The Karoo, in South Africa, is a harsh environment in which to make a living out of agriculture—the area is mostly devoid of surface water. Its name is derived from the Khoisan word meaning “land of thirst”. The land was traditionally used by pastoralists but drought, overgrazing and predation by wild animals made this activity precarious. Predators were kept in check by … [Read more...]
Wiping out World Hunger – One Meat Burger at a Time
800 million of the one billion starving people in the world would have food to eat if Americans all became vegetarian. This is according to figures released by Cornell University’s College of Agriculture, and published in the recent December 28 issue of Scientific American. According to the article, “grain currently fed to some seven billion livestock in the United States … [Read more...]
Navigating the protein crunch
Twenty-five thousand people die per day from starvation, while as many die of obesity-related conditions. This was just the start of what I learned at the launch of Jason Drew and David Lorimer's new book, The Protein Crunch at The Bay Bookshop in Cape Town. If these words are a fracture of what's contained in the book, I thought, it is going to blow my mind. And that's … [Read more...]