillas.

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Sandia's stochastic network metholodogy accelerates spread of food-borne illness // Source: sandia.gov

submitted by Luis Kun

Homeland Security News Wire - October 1, 2012

Researchers demonstrate how developing a probability map of the food supply network using stochastic network representation might shorten the time it takes to track down contaminated food sources; stochastic mapping shows what is known about how product flows through the distribution supply chain and provides a means to express all the uncertainties in potential supplier-customer relationships that persist due to incomplete information

Uncovering the sources of fresh food contamination could become faster and easier thanks to analysis done at Sandia National Laboratories’ National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center (NISAC).

Image: François Hollande has described the 2013 plans as a 'combat budget'. Photograph: Andrew Gombert/EPA

guardian.co.uk - September 28th, 2012 - Kim Willsher

To the dismay of a swath of French bankers, business leaders and the wealthy, President François Hollande has remained true to his word and unveiled €20bn (£16bn) in new taxes, including a 75% "supertax" band that will hit the rich.

In what Hollande has described as France's harshest budget in 30 years, business and personal taxpayers were asked on Friday to make an "unprecedented effort" to slash the country's public spending deficit.

However, the Socialist government sidestepped swingeing cuts in public spending, including pensions and state salaries, in its 2013 budget, which aims to find €36.9bn in savings.

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Reuters - by Nina Chestney
September 27, 2012

(CLICK ON "READ MORE" AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST FOR LINKS TO THE REPORT )

LONDON: More than 100 million people will die and global economic growth will be cut by 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030 if the world fails to tackle climate change, a report commissioned by 20 governments said on Wednesday.

As global average temperatures rise due to greenhouse gas emissions, the effects on the planet, such as melting ice caps, extreme weather, drought and rising sea levels, will threaten populations and livelihoods, said the report conducted by humanitarian organisation DARA.

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Report - Climate Vulnerability Monitor: A Guide to the Cold Calculus of A Hot Planet
http://daraint.org/climate-vulnerability-monitor/climate-vulnerability-monitor-2012/report/

markle.org - September 10, 2012

The blue button puts the power of health information into the hands of patients.

Watch three veterans explain how the VA's Blue Button helps them get safer and better care. See what the blue button download capability can do for you.

(CLICK HERE - GO TO THE VIDEO)

http://vimeo.com/49167824

Image: Graph of food riots over time and against food prices.

Submitted by Samuel Bendett

inhabitat.com - September 12th, 2012 - Timon Singh

A few years ago, Sir John Beddington, the UK government’s chief scientific advisor stated that with the world’s population growing, food supplies diminishing, and water supplies becoming more scarce, all of these factors would combine to form a ‘perfect storm’ in 2030 resulting in food shortages and rioting. However, the New England Complex Systems Institute believes he is way too optimistic with his timing. In fact, the complexity theorists think that if we don’t reverse the current trend in food prices, we’ve got until August 2013 before social unrest sweeps the planet.

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(ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLES IN LINKS BELOW)

http://us.resiliencesystem.org/necsi-food-briefing

Image: Conceptual art of the new Amazon headquarters.

submitted by Samuel Bendett

inhabitat.com - September 12th, 2012 - Bridgette Meinhold

Amazon will make its new headquarters not in some sprawling suburb, but in the heart of downtown Seattle. Recent plans for Amazon's campus reveal that it will take up 3 square blocks with 3 towers supported by lower volumes, and will feature lots of open green space—including green roofs. NBBJ, who also designed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation nearby, is in charge of the massive new project for Amazon.

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Image: Green fuel map application in action.

submitted by Samuel Bendett

gizmag.com - September 11th, 2012 - Antonio Pasolini

Switching to a vehicle running on alternative fuel presents a clear challenge - where do you fill it up? Designed by Leonardo Academy, Cleaner and Greener Fuels is a free app that gives users interactive maps to help them find the nearest alternative fuel stations all over the U.S.

Available for both iPhone and Android devices, the app caters for electric cars as well as vehicles running on CNG (Compressed Natural Gas), Biodiesel, LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas), E85, LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas, also known as propane) and hydrogen.

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