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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
‘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 … Read more
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 … Read more
How will Europe, the Netherlands in particular, earn its income in twenty-five years’ time, in a sustainable way? How do we prepare for the world of 2040? By green growth, … Read more
Local initiatives often have tremendous potential. They use social media in their communication and derive great strength from that. Says David Trap, online media expert, in an interview with us. … Read more
In my increasingly eurosceptical home country, The Netherlands, intellectuals take a renewed interest in Europe. The squarely pro-European essay by the Austrian author and essayist Robert Menasse has been translated … Read more
As of today, the name of our website will be biobasedpress.eu. This is a better expression of who we are. Our twitter account was already called @biobasedpress. From now on, … Read more
‘Often, sustainability is not merely better, but cheaper too. Sustainable technologies lend themselves to local systems with far lesser control costs. That is the basis for a technological transition with … Read more
Most people, when talking about a sustainable future for Europe, think in terms of energy supply. That is one-sided. It is true: the energy conflict still deepens, as the incumbent … Read more
We are right in the middle of the most radical transition that our society can go through: that of a centralistic, fossil-fuelled society to a much more decentralised society mainly … Read more
The world needs a fantastic amount of knowledge, for its sustainable development, and in order to feed all new mouths. According to the OECD, we need to open three new … Read more
The Dutch Scientific and Technological Committee for the biobased economy (WTC) has published its second and last report. Elsewhere on this site, we will go into the committee’s recommendations, intended … Read more
Even though countries differ appreciably in culture, everywhere in the world farmers growing wet crops organise in cooperative organisations. That will not be different in the biobased economy. On the … Read more
Corporate strategies are a shaky basis for getting society on a sustainable track. They may change, if other strategies would incur more profit. The green CEO may be replaced by … Read more
Many researchers claim that the biobased economy will be organised at a smaller scale than the present economy. On this website we held the same opinion. Chemical plants would become … Read more
There is a firm trend for centralization in decision making in our society. National governments increase their power at the expense of communities and counties; and Europe acts for more … Read more
Even though our highly technological society is vulnerable, this state of affairs is not much addressed by politics or societal debate. And vulnerable we are indeed. Think of the millennium … Read more
Farmers handle their knowledge quite differently from large corporations. Fortunately so. For suppose that Shell would have to supply the world with food; it would be a disaster. For in … Read more
In Brussels, civil servants are in the middle of a major project: the revision of Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy, CAP. The future of the biobased economy is heavily dependent on … Read more
Sorry, this column on research on the common Dutch citizen’s approach to the biobased economy/society is only available in Dutch. Please mail us (through the contact form) if you are … Read more
Energy throughput in the biosphere is very small, actually. Biomass production from incident light is relatively inefficient, also in Russian wood or Sargasso seaweed. The earth receives an amount of … Read more
Will the advent of the biobased society lead to a better world? One the face of it, one would affirm this idea: back to nature, or something like that. Jean-Jacques … Read more
‘The unsuccessful energy transition stands in the way of the biobased economy,’ says Jan Rotmans. ‘Whereas the energy sector is going to disappear. In the future transition, the chemical sector … Read more