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The Planetizen News Brief

1 May 2008 - 5:00am
Smart City Radio

The Planetizen News Brief is a weekly rundown of some of the most interesting and important news and issues of the past week.

The Planetizen News Brief airs every week on the nationally-syndicated radio program "Smart City", which is broadcast in cities across the U.S. Learn more about Smart City and listen to archived shows.

Full Transcript

Experts are forecasting that there will be more than 9 billion people living on the planet by 2050. Is there going to be enough food to feed them all? According to a recent piece in The Christian Science Monitor, the answer to that question is a resounding maybe. World food production is down, prices are up, and unlike other price spikes in recent history, the current food shortage and price jump are not related to a specific event, but rather to long term trends. A lot of the problem stems from the misuse and loss of agricultural land, but much of the loss of farmland is due to rising temperatures and the resulting desertification of once fertile land. Experts say that ensuring the global capability for producing enough food to handle 9 billion people will be closely tied to how countries can adapt and respond to a warming world.

And while farmland is vanishing across the globe, urban activists are doing their own part to bring nature back to the city. They’ve been counteracting the loss of public space and wildlife in their cities by finding underused and vacant lots and planting gardens. A recent article from the Guardian looks at this new trend, dubbed “guerrilla gardening”. Apparently, these gardeners are popping up all over the world, spreading their seeds wherever vacant lots abound and blank dirt patches outnumber flowers. The gardeners number in the thousands, and communicate with each other all over the planet through a website dedicated to their unique brand of graffiti. Though planting on other people’s land is not exactly legal, and sneaking around at night to plant daffodils may catch some unwanted attention, the guerilla gardeners numbers – and their gardens – continue to grow.

And finally, Washington D.C. is on its way to becoming the first American city to put in place a citywide bike sharing system. The New York Times reports that the city’s bike sharing system will begin operating next month, with bikes parked at stations throughout the city for use by people who’ve paid a $40 annual fee. The system is a joint venture between the city and the advertising firm Clear Channel Outdoor and it emulates the Velib bike sharing system that debuted last summer in Paris. The French system has seen major success and made thousands of bikes available throughout the city. Washington D.C.’s system has hopes of achieving similar success, but for now is starting out small, with just 120 bikes and 10 rental stations. Proponents expect the system to expand within the year, adding more than 1,000 bikes to the district’s streets.

Stories discussed in this week's Planetizen News Brief

Can The Earth Provide Enough Food For 9 Billion People?

'Guerrilla Gardeners' Taking Over Neglected Public Places

Bike-Sharing Comes to D.C.

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