Weekend Reading

The Fireman (Paul McCartney) - Universal Here, Everlasting Now 

Guess where this is and win a free book.

As a follow-up to “Is the West saying Africa should remain undeveloped?”

LNG, arugula, and righteous climate justice

The entire article is worth a skim, including the bit about vertical farming (although that is a minor aside.

Also, from American Economic Review:

National and Global Impacts of Genetically Modified Crops

We estimate the impact of genetically modified (GM) crops on countrywide yields, harvested area, and trade using a triple-differences rollout design that exploits variation in the availability of GM seeds across crops, countries, and time. We find positive impacts on yields, especially in poor countries. Our estimates imply that without GM crops, the world would have needed 3.4 percent additional cropland to keep global agricultural output at its 2019 level. We also find that bans on GM cultivation have limited the global gain from GM adoption to one-third of its potential. Poor countries would benefit most from lifting such bans.

tl;dr - It would be best to work to address the tremendous tragedy that is poverty (and preventable disease) today.

PS: Is the West lacking water, or are we wasting it? Take a guess.