Links & reading

A blog is only as good as its reading list. These are the places we go back to – for primary documents, for data, and for writers who disagree with us usefully. None of them has endorsed this blog; we just find them worth your time.

Treaties, negotiations and official records

Convention on Biological Diversity – decisions and documents from the biodiversity COPs, including the long-running debates on synthetic biology, geoengineering and digital sequence information.
UNFCCC – the climate convention's official record: negotiating texts, submissions and decisions.
FAO – statistics (FAOSTAT), the State of Food Security reports and the treaty on plant genetic resources.
IPCC – the assessment reports, which are long but far more careful than most of what is written about them.
European Food Safety Authority – scientific opinions on GMOs, food additives and novel foods.

Data we lean on

Our World in Data – clear charts on agriculture, land use, energy and emissions, with sources attached.
USDA Economic Research Service – adoption of GM crops in the US, farm income and market structure.
Espacenet – the European Patent Office's free patent search, for when a press release mentions "proprietary technology".

Journals and science news

Nature and Science news sections, for reporting on research before it hardens into conventional wisdom.
Carbon Brief – patient, well-sourced coverage of climate science and policy.

Long reads and critical voices

Grist – environmental journalism with a strong food and farming desk.
Civil Eats – reporting on food systems, farm policy and agricultural labour.
Le Monde diplomatique – long-form analysis of global politics and economics.
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – research on trade, agriculture and public policy in Canada.

Our own shelves

If you're new here, the categories are the quickest way in: technology & society, food & farming, biotech & synthetic biology, climate & geoengineering and corporate power.

Know a source we should add? Send it over.