What's on tap for week 5

No video this week.  I have a nasty cold that involves laryngitis.  The laryngitis and the fact that I am barely presentable even when I am fit and hale made me refrain from showing you my sickly mug...here is a shot of me in healthier, happier times.

This week we continue our exploration of the nebulous concept of sustainability.  Last week I gave you a definition of what sustainability is using broad ecological concepts.  But can we translate those broad concepts into something more practical….something that could say help us design a more sustainable agricultural system?  The lectures this week explore this more practical side.  While it is only a brief overview, I hope the lectures give you a sense of some of the ways that people are trying to apply the sustainability concept…as well as some of the challenges.  The lectures conclude with a discussion of perhaps the most practical agricultural sustainability consideration of them all: soil conservation.  The documentary “Surviving the Dustbowl” continues that theme.  It is a loose adaptation of this fantastic book: “The Worst Hard Time”

The other readings consider different ways of achieving agricultural sustainability.  Note the longish webinar on no-till systems is optional.

For the homework assignment I have you set up an outline for doing a Life Cycle Assessment. 

Have a great week, and I hope nobody is sick!

Cool Canadian Roof

I saw this video today at the Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Conference in Chicago.

I also visited the Laurie Garden, a wonderful bit of Millennium Park

Keystone of Cuteness

The story of how the decline of sea otters caused dramatic changes to one of the world's most productive marine ecosystems has become the classic example of a trophic cascade, told to nearly all ecology students (including those in Hort 318!)   But becoming a classic textbook example doesn't mean that we know everything.  This paper, by UC Santa Cruz researchers describes the role the cute little critters play in the global carbon cycle.  To access the paper you will need to do it through your OSU library account (or have a membership to the ESA), but you can read a press release about the story here.

A [Soylent?] Green New World

This week the Wall Street Journal has an in depth report titled "Innovations in Agriculture".  Although most of the WSJ is behind a paywall, I think the whole report is available for free (for now).   The stories are wide ranging, but focus largely on technological innovations to improve the efficiency, and perhaps arguably--the sustainability of agriculture.  The picture above is from a story on large scale vertical farming in cities.  There are also stories on robotic field hands, the most effective no-till strategies, developing perennial versions of wheat, using water more efficiently, as well as a number of other stories. 

There is a long tradition of using technology to achieve sustainability, even among "hippies".  See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Earth_Catalog

But many folks harbor mistrust of technological approaches, particularly when applied to agriculture.  These suspicions have perhaps been most notably apparent in the debate over GMO technologies.  For these folks, parts of the WSJ report may read more like something out of Soylent Green.What do you think should be the role of technology in developing a future agriculture?  How about the related question of the role of "capital" in agriculture....exemplified by the industrialists, bankers, venture capitalists, and stock traders who form the bulk of the readership of the WSJ?

What's on Tap for Week 4

What's on Tap for Week 3

Wrecked Reef

This disturbing article in the Washington Post, describes this research report in PNAS that concludes the Great Barrier Reef has lost half its corals since 1985.

Besides, being noteworthy in its own right, this story relates to our class in a couple of ways.  First, in this week's lecture I point out that the Odum brothers attempt to understand the immense complexity of Pacific Coral reefs played a significant role in their development of the modern ecosystem concept.  Also, as the Washington Post article points out: "[the PNAS study] highlighted how even the world’s most protected marine areas are under assault from natural forces and causes linked to the human activity that is resulting in climate change."  This is another example that points the ubiquitous reach of human impact, as well as the challenges of managing even seemingly "pristine" or "wild" systems.

What's on Tap for Week 2