Waste handling

Last week's Economist had a very informative report of waste and how it is handled in different countries but also on a world base (since countries ship their waste to others). Here are the articles:

• Talking rubbish
• You are what you throw away
• Down in the dumps
• A better hole
• The appliance of science
• Round and round it goes
• Muck and brass
• Less is more

My conclusion of the whole thing is that this culture of infinite growth we have is madness and will only make us more miserable in the long run.
Indeed, we live in a finite space, with finite amount of energy and water available. As if this was not enough, we are not able (yet?) to do many basic things in an environmental friendly way (we use and release so much chemicals in nature!). So we are basically destroying the planet we depend on for our survival.
So I say:

1. Always aiming for more humans is wrong (I am not talking about population control but more about a change in mindset)
2. Zero pollution must be the aim
3. GDP growth for its own sake is not the answer. What matter is people well being not how much they consume
   
4. Water is getting so scarce in places that they have to filter and drink sewage water. Alarm bells anyone?

The evolutionary role of cookery

The Economist had an article not so long ago about cooking and its role for the evolution of humans, here.
Several interesting to note:
- Pre-agricultural man confined to raw food would have starved.
- Heat physically softens food. That makes it easier to digest, so even though the stuff is no more calorific, the body uses fewer calories dealing with it.
- The more processed food you eat, the more calories you have to store compared to the same intake of calorie with raw food.

Add water

Many places around the world are getting drier and drier. This chart shows how much water is need to produce several beverages. Shocking!
Original article from The Economist, here.

World of Trouble

Interesting report from 60 Minutes, here, about how the banks in the US oversold loans to people who could not afford them, fueling the housing bubble in the process and making the fall even steeper.

"How did the mortgage industry destroy itself and set off an economic collapse that ruined the finances of millions of Americans? Executives tend to hold themselves blameless, saying that no one could have seen the disaster coming."