More on Food

Foreign Policy's latest issue is all about the coming food crisis. Several articles are online, including this one by Lester Brown:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/25/the_new_geopolitics_of_food
and this one dealing with overpopulation, The Myth of 9 Billion:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/05/09/the_myth_of_9_billion

I think it's worth picking up a copy; too bad there are no bookstores near me...grrr. I'll probably revisit the article I wrote last week in a more organized manner, dealing with the challenges outlined there one by one. It's time the issue finally got out front and center - I think it will the defining issue of the next one hundred years. People are finally starting to realize-the earth has limits. We're in the midst of a new Great Transformation.

I'm working on a couple new articles - including one that finally deals with architecture. It essentially asks the question that now that computers can create intricate patterns and objects on a mass-produced scale via 3D printing, CNC machines and laser cutting, is it time to return ornament to architecture? I further posit that the reason older buildings are so much more highly valued by the general populace than are modern buildings is because of the more hand-crafted quality and visual complexity that ornamentation brings (although quality of workmanship, durability, natural materials and human scale play essential roles also). I'll also be critiquing a lot of what passes for "green" building today in a separate article.

And I've started working on another major topic that has been on my mind for a while. I believe that in the next few centuries, we will see a political realignment where city-states are once again the dominant governments of the planet, and nation-states will whither away. City-states will be linked via complex trade and social networks, while the regions outside them become poorly-governed no-man's lands. This is due to the massive global urbanization of humans, the dominant neoliberal economic model, and the declining resources of energy and money that will be available to national governments. It's a lot to think about, so that me be a while in coming, but it should be worth the wait. Oh, and I almost forgot about the essay on how poop may save the world. Stay tuned...