Robots could one day be trundling down vineyard rows, plucking leaves, estimating yields, spraying fruit and harvesting bunches of grapes to make Marlborough sauvignon blanc. The use of robots in the vineyard was discussed at the Organic and Biodynamic Winegrowers Conference, which was being held over three days in Blenheim, at the ASB Theatre. (Friday June 30th, 2017 — Stuff.co.nz - Wellington, New Zealand)

The listing is the latest legal setback for the company, which has faced increasing litigation over glyphosate since WHO said that it was “probably carcinogenic.” (Tuesday June 27th, 2017 — Huffington Post - USA)

That’s the main finding of a new report from Pew Research Center, which reveals that more millennials use their local libraries than other adult generations. Pew’s data, collected in a survey administered during fall 2016, found that 53% of millennials said they’d used a library or bookmobile in the previous 12 months. (Tuesday June 27th, 2017 — Daily Good: Good Education)

Barrio Logan’s Café Virtuoso has sourced only organic coffee from its inception. This year it’s gone a step further: sourcing certified biodynamic beans. (Monday June 26th, 2017 — San Diego Reader - San Diego, California USA)

Following a 17-hour journey by car, boat and foot, they were released in the Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park. (Monday June 26th, 2017 — Care2.com - USA)

Biodynamic wine is made and grown on the principles established by Rudolf Steiner. Biodynamic farming is by default organic, but considers the farm as part of a total living system. This includes the influence of the moon and planets, and the entire interdependent ecosystem of wildlife, natural habitat, vineyards and people. (Friday June 23rd, 2017 — Bizcommunity.com - South Africa)

An 81-year-old who set up an all-woman rubbish collection team in her village in Lebanon now has a stream of visitors asking how she did it. (Thursday June 8th, 2017 — BBC online - UK)

Built by the company Sungrow Power Supply, the power plant will produce enough energy to power 15,000 homes, Zheng reports. (Wednesday June 7th, 2017 — Smithsonian online - USA)

The details of this transition are spelled out in a new, must-read, 4000-word article in the Financial Times, “The Big Green Bang: how renewable energy became unstoppable.” What is most remarkable about the article is that it appears in the Financial Times. The free-market oriented paper is the “most important business read” for the world’s top financial decision makers and “the most credible publication in reporting financial and economic issues” for global professional investors, according to surveys. (Tuesday May 23rd, 2017 — Think Progress - USA)

UPDATE: Success! Sherman County has agreed to work on a weed management plan with Azure Farms that does not include the spraying of toxic chemicals. Original Action Alert County officials want to spray a 2,000-acre certified organic farm in Oregon with Monsanto’s cancer-causing Roundup and other pesticides—and force the farm to pay for it! (Tuesday May 23rd, 2017 — Organic Consumers Association - Finland, Minnesota USA)

In Yellowstone, the wolves quickly reclaimed their spot as top predator. Ecologist William Ripple of Oregon State University has been studying the wolves since their return. He found that, within a decade of their release, the wolves had cut the number of elk – their main prey – by half. The surviving elks avoided the wolves' core range and stayed on the periphery. Woody trees like aspen and willow, which had been chewed and trimmed by zealous elks, now grew tall and lush. (Tuesday May 23rd, 2017 — BBC online - UK)

... they are sending them to the Cardiff Steiner School which is opening its first upper school in September this year extending classes to pupils aged 13 and 14 who will be able to stay until they are 18 working towards the internationally recognised New Zealand Steiner Certificate. Instead of being tested and taking exams over four years for GCSE, AS and A levels pupils follow a broad, assessed curriculum, including a compulsory modern foreign language from age six. (Friday May 19th, 2017 — WalesOnline - Cardiff, Wales UK)

Federal judge rules agency should consider impact of new pesticides on endangered species. (Thursday May 11th, 2017 — Star Tribune - Minneapolis, Minnesota USA)

Steiner gave a series of nine lectures on the importance of bees and the beehive to the ecosystem. The lectures are about “the unconscious wisdom contained in the beehive” and how the beehive “relates to the human experiences of health, civilization, and the cosmos,” according to the Rudolf Steiner Archive. (Wednesday May 10th, 2017 — VinePair - )

A small but growing number of biodynamic certified farmers are adding cannabis to their crops. Biodynamic agriculture is a holistic method of farming that goes beyond organic standards and draws esoteric concepts developed by Rudolf Steiner in the early 1920s. Among other things, certified biodynamic marijuana has to be grown outdoors without light deprivation. (Cannabis farms cannot be certified organic under the U.S. Department of Agriculture because of federal marijuana prohibition.) (Monday May 8th, 2017 — North Bay Bohemian - Santa Rosa, California USA)

Camphill Communities Ontario received the June Callwood Outstanding Achievement Award for Voluntarism last week in Toronto. ... Palmer said it was one of the most significant awards the organization has received. (Monday May 8th, 2017 — The Barrie Examiner - Barrie, Ontario Canada)

On April 30, Germany established a new national record for renewable energy use. Part of that day (during the long May 1 weekend), 85% of all the electricity consumed in Germany was being produced from renewables such as wind, solar, biomass, and hydroelectric power. (Monday May 8th, 2017 — CleanTechnica.com - )

Kate Beveridge and Mark Brown bought a 14 acre property 10 years ago, with the dream of it becoming not just a small-scale organic farm, but a showpiece and education centre for biodynamics, permaculture and sustainable living. (Monday May 8th, 2017 — Newcastle Herald - Newcastle NSW Australia)

“I learnt about biodynamic agriculture of the (Dr. Rudolf) Steiner school under Peter Proctor when they opened a chapter here in Kodaikanal and that’s when I realized that biodynamic form actually enhances the micronutrient levels of the soil. I decided it would be good to implement it in the golf course,” says the 66-year-old Mani ... (Monday May 8th, 2017 — The News Minute - India)

For centuries, educators and thinkers have stressed on the need for creating a home environment to provide the best form of education to a child. Be it Gandhi’s experimental Tolstoy Farm or Tagore’s Shantiniketan, Waldorf Education or J Krishnamurthy’s educational philosophy — all of them have underlined the need to educate the child in a natural setting, arouse his curiosity and have a multi-disciplinary approach to learning. (Monday May 8th, 2017 — The Tribune - India)