The Bigger Picture, 2013-2014

Food giants feeling the pinch as Gen-Yers prefer fresh, not processed, foods.Minnesota StarTribune

Some feeder airport plans cancelled in India

Publication Date: December 19, 2014

State government abandons plans for three feeder airports in south-west India.New Indian Express

Taiwan: Protesting evictions for aerotropolis

Publication Date: December 16, 2014

Tags: Aviation/Airports, Food/Water/Agriculture

Rose Bridger writes: Taiwanese farmers angry at expropriation for economic development lands surrounding airport.Ecologist

No passengers, no planes: Europe’s “Ghost” airports

Publication Date: December 15, 2014

Lublin and Rzeszow (Poland) haven’t yet opened; Lodz (Poland) got a facelift but no more passengers; Ciudad Real (Spain) closed in 2012 for want of business; Castellon-Costa (Spain) got no license because its runway is too short; Brandenburg (Germany) has never opened because of construction problems.RT: Question More

Rebirth of Hwy H2O

Publication Date: December 12, 2014

That’s the Great Lakes Highway, including the St. Lawrence Seaway.Financial Post

Trudeau: ACA certification for airport

Publication Date: December 10, 2014

Tags: Aviation/Airports, Climate Change

Montreal’s Trudeau Airport takes pride in reducing CO2 emissions from their infrastructure...airport-technology.com

Aircraft dramas on rise as planes collide with creatures

Publication Date: December 9, 2014

Australia claims aircraft wildlife strikes are increasing.Herald Sun

What does future hold for Peotone?

Publication Date: December 9, 2014

Background on our American doppelgängers at Peotone. It's interesting that the airlines there actively campaigned against that airport project.Reboot Illinois

Why Beijing is spending $13B on a new airport

Publication Date: December 6, 2014

Increased demand, long (“legendary”) waits… Yet a good part of the problem is that the military controls 80% of China’s airspace, leaving only narrow corridors for civilian aircraft. A costly new airport isn’t going to solve this problem. Wall Street Journal

Renewal energy where the jobs are

Publication Date: December 2, 2014

More Canadian jobs now in the renewal energy sector than in the oil sands, which currently employs about 12% of those working in Canada’s petroleum sector.Globe and Mail

China spends big to avoid water crisis

Publication Date: November 28, 2014

Tags: Climate Change, Environment

Half of China’s rivers have dried up due to industrialization, dams, and prolonged drought. Now the country is spending $80B on a water diversion project to prevent its northern cities from running out of water, displacing 350,000 people. CBS News

Global warming unstoppable

Publication Date: November 24, 2014

Tags: Climate Change

The World Bank Group issues a stark warning ahead of the next round of climate change talks, which start today in Lima, Peru.Daily Mail Online

Mirabel terminal demolition starts

Publication Date: November 21, 2014

Demolition of the passenger terminal at Mirabel has started. Commercial airline passengers last used this building on Halloween, 2004; it’s been a “ghost” terminal ever since.CJAD News

Mascouche airport to close

Publication Date: November 11, 2014

Tags: Aviation/Airports, Food/Water/Agriculture

Meet Buttonville airport's doppelgänger. City-owned Mascouche airport, about 20 km north of Montréal, is Québec's largest general aviation airport. Despite strong pressure from local pilots and private aircraft owners (MAOPA), Mascouche has been unable to come up with the money to maintain its airport; infrastructure is crumbling. The Mayor's plan to sell the airport site for development and use the proceeds to build a new airport across the autoroute on "prime farmland" (actually Class 2 agricultural soil) met widespread opposition; so, Mascouche announced its airport will close by the end of 2016. Meanwhile, MAOPA plans to move its business 50 km west to Mirabel.avcanada.ca

Commission still pondering Heathrow/Gatwick expansion

Publication Date: November 11, 2014

Davies Commission has been holding public hearings for two years on London, England’s airport expansion. Its final set of hearings will focus on two short-listed options: expansion of either Heathrow or Gatwick.Telegraph

Mexican people vs government and potential airport

Publication Date: November 10, 2014

Mexicans protest that the government’s land purchases for “environmental recovery” are illegal, that land is really intended to resurrect an international airport project.dorset chiapas solidarity

Billions of kg of food waste, yet not an election issue

Publication Date: November 10, 2014

The heavy cost of food waste.rabble.ca

Airport as “economic engine”? Overstatement

Publication Date: November 4, 2014

Prof Julie Cidell claims that airports as an "economic engine" are overstated when compared with other local infrastructure. Suggests that a wastewater treatment plant is a better job generator than an airport.LSE US Centre

China bans cities from encroaching on farmlands

Publication Date: November 3, 2014

China will designate prime arable land near cities, prone to expropriation, as “permanent basic farmland” to safeguard food security.Business Standard

Thinking about water

Publication Date: October 29, 2014

Tags: Climate Change, Environment, Food/Water/Agriculture

Climate change means that Canadians need to start thinking about fresh water usage.Science Borealis

The food waste fiasco

Publication Date: October 26, 2014

Billions of dollars worth of food are thrown away every year in America.RobGreenfield.TV

Govt moves to revive stalled Nijgadh airport

Publication Date: October 24, 2014

Those who are hard-wired to build airports have revived yet another airport plan, this time at Nijgadh in Nepal.kathmandupost

Young farmers: why agriculture is booming

Publication Date: October 4, 2014

The state of English agriculture today.The Guardian

Farming on the edge

Publication Date: September 30, 2014

Agriculture is under threat on the urban fringe everywhere; here’s the situation in Istanbul.culinary backstreets

