Algae communication, conspecific and interspecific: the concepts of phycosphere and algal-bacteria consortia in a photobioreactor (PBR)

by | Mar 20, 2023 | agroecology, algae, Artificial Everything, Biomimicry, Climate Change, conservation, deep ecology, Interspecies Communication, philosophy of science, Plants, Publications, Systems thinking

How does the race to make algae do tasks for us undermine the ability of those algae to perform their metabolic tasks? My colleagues and I have a new article out looking at the limits of enclosed ecosystems (lab controlled algae breeding for energy/food/oil, etc)....

Science and Politics of Glyphosate Workshop June 6, 2019

by | Mar 1, 2019 | agroecology, Conferences, Environmental Political Theory, exploitation, Extended Producer Responsibility, folly, glyphosate, Industrial Epidemics, Normal is Over, Perverse Incentives, philosophy of science, Plants, pollution, Side-effects, Syndemics, Systems thinking, Talks

My Erasmus University Rotterdam colleague Alessandra Arcuri and I are organizing a day-long workshop on the most used pesticide in the world: glyphosate. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in RoundUp, Monsanto’s flagship herbicide, has been linked with cancer by...

Owning Life versus Thwarting the Hygiene Hypothesis

by | Sep 10, 2017 | agroecology, animals, Biophilia, Biosemiotics, Bureaucratic quixotic, Communication, conservation, deep ecology, Interspecies Communication, permaculture, Perverse Incentives, Plants, Priorities, Side-effects, Systems thinking

  With such a provocative title as “Pet Ownership Protects Us Against Allergies,” UCSF’s Dr. Homer Boushey makes the claim that children brought up with pets inherit some of their protective microbes that mitigate against developing allergies....