The economic situation in Africa has improved a lot since the 1990s. Yet rampant poverty and food insecurity still impact millions of lives there. Currently, there is a huge demand-supply gap in the agricultural sector. At least three hundred million are malnourished. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization defines food security as "a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, … [Read more...]
Isn’t Gene Editing a Better Form of Crossbreeding?
Last month the Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety committee (ENVI) of the European Parliament voted to oppose the European Union’s plan to approve four crops—varieties of cotton, soybeans, and maize (corn)—genetically modified to resist herbicides. Their vote exemplifies the mistaken belief that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are unsafe. No one would be sadder than the late Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug. Aside from scientists and students in agricultural … [Read more...]
GMO: The Missing Link of India’s Agricultural Future and the Solution to Food Poverty
India’s agricultural sector is in danger of being left behind, as its neighbors China and Bangladesh are moving ahead with their embrace of genetically modified food crops. Are GM crops the secret to India’s Next Green Revolution? China and Bangladesh, have been keen on utilizing the newly invented GM crop varieties to boost their agricultural sector and also address their food security. Among the various GM crops they’ve introduced in recent decades, GM rice is of special importance. … [Read more...]
Famine Forecasts Foiled: Climate’s Projected Food Production to Increase
The latest dose of “fake news” about global warming comes from two forecasts of famine due to human activity. Both drew on estimates of extremely high temperatures predicted by the same flawed climate models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to predict other climate calamities. The climate models used in the studies are estimated to over predict temperature by 2.5 to 3 times as compared to actually measured temperatures, and both rely on the highest estimates of … [Read more...]
Pope Francis’s Misguided War on Fossil Fuels
It seems that Pope Francis has learned little since his 2015 papal encyclical calling on the world to fight climate change by limiting the use of modern technologies and fossil fuels. At a recent Vatican meeting he called many of the world’s leading oil company executives to the carpet. Francis told the executives they should shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources to fight “global warming.” Pope Francis has myriad misguided beliefs about climate science, almost all of which he … [Read more...]
‘Evil’ GE Foods and ‘Eco-Friendly’ Organics
This article was co-authored by Vijay Jayaraj. Across the globe, genetically engineered (GE) crops face opposition from environmental and organic food activists, who claim the crops harm the environment and endanger human health. How factual are their claims? The evidence strongly supports GE over organic crops. Not long ago, Vijay visited the Sprouts organic food store in San Jose, California. To his surprise, organic vegetables that had shorter shelf-life and higher risk of bacterial … [Read more...]
The Myths of Indian Climate Catastrophe vs. Promising Reality
Proponents of climate alarmism have long claimed that developing countries like India will be the worst affected by climate change. Their claims cannot be farther from reality. With a population of 1.3 billion people and millions emigrating out of the country every year, India’s contribution to the global economy is significant. Traditionally agrarian, India has become increasingly dependent on its growing industrial sector. The country’s energy sector serves as the backbone of its … [Read more...]
Blessing or Curse? The Curious Case of Carbon Dioxide
In recent decades, select groups of scientists and politicians have blamed carbon dioxide (CO2) -- a greenhouse gas -- for increasing global temperatures to dangerous levels. Is CO2 really destroying our planet? CO2 is an odorless, invisible, trace gas in the atmosphere that acts as an important source of life for everything that lives on earth. In fact, plant and animal life on earth would be impossible without CO2. CO2 is an integral part of the photosynthesis process. Plants … [Read more...]
Three Cheers for Hunger?
The Smithsonian.com, a reliable cheerleader for global warming alarmism, published a celebratory article yesterday reporting that carbon dioxide injected into the earth in Iceland turned into rock, promising to offset global warming from CO2 emissions. But while continuing research keeps reducing the amount of warming estimated to eventuate from CO2 emissions, other continuing research confirms again and again that adding CO2 to the atmosphere does wonders for plants---and everything that … [Read more...]
A Prayer for the Alleviation of Poverty in Africa
Dear Father in Heaven, We pray for the countries in Africa that are going through decades of poverty. We pray for those who don’t have access to clean water, nutritious food and basic educational institutions. Let there be peace in parts that are experiencing civil and militant wars. Provide us wisdom and discernment regarding disease control measures, so that millions of those without basic healthcare can be saved from diseases. We also pray for those on the ground in Africa, and … [Read more...]
