Third Journalist Killed in Honduras

Reporters Without Borders recently learned that journalist Gabriel Fino Noriega, a local correspondent of the national radio station Radio América, was gunned down on July 3rd in San Juan Pueblo, in the Caribbean coast province of Atlántida. Both Radio América and the local police said they did not think his murder was in any way linked to the crisis caused by the June 28th coup d'état in Honduras.

Reporters Without Borders said, "We offer our condolences to Fino's family and colleagues, and we urge the police to assign enough resources to the murder investigation so that those responsible and their motive can be identified. A journalist's murder should not be allowed to go unpunished in a region of the country where there is a great deal of drug trafficking."

Fino, who was 42 at the time of his burder was shot by an unidentified gunman as he was leaving Radio Estelar, a local station where he presented a daily news program. He died while being taken to hospital. According to his colleagues, he had not received any threats.

Fino is the third journalist to be killed this year in Honduras. Rafael Munguía, the correspondent of the privately-owned national radio station Radio Cadena Voces, was killed on March 31st in the northwestern city of San Pedro Sula and Osman López of La Tribuna was killed in Tegucigalpa on April 18th.

Live on a Farm Without Ever Leaving the City!

What if you could eat farm-fresh fruits and vegetables without wondering where they came from and worrying about their carbon footprint? The average American meal endures a journey of 1500 miles from farm to plate, leaving a trail of greenhouse gas from the fossil-fueled trains, trucks, planes and high-energy refrigeration chambers that keep it fast and fresh. But consumers are getting wise to inefficiencies, and demand for local produce and the 100-mile diet is becoming more and more vocal.

Yesterday's National Geographic News reported a collaboration between scientists and architects working on solutions to the problem of food production for a burgeoning global population living with shrinking agricultural space. One viable solution is farming up rather than out with vertical farms, large production farms within residential skyscrapers that could provide efficient solutions directly in the hearts of cities. These buildings will not only provide agricultural space, but they will also eliminate the carbon footprint suffered from food miles. Even better, the controlled systems of indoor farms will greatly reduce the risk of losing crops to natural disasters, pests and disease.

But cities will have to look at the entire life cycle of food produced in urban skyscrapers before jumping for joy.Critics say urban indoor agriculture is no better than shipping food from far away since nutrient-rich hydroponic farming is highly energy intensive. Fossil fuels will most likely play some part in keeping the urban farms functioning, while perfectly free and clean sunlight will go unused outside the building.

Proponents say architects are fine-tuning designs of the buildings to maximize the amount of sun reaching crops, as well as the amount of energy that can be harnessed to power the system. One progressive model is the Pyramid Farm, which would break down sewage, convert it to water and carbon and re-power the building.

In the meantime, while we wait for vertical and pyramid farms to take root in our neighborhoods, eating in-season local foods and cutting down on land and water-intensive meats are good steps toward a more sustainable future.

EPA Allows CA to Set Federal Emissions Standards

The Environmental Protection Agency announced it will allow California to set its own emissions standards for motor vehicles, which are stricter than current federal standards. California's standards match President Obama's May proposal for the auto industry, in which motor vehicles would have to meet an average of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016.

Allowing California to set the standard is a reversal of the Bush Administration's policy. According to a provision in the original Clean Air Act, California could potentially adopt its own standards, which other states were free to follow. But when the state developed its own plan to curb emissions in 2004, it was met with roadblock after roadblock by the Bush Administration and the automobile industry. The EPA under Bush claimed California failed to demonstrate "compelling and extraordinary conditions" warranting the adoption of standards beyond the federal government's.

Obama's EPA revisited the request. California has agreed not to toughen the new standards before 2017, and the federal government plans to adopt the state's standards for the entire country. Although some skeptics remain, environmentalists as well as politicians nationwide are celebrating this as an opportunity to create jobs in the auto industry while reducing greenhouse gases.

Personal Democracy Forum: Day Two

It's day two here at the Personal Democracy Forum 2009 Conference. For a great roundup of all the sessions and speakers from yesterday, click here to read a great recap by Nancy Scola of TechPresident.

Day Two is off to a great start. Vivek Kundra, the first ever Federal Chief of Information Officer is currently talking about how we make sure that technology produces the dividends that it promises. The government currently spends over $70 billion dollars a year on technology. Kundra is currently unveiling of an interactive dashboard that will make available details about every major federal information technology project. He calls it version 1.0, and has been launched in beta. He just got a standing ovation from the crowd.

Later this morning, there's more great speakers, including Randi Zuckerberg of Facebook. More breakout sessions this afternoon include how the internet ecosystem can improve journalism, mapping the networked public sphere, and how social networks are changing politics, just to name a few.

PDF Day One: Afternoon Update

I'm sitting in The Allen Room (with a fabulous view) listening to a session called "Redesigning .Gov for Transparency and Participation." The topic is an enriching discussion about government website and data management.

This morning had a bunch of really interesting speakers. Notable, danah boyd challenged us to really think about the politics of class online. She had a great presentation about who is doing what online. Her presentation, which will be available online thanks to PDF, should start a conversation about race, class structure and politics moving forward. Additionally, Jeff Jarvis discussed a new model of government, involving citizen participation, and permission to fail. According to Jarvis, "We should do what we do best and link to the rest. I particularly enjoyed the fact that Jarvis spent the last 5 minutes of his presentation by asking audience members to contribute their ideas of what a "Google Government" would look like.