[Sept. 23] Communication and Human Development: The Freedom Connection? The Oil Drum: Campfire | Energy Descent and Agricultural Population. Among the cadre of folks who think about food systems and sustainability in the U.S., there’s a concern about the number of farmers and their age. Only about two percent (5,802,000/295,410,000 in 2004) of the U.S. population is part of a farm family, and the average age of principal operators of farms is nearing 60 years (See the recent release of the 2007 Ag Census for details).
Since mechanization and the fuels that power machines are what enable such a small agricultural labor force, is it reasonable to assume that a decline in fossil fuels will require more farmers? Others, such as peak oil educators Richard Heinberg and Sharon Astyk, have suggested this will indeed be the case, even going so far as to put a rough number on the future farmers of America. As these authors point out, not only is the absolute number very large compared to today, but given the age of the current crop of farmers it implies that a rapid education of youth will be required to keep bread on the table.
Google Latitude: Ready to Tell Your Friends (and Google) Where You Are? - ReadWriteWeb. Where you are is as important as what you're looking for. That's why more and more services are looking to location as a filter for providing relevant information when and where we need it. So it only makes sense that Google - a company known for its ability to deliver relevant information - get into the location-aware app game. Today, they jumped in with both feet by releasing Google Latitude, a way to keep track of your friends' current whereabouts - and let Google have a view into your nomadic or sedentary habits. Google Latitude allows you to share location-based information with friends. And it's incredibly easy to get started.
Knowing where people are is great. It's All About the Data While many of us have grown used to providing details on our travels by updating location-aware apps like Brightkite or checking in with sites like Dopplr, those journeys have always been loosely affiliated with the rest of our habits - through a lifestream, at best. Do No Evil, Please. China's job losses send 20M migrants home.