03 Sep 2009
Would lab-burgers be better for us and the planet?

The short answer to the question posed by the headline is "no". That's the long answer, too. I just don't understand people who have serious issues with tossing day old chicks into grinders, but think creating a Frankenchicken to "harvest" in the lab is just peachy-keen.

Meat is murder? Well, perhaps not for much longer. A pioneering group of scientists are working to grow real animal protein in the laboratory, which they not only claim is better for animal welfare, but actually healthier, both for people and the planet. It may sound like science fiction, but this technology to create in-vitro meat could be changing global diets within ten years.

(link) [CNN]

21:21 /Agriculture | 1 comment | permanent link

Pressure Cooker Kindergarten

This is nothing short of horrifying, the end result of our obsession with measurement and testing of everything and everyone. A couple of generations of this, and it's all over for American civilization.

It’s been more than two decades since Robert Fulghum published the oft-quoted (and oft-mocked) essay “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” The piece describes a bucolic world of wonder, a place for cookies and afternoon naps.

That world is long gone.

(link) [Boston.com]

21:09 /Politics | 1 comment | permanent link