Forest gardening – producing food in biodiversity
The art of forest gardening will eventually produce what we might call an ‘edible forest’. Highly valued because of its biodiversity, ecological resilience and the productivity of its biomass. Forest gardens need little maintenance and are climate resistant. An alternative to agriculture? And will the farmer be able to live off such an edible forest?
Education on strike
Dutch primary education has a huge problem, that also affects bio-economy developments. There’s a substantial shortage of teachers, the teaching profession is not appreciated much, and the pay gap with secondary education is decently described by the sector as ‘not appropriate’. Emergency measures like shorter school weeks or even closure of schools are not unthinkable
Sustainability needs green growth
Long ago, in the seventies of the last century, environmentalists like myself were faced with a dilemma, in short: pollution or frugality. Wealth brought along pollution, and in the last resort therefore, a less wealthy and more frugal lifestyle was the alternative to pollution. Nowadays this problem need not be valid any more: sustainability and
Synthetic food?
Synthetic biology offers us a countless number of opportunities to reshape natural materials, and even our food. Yes, that would mean synthetic food. Many people would dismiss this right away as a viable opportunity, but it might be worthwhile to investigate the case for it. Could synthetic food reshape the way we produce and consume
New protein sources will fill the gap
One of the main concerns about world food supply is the production of proteins. Lux Research, in a new study, suggests that ‘the current dominance of meat and seafood will wane in the coming decades,’ and that ‘several alternative protein sources will fill the gap.’ Whereas global protein consumption would double in 40 years’ time
Green Deal, lubricant in the system
‘Let a thousand flowers blossom,’ chairman Mao said long ago. This concept could be appropriate to the number and diversity of the unusual phenomenon of the Green Deal, a mechanism devised by the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs to ease the implementation of innovations. The Netherlands is a country of many strict rules. Often, they
New opportunities, Green Growth and Naomi Klein
It is tempting to compare them: Naomi Klein’s new book This Changes Everything on the disasters that threaten the old order, and our own book Green Growth (in Dutch) in which we highlight the new opportunities that a new order might seize. Although we support Naomi Klein’s views on the climate crisis and also recognise
Bioeconomy, circular and small scale. Really?
On this site we have always been concerned with the question of the shape and size of industry in a bioeconomy. Could it be much less dangerous? Concentrated in major industrial areas or strewn across the countryside, close to farmers, their feedstock suppliers? As an ingredient of a local circular economy? And small scale? The
on: 4 April 2016