Posted on February 24, 2009 by J.A. Ginsburg
It is a one-size-fits-all news story, good for almost any part of the world right now: Cue the video to a farmer standing in a field of parched and stunted plants. Then cut to b-roll of cattle carcasses dotting the landscape, rivers barely trickling, reservoirs sinking fast and caked mud at the bottom of village [...]
Filed under: InSTEDD, TrackerNews, agriculture, climate change, drought, soil health, water | Tagged: agriculture, Argentina, australia, California, china drought, drought, hunger, InSTEDD, Iraq, irrigation, israel, jordan, Kenya, Palestine, potable water, Somalia, Texas, the big dry, TrackerNews, Uttarakhand | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 17, 2009 by J.A. Ginsburg
“Sustainable” isn’t sustainable. It isn’t even achievable, according to several researchers presenting at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Global carbon emissions have accelerated so dramatically over the last eight years, we are “now outside the entire envelope of possibilities” reviewed by the IPCC. Sure enough, sea levels are rising and [...]
Filed under: InSTEDD, TrackerNews, agriculture, charcoal, climate change, energy, soil health | Tagged: climate change, global warming, Johannes Lehmann, Terra Preta, biochar, agrichar, CO2, carbon dioxide, greenhouse gases, nitrous oxide, Tim Flannery, James Lovelock | 11 Comments »
Posted on November 23, 2008 by J.A. Ginsburg
When the Great Somali Pirate story broke into the headlines last week, the media’s first reaction was to make a joke of it. Pirates are Jack Sparrow, popcorn, a night on the couch for a cable-movie marathon and one of the best film scores ever. Piracy is a fake Fendi. Yes, buckles are swashed (if [...]
Filed under: InSTEDD, TrackerNews, energy, maps, natural gas, oil | Tagged: Amory Lovins, L.Hunter Lovins, oil, Somalia, Pirates, InSTEDD, TrackerNews, UNOSAT | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 11, 2008 by J.A. Ginsburg
It has been a real learning curve over the last few weeks figuring out the natural rhythms of TrackerNews: How often should the story list update? Is there enough balance in the mix of health, humanitarian and tech? What adds meaning and real value to a grouping of stories? The idea for TrackerNews grew out [...]
Filed under: InSTEDD, TrackerNews, statins | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 2, 2008 by J.A. Ginsburg
I knew I’d seen that face before. Those cheeks. Those whiskers. That long, long tail. The giant African pouched rat – a.k.a., the giant Gambian pouched rat (Cricetomys gambianus) – was all over the headlines five years ago, fingered as the likely culprit in a first-ever outbreak in the U.S. of monkeypox (a smallpox relative). [...]
Filed under: HeroRATS, InSTEDD, TB, TrackerNews, landmines, rapid diagnostics, tuberculosis, vapor detection technology | Tagged: Apopo, Bart Weetjens, HeroRATS, InSTEDD, Jane Goodall, landmines, monkeypox, rapid diagnostics, Skoll Foundation, TrackerNews, tuberculosis, zoonosis | 1 Comment »
