Phosphorus recovery, an urgent matter

Phosphorus is an essential element in the formation of vegetal and animal biomass. But whereas living organisms can use oxygen and nitrogen from the air for their processes, phosphorus is only available as a mineral, in the form of phosphate. … Read more

An autarkic building

Sorry, this review of the sustainable restaurant ‘Aan Zee’ (By the Sea) in Oostvoorne near Rotterdam is only available in Dutch.

Oxfam still much too harsh

I had looked forward intently to the report that Oxfam in the Netherlands (Oxfam Novib) would publish on 26 November, which would justify its campaign against European biofuel policies. They said, this would ‘conclude clearly’ that the economic and political … Read more

Plastic soup for dummies

‘By now, everyone knows about the phenomenon of Plastic Soup.’ So I am told ever more frequently nowadays. Yet, there are still a lot of people out there who have not  heard of it. And even they often do not … Read more

Petrol from water and air, sense and nonsense

Recently, newspapers and TV abound with reports on scientists who produce fuels like petrol and diesel oil from carbon dioxide and water. Sometimes with sensational headings like in The Independent, 19 October: ‘Exclusive: Pioneering scientists turn fresh air into petrol … Read more

Growth?

Our world is founded on growth. As soon as economic growth slows down, alarm bells start to ring: pensions are in danger, or employment rates. Even the richest economies in the world, like ours, stay on the course of growth, … Read more

Gunter Pauli and the ‘Blue Economy’

The interesting thing about festivals like Springtij at Terschelling is, that out of the blue you run into people with a completely new line of thinking. Someone like Gunter Pauli, who invented the ‘Blue Economy’ concept, because the ‘Green Economy’ … Read more

Selective usage

A recent report by the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (discussed here on the 10th of august by Diederik van der Hoeven) argues in favour of selective energetic usage of biomass. That is good advice. Photosynthesis is beautiful but its … Read more

Why it is so hard to sell sustainability

Sustainability is a difficult subject. Many conversation partners are willing to accept that mankind pursues activities which endanger the planet, ecosystems, future generations, plants, animals. But they have a hard time accepting that human activities, worse: human thought, will have … Read more

Debrief Rio+20

Disappointment and resolve. Those were the general feelings in the Rio+20 debrief meeting, July 19 in The Hague. Disappointment because results had been meagre: merely the affirmation of previous agreements, without emphasis on their importance. As Kitty van der Heijden, … Read more

An avalanche on wheels

Having been the owner of a little house in the French campagne, visited each year, I had not been in the mountains for some twenty years. But finally we went there. Somewhere in the French Alps, near Morzine, we were … Read more

Phosphate and soil carbon

High yields generally require sufficient fertilizer, e.g. phosphate. Phosphorus is an element essential to plant growth. But whereas nitrogen fertilizer is synthesized, the only way to produce fertilizer containing phosphorus, is to mine it as phosphate. World phosphate resources are … Read more