Virtual shopping assistants at Miami International

Publication Date: September 26, 2014

Fewer airport jobs?PassengerTerminalToday.com

San Salvador Atenco resists proposed airport

Publication Date: September 23, 2014

A more detailed story on the background of Mexico City's planned airport.Upside Down World

New population projections shatter earlier estimates

Publication Date: September 19, 2014

Food is a growing concern. Remember when the U.N. forecasted that the world's population would increase to about 9 billion around mid-century, then stabilize? Latest research: 11 billion by the end of this century.National Geographic

USDA approves Dow’s Enlist corn, soybeans

Publication Date: September 17, 2014

Monsanto's Roundup-tolerant GMO seeds have come under increasing criticism from farmers because Roundup is no longer an effective weed-killer. Enter Dow Chemical, whose Extend-tolerant GMO corn and soybean seeds have just been approved by the United States Department of Agriculture. Dow still awaits EPA approval for Extend weed-killer, which includes one of the most controversial herbicides of all time, 2,4-D. Both Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency approved use of these Dow GMO seeds and Extend weed-killer for Canadian agricultural use two years ago, and research plots are currently growing here. Sale of Dow's GMO Extend-tolerant seeds to Canadian farmers is being withheld pending U.S. approvals.CountryGuide

Sustainability on the hoof

Publication Date: September 9, 2014

"...In most parts of the country, farming remains predominantly an annual grain-based system...Now, the resilience of that system is in doubt...,” says ag professor.CountryGuide

USDA aids conservation of wetlands, farmland to boost economy

Publication Date: September 8, 2014

Feds commit $328 million to conserve wetlands and farmlands. Not our feds, sorry. Theirs.U.S. Department of Agriculture

We have 5 years to stop coal plants, gas-powered cars

Publication Date: September 6, 2014

Tags: Climate Change

Stephen Leahy writes that the worry isn’t just about reducing today's carbon emissions, it's also about future carbon commitments.Motherboard

New Mexico City airport design

Publication Date: September 4, 2014

Tags: Aviation/Airports, Environment, Food/Water/Agriculture

A glimpse of Mexico City's new $10B airport plan. Local citizens will soon be protesting: the airport is communal land.dezeen

Airport crawling with moss and weeds…

Publication Date: August 31, 2014

Another abandoned airport: Plymouth City, this time.The Herald

And when the aquifers are drained?

Publication Date: August 21, 2014

Aquifers are being pumped out to maintain agricultural production during the current American drought. If they go dry, then the real crisis begins.National Geographic

YVR ranked as Canada’s most efficient airport

Publication Date: August 19, 2014

The 2014 report from the Vancouver-based Air Transport Research Society (ATRS) on the annual rankings of 200 airports around the globe has just been released. Atlanta remains the best run airport in terms of efficiency (lowest passenger and airline fees) in the world, Vancouver is the best in Canada, due in part to its very lucrative retail concessions. Toronto Pearson remains one of the most expensive airports in the world, in terms of airline and passenger fees, and has no cost efficiency ranking after threatening to sue the ATRS authors years ago. The GTAA's point that Canadian airports are more user-pay and less subsidized than in other countries (Buffalo) is valid, but it still doesn't explain why Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Victoria airports are far more cost efficient than Toronto Pearson.Toronto metro

Airports’ global bird slaughter revealed

Publication Date: August 18, 2014

Rose Bridger exposes the world-wide reality that airport safety requires routine destruction of nearby natural flora and fauna.Ecologist

FAO says Gaza farms devastated by fighting

Publication Date: August 14, 2014

Food production is destroyed by war, and recovery takes years. Recent examples: Syria, Ukraine, and now Gaza.CountryGuide

A preview of what climate change will bring

Publication Date: August 12, 2014

Tags: Climate Change, Environment, Food/Water/Agriculture

Impacts of the California drought on its ecosystems.Nature

Now arriving at Pittsburgh Int’l: Fracking

Publication Date: August 12, 2014

Trying to save a failing airport? Get fracking!New York Times

Water efficiency in a global crisis

Publication Date: August 11, 2014

The need for water is universal, only 1% of the planet’s fresh water is accessible to us, and people are experiencing water shortages everywhere. We must become “fresh water efficient."Huffington Post

Abandoned airports make the best public parks

Publication Date: August 11, 2014

What to do with abandoned airports – Quito and Tempelhof have been turned into public parks.Motherboard

Drought leaves Texans sweating the future

Publication Date: August 9, 2014

Texans are now drilling deeper and deeper for fresh water – the oil of the 21st century.CBS News

Where to next? Predicting the future of agriculture

Publication Date: August 8, 2014

Like air traffic growth, no one can really predict the long-term future of food production either.CountryGuide

Conservation groups launch legal challenge to cut aircraft pollution

Publication Date: August 5, 2014

Tags: Aviation/Airports, Climate Change

The fastest growing source of carbon emissions in the transportation sector is from aviation. U.S. conservation groups go after the Obama administration for their foot-dragging in responding to a court order to curb these emissions.EarthJustice

Land grabs and responsible ag investment in Africa

Publication Date: August 4, 2014

All about the need for local "responsible agricultural investment” and strengthened farmland rights. World hunger isn't solved by selling large tracts of farmland to corporate and foreign government investors.TripleCrisis

Pennsylvania’s farmland preservation leads nation

Publication Date: July 28, 2014