The Bigger Picture, 2013-2014
Number of Articles: 140
Fencing the farmer out
Publication Date: December 31, 2014
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
The Indian government's "fast tracking" of land acquisition for national projects is declared "a significant step backward in India’s march to land justice."thehindu
Fresh is best
Publication Date: December 19, 2014
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Environment, Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports, Environment
Australia claims aircraft wildlife strikes are increasing.Herald Sun
What does future hold for Peotone?
Publication Date: December 9, 2014
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Environment, Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
The heavy cost of food waste.rabble.ca
Airport as “economic engine”? Overstatement
Publication Date: November 4, 2014
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
The state of English agriculture today.The Guardian
Farming on the edge
Publication Date: September 30, 2014
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
Fewer airport jobs?PassengerTerminalToday.com
San Salvador Atenco resists proposed airport
Publication Date: September 23, 2014
Tags: Aviation/Airports, Environment
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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Environment, Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
"...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
Tags: Environment, Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
Another abandoned airport: Plymouth City, this time.The Herald
And when the aquifers are drained?
Publication Date: August 21, 2014
Tags: Environment, Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports, Environment
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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports, Environment
Trying to save a failing airport? Get fracking!New York Times
Water efficiency in a global crisis
Publication Date: August 11, 2014
Tags: Environment, Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports, Environment
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
Tags: Environment, Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
Pennsylvania has a 25-year head start over Ontario when it comes to preserving its best farmland forever – nearly half a million acres so far. Their program is so successful that there’s a waiting list of farmers wanting to get their properties kept as productive farms in perpetuity.WESA 90.5
Companies rush to turn water resources into profit
Publication Date: July 27, 2014
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
The "next oil." The corporate rush to invest in fresh water.The Guardian
Hundreds of birds poisoned, killed at Houston airport
Publication Date: July 24, 2014
Tags: Aviation/Airports, Environment
The ugly reality of maintaining a wildlife control zone around airports.usatoday.com
Colorado River Basin drying up faster than thought
Publication Date: July 24, 2014
Tags: Environment, Food/Water/Agriculture
Study indicates that ground water supplies are being seriously depleted in the Colorado River basin.Washington Post