Environmental impact of meat consumption

For the majority of the world's population, insects are an important part of their diet. Countless varieties of beetles, their larvae, crickets, ants or locusts are consumed in Asia, Africa and the Americas.
People of the western hemisphere however have been reluctant to add these creatures to their meals, though casu marzu can serve as a noteable exception for entomophagy in Europe.

In the face of a changing climate and a world population that has surpassed 7 billion, it seems a necessity to consider insects as protein sources in addition to meat.
In fact, there are already some companies that sell snacks made from insects. What is now needed is an increase of production and marketing of these foods.

The point is, cattle and pigs, our sources of red meat, all emit methane when they digest what they are fed. Methane acts as a greenhouse gas and is about 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide.
These emissions can in part be mitigated by choosing the right food for the livestock in order to influence digestion processes in their guts; however, farmers still need to feed a significant multiple of what they will end up with as actual meat.

An often-quoted number is the ratio of 54:1 in energy input required to produce a particular output of protein for cattle, whereas for insects, the number is as low as 4:1.
What this means is, you need fifty times less energy to produce protein from cattle than you need for the same amount of meat from cattle.
Costs associated with insect meat are therefore significantly lower, as resources needed to breed the tiny creatures like water, food crops and energy for lighting can be used more economically.

Another more recent report linking food production and energy consumption can be found here.
Including insects as sources of animal protein has implications for land use, too. Meal worms for example can be kept in boxes that allow for higher density in usable protein per cubic meter than conventional livestock. This results in more efficient transport, lowering greenhouse gas emissions even further, as production can be optimized for smaller-scale, localized shops.

To give you an idea, see this site with pictures and a very comprehensive list of edible insects at this page.

Of course, we should be aware that reducing our overall meat consumption is a viable option. Some alternatives based on soy sound pretty interesting.

The connection of myopia and education

A huge majority of highschool graduates in Southeast Asia shows symptoms of short-sightedness. Levels have reached 80 - 90 percent compared with 20 to 30 percent after WW2.

Recent studies (article in German) suggest increased evidence for a connection between the time spent outside and a decreased risk for myopia. As Asians are cramming under increased educational pressure, myopia is spreading like an epidemic. Growth of the eyeball is inhibited by dopamine, the production of which is influenced through exposure to direct sunlight.

Another article suggests that exposure to blue light lessens myopia in chicken.
In the face of this, it might be worthwhile looking at newly developed window coatings that let higher amounts of the blue spectrum through the glass.
If blue light does not only have effects on melatonin levels in humans but also results in decreased myopia, this would be an additional benefit for the time we increasingly spend indoors.

Massive power blackout in India

On July 30, 2012, India was hit by the worst power blackout in its history, affecting 19 of India's 36 states and leaving roughly half of the current population of 1.2 billion without electricity. This is certainly an over-estimate, as currently up to 40 percent of people only ever have access to the grid.

According to Reuters, peak-hour demand exceeds current power capacity by about 10 percent, impairing economic growth.
A weak monsoon that has resulted in a fall of hydroelectricity generation worsened the situation as people tried to cool down in scorching heat.

The Indian government has been slow to respond to some of the pressing challenges facing its population.
This power cut could offer the opportunity to make a change and transform India's energy-hungry economy into one that is greener, and more resilient to outages, which are even more likely to happen in the future is nothing is done about it.

Growth in demand exceeds new capacity being added by far.
The fact that there are only five electricity grids makes the system prone to failure.

People need to re-think the way power is generated, by opting for locally generated power using renewable sources like photovoltaics, solar-thermal power and wind. Microgrids connected to batteries would at least partly eliminate the need for expensive, environmentally-unfriendly diesel generators and kerosene, which are causing respiratory problems in the millions of people using them for lighting and cooking.