Marco Visscher

In All That We Share, veteran journalist Jay Walljasper, a former editor at Ode, presents the ultimate guide to save ‘the commons,’ which he defines as “everything we inherit or create together and must pass on.”   Read more...

The world’s most popular herbicide isn’t so effective anymore. More and more, weeds show resistance to glyphosate, better known under Monsanto’s brand-name, Roundup, which is used by farmers across the globe.

This is a serious problem, says New Scientist. "Glyphosate is as important to world food production as penicillin is to human health,” according to Australian plant scientist Stephen Powles. The pesticide is mainly used for corn, soybeans and cotton.   Read more...

Obama has potential to be such a modern, cool president. During his campaign, he and his Blackberry were inseperable. But on Sunday he was being rather arrogant about “iPods and iPads and PlayStations and Xboxes.” He claims they transform "information" into “distractions” and that they are even “a form of entertainment.” The horror! The democracy is in peril...

And so during his commencement speech at Hampton University Obama sounded like all the others who simply cannot grasp the interests of a younger generation. That is how it has always been, whether it’s films, comics or rock ’n roll absorbing the youth’s attention.   Read more...

“Science has proof without any certainty. Creationists have certainty without any proof.” This is a quote by the 20th-Century anthropologist Ashley Montague, which I saw at the bottom of an email from a friend who’s a scientist.

I’ve always found the battle between scientists and believers to be a somewhat tiresome spectacle. The two sides talk completely past each other. They have to, because they’re talking about different things. Religion is about answering questions about how we give meaning to our daily lives; science about how the world around us is organized.   Read more...

No Logo is one of the books that has made a big impact on me. I read it ten years ago when I was very excited about all the terrible consequences of globalization. Naomi Klein, a Candian journalist, wrote a powerful book about how large companies play an ever increasing role in our daily lives; they even influence the study material at high school. Klein also looked into the hidden practices of the big brands like Nike, McDonald’s and Shell, and the attempts by the new but rapidly growing movement of antiglobalisation activists. No Logo quickly became the bible of the movement.

This weekend at the bookstore I saw the 10th anniversary edition. In the new introduction, which I quickly skimmed, I read that last year Absolut Vodka launched a bottle without a label and without a logo, “to manifest the idea that no matter what’s on the outside, it’s the inside that really matters.” Starbucks had opened a coffee shop without putting the brand name on the store. It was as if Klein wanted to say: Look, the brands are finally taking a step back... Nice examples, though I personall feel that these companies have simply found a clever way to come across as being very self-aware and authentic.   Read more...

How might the French be doing today? It’s a historic day: No newspapers are being delivered as printers and distributors went on strike (language alert: article is in French!) after the national union for the newspaper industry announced, sadly, that there will be no raise for them this year.

Perhaps the folks working at the printing and distribution companies missed the news that there’s an economic crisis hitting the media industry pretty hard. In any case, there wasn’t much sympathy for the outcome of the salary negotiations, and so they decided to just drop their work. And so today there’s no Le Monde, La Tribune or Echos in mailboxes around the country. (A mailbox is the European equivalent for a doorstep.)   Read more...

The anxiety when most of Europe’s airports shut down due to the Icelandic volcano eruption soon transformed into a sense of resignation. People seemed quick in making peace with their unfortunate fate. Some even became outspokenly optimistic. After all, a couple of days without flying saves a lot of carbon dioxide emissions.

All this positive thinking can’t be coming from those millions of passengers who are stranded. For the innumerable people who miss a birthday party, wedding, funeral or holiday, the ban on air travel means a tragic loss of time, money and energy. And I personally wouldn’t mind if my wife and daughter could fly back home soon.   Read more...