The Human Imprint

India food prices hit 10-year high

Back in August I wrote about the food supply issues in India. BBC News reports that food prices in India have risen 20% in one year, the highest rate in a decade.

The article states that "The federal finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has said the government was planning to import food to ease prices. A short supply of food due to lower farm produce following drought and floods has led to the rising prices. Overall inflation in India has risen to 4.78% in November, up from 1.34% in October. Economists say this could trigger a rise in interest rates. Correspondents say that the price rises are bound to increase concerns that poorer people in the country may be more exposed to food shortages and malnourishment".

Follow the link to read the full article.

Tea prices rise

Being a tea drinker this media release caught my eye from the FAO Media Centre.

"Tea prices reached record levels this year but should ease in 2010 as weather patterns returned to normal in the main tea-producing regions of Asia and Africa .... The FAO Tea Composite price, the indicative world price for black tea, reached a high of $3.18 a kilogramme in September amid droughts in India, Sri Lanka and Kenya underpinned by increased demand, compared to an average price of $2.38 per kilogramme in 2008.

The concern is that tea producers could over-react to the current high prices by planting more crops, threatening an over supply in the market.... Consumption growth outpaced production between 2005 and 2009 the gap between consumption and production growth was largest between 2007 and 2009, when it reached 3.4 percentage points". 

This is another example of how water shortages have affected food production in several regions of the world.

New federal action plan aims to ease California's water crisis

MercuryNews.com reports on the latest action to try to ease the water crisis in California. This strategy will be key to the development both in terms of food production and future development in the region. Check it out.

India's wettest place is low on water

BBC News reports that what was once the world's wettest places, Cherrapunji is now getting up to 20% less rain every year - and is suffering from water shortages.  This is further compounded by the fact that the population in the area has risen fifteen fold since 1961. Increasing population and reducing water reserves - check out the article which described the human impact of water scarcity.

US Agriculture Secretary announces $60 million purchase to assist dairy producers

The US Farm Service Agency has announced that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has authorised the purchase of $60 million worth of  cheese and cheese products. The food will be used in domestic feeding programs through USDA's Food and Nutrition Service.

The statement includes the following:

"USDA is expediting this cheese purchase to help provide much-needed support for low-income families struggling to put nutritious food on their tables, and to deliver timely assistance to dairy farmers who have been challenged by high feed costs and low dairy prices. "This purchase will provide food to people in need, while helping dairy producers who are facing economic challenges by increasing demand for dairy products," said Secretary Vilsack..... The purchase continues USDA's long history of delivering nutritional assistance through domestic and international feeding programs, including 15 domestic nutrition programs that touch the lives of one in every five people in America each day. This aid comes at a time when demand on the nation's food banks has reached an all-time high. As Americans across the country work to recover from tough economic times, food banks will continue to see a record demand for nutritious meals."  

Check out the full press release by following the link.

First US bees now US bats

Scientific American reports that disease has killed more than 90 percent of some bat populations in Northeastern US states. The report states that the survey examined 23 caves and in some areas the brown bat had declined by 93%. The problem is believed to be "white-nose syndrome" believed to have been caused by a white fungus found on the afflicted bats.  A concerning development.

We have been eating grain for 100,000 years

Scientific American reports on recent discoveries in Mozambique. Check out the article.

Are you a cynic?

Following my post on scepticism I started pondering on the difference between scepticism and cynicism. According to Wikipedia, the Cynics were a group of philosophers who believed that the purpose of life was to live a life of virtue in agreement with nature.  "For the members of the group, this meant rejecting desires for wealth, power, health, and fame, and living in a way which was natural for humans. They believed that the world belonged equally to everyone, and that suffering was caused by false judgments of what was valuable and by the worthless customs and conventions which surrounded society."

Reading more about the Cynics I now know that they took this quite literally but is this theme another example of history revolving? Isn't this the mantra of climate change?

However the term "cynical" now has much more negative conitations. As Oscar Wilde said: “What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing". Another quote that caught my eye was this one ... "A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past, he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future". Sydney J Harris.

In contrast, George Bernard Shaw said that: “The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who haven't got it.”  

Thought provoking.

Take nobody's word for it

Unbelievably, after my post yesterday - BBC's Ethical Man - Justin Rowlatt wrote an almost identical blog post!

The part of the post that caught my eye was: "We are lucky here in Britain to be home to the most august scientific institution in the world, the Royal Society. It celebrates its 350th anniversary next year. Its motto is "nullius in verba" which means "take nobody's word for it" - which is pretty much a charter for scepticism. It is a fitting motto, because healthy scepticism is the foundation of good science".

What more can I add?

Being sceptical

As a scientist I have been trained to be sceptical; to challenge the status quo and to think the unthinkable and then seek to prove whether this works or not. This mental training has got me into trouble on many occasions. For some people these types of brainstorming techniques and challenging accepted beliefs and tenents in meetings and workshops are nothing more than examples of being disruptive, ill-disciplined and negative.

If Albert Einstein, a patent clerk, had not been sceptical of current beliefs we would not have the theory of relativity. If scientists had not pushed the boundaries we wouldn't have modern medicines and technologies.

Being sceptical is now seen as "bad" in many spheres. Challenging someone to argue the methodology, reasoning and process behind their decision making and conclusions lies at the heart of scientific discovery and breakthrough but is increasingly seen as plain "bad form" and lack of respect.

Carl Sagan is reputed to have said "Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep insights can be winnowed from deep nonsense."

When thinking of the current Copenhagen talks and their outcome I think on the words of Albert Einstein: "Concern for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations." Thought provoking words indeed