Tag: sustainability
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Why We Need Solarpunk Fiction
Solarpunk fiction is the tag ascribed to an emerging field of visual and literary media, one that envisions potential futures characterised by sustainable technologies, urban biodiversity and socio-ecological harmony. The sub-genre comes as a response to the prevailing dystopian and post-apocalyptic narratives that predominate science fiction, illustrating hopeful alternatives to a bleak future. Within such…
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How the Rich Caused the Climate Crisis
. . . and how they can solve it. In basic economics, when income rises so does demand for goods. With increased sales of cars, houses, holidays, luxury clothing and extravagant meals comes increased strain on the fossil fuels required to power those consumer choices. As energy policy professor Amiee Ambrose argued, the fastest way…
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Frankenstein Food or the Future: A Look at Italy’s Bill on Cultured Meat
The notion of our evolutionary omnivory is one of high controversy, undeniably inflamed by rounds of animal rights and radical diets as well as the rise of religious cross-culturalism. Recent decades have witnessed the commercialisation of various veggie substitutes like Quorn and Linda McCartney’s in sync with a global transition towards meat-less living. Despite falling…
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The Misrepresentation of Mushrooms
From classic to contemporary literature, and even written into law, fungi and their fruiting bodies have grown victim to a pretty bad rep. Mushrooms are notorious for their connotations of decay and rottenness, even poison, madness and death. In Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, the titular protagonist increases in size upon consuming a particular mushroom.…
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Neonicotinoids: To Bee or Not To Bee?
Neonicotinoids – or neonics – are the fastest growing group of agricultural insecticides. Highly toxic to invertebrates, they work by compromising the central nervous system, leading to eventual paralysis and death. Neonics are a systemic pesticide meaning that they work from within. They’re typically applied in the form of a seed dressing, planted into the…
Sapphic Space 