Monday, February 20, 2012

Roadkill--sustainable meat?

Have you ever eaten roadkill? I have, and it was good. But *surprise* eating roadkill can now be a political act.

When I was a boy of about 10, I was in a car driven by my father and we hit a deer. Fortunately for us, he kept control of the car and stopped.

The deer was dead next to the road, and my father wrestled the deer into a trailer he was towing and we took the deer home. We were a hunting family, so butchering the deer was no big deal, and later we ate it. It wasn't the only time, and it was just a normal part of thrifty living in Oregon.

Now I see that it's the latest thing in sustainable meat. Rebranding thrift as sustainability, sounds good to me.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Flush again, I'm thirsty

Toilet to tap water is becomming real. It's the brave new world of water shortage. Brace yourself for more jolts like this.

San Diego is now using reclaimed wastewater (after treatment) in city water supplies. It took some time for people to get over the yuck factor, but the resistence has mostly subsided. Drought and rationing did a good job of letting people know why the idea was proposed.

And it's not really that new. Forever we've been drinking water from someone else's waste stream, we all live downstream from somebody. The new approach makes it a little more direct, but also a lot more carefully treated.

It won't be long before there's no such things as "waste" water.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

China leads world in aquaculture

China grows more farmed fish than anyone else, see bizarre-looking graphic below to get a real feeling for the situation.

What does this mean? Anyone who wants to advance sustainable aquaculture needs to succeed in China. Next question, can outsiders matter in Chinese aquaculture, or will change only come from within?