Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

jennifer

Scientific Community Condemns Destruction of Golden Rice

By

On 8th August 2013, vandals destroyed a Philippine government field trial of Golden Rice (GR).Golden Rice

A petition organised by Dr Channapatna S. Prakash, a professor of plant molecular genetics, explains that…

“As the world’s population continues its increase, sustainable food production is becoming increasingly challenging. More food must be produced in the next 50 years than has been produced since the invention of agriculture. GM crops are a critical resource in accelerating increases in crop productivity in general, as well as in enhancing their nutritional value to treat malnutrition and nutrient deficiencies. In that context, Golden Rice is a critical resource in fighting the devastating consequences of widespread vitamin A deficiency in developing nations.

“Research on Golden Rice at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is part of their humanitarian work to reduce vitamin A deficiency, a serious condition of malnutrition mostly affecting women and children by causing sickness and leading, in many cases, to blindness and premature death of millions each year. According to IRRI, vitamin A deficiency affects more than 15% of children aged 6 months to 5 years and subclinical vitamin A deficiency affects 10% of pregnant women in the Philippines. Golden Rice, when it becomes freely available to farmers as planned, can substantially contribute to the alleviation of this important aspect of malnutrition…

Read more, and sign the petition, here http://tinyurl.com/lbm7jm2

Open Thread

By

I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy.
Richard P. Feynman

Flooding Faye 098 Kangaroo

Photograph of the kangaroo taken in the Central Murray Valley by Faye Ashwin [click on the image for a larger/better view].

What Will Power Sydney in 5 Years, If Not Gas?

By

I’VE been some what dismayed by the approach of many agriculturalists to the development of a coal seam gas (CSG) industry in New South Wales. There have been many widely publicized claims that the CSG industry will pollute the air and water in particular through hydraulic fracturing, also known as ‘fracking’. Screen Shot 2013-08-11 at 9.31.05 AM

Some of the noisiest objectors are on the Liverpool plains and have claimed this new extractive industry threatens their groundwater aquifers. In reality, the affect of agriculture on the aquifers in the Liverpool Plains has been inadequately monitored and is probably significant. [Read more…] about What Will Power Sydney in 5 Years, If Not Gas?

Carbon Credit Market is Neither Free nor Worth Anything: Jo Nova

By

THERE  is an entire cannon of western philosophical thought, dating back to John Locke and John Stuart Mills, that explains why the prosperity of a nation is not so much linked to its natural wealth, but rather the proper functioning of markets.Jo Nova

In On Liberty, perhaps John Stuart Mill’s most famous treatise published in 1859, he argues that:

“… the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.”

[Read more…] about Carbon Credit Market is Neither Free nor Worth Anything: Jo Nova

Open Thread

By

“Freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds, which follows from the advance of science.”  Charles Robert DarwinJen with Darwin

***

The image/picture is of a fellow pretending to be Mr Darwin with the real Jen, taken in the British Museum of Natural History a few months ago.

Peer Review Falters at the Altar of Conviction

By

IT is perhaps easier to build the Great Wall of China than to convince a global warming devotee to reconsider their mistaken faith.

A man with a conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point. So wrote, American social psychologist Leon Festinger in 1956.Bob on the wall

The human brain often struggles to discern fact from fiction, and even the cleverest scientist is susceptible to their own convictions. So if modern climate science is to provide a better understanding of how the dynamic, real-world forces that create weather and climate operate, rather than simply supporting the popular theory of dangerous global warming, then some discipline will be required.

[Read more…] about Peer Review Falters at the Altar of Conviction