Resilience

The Farm Bill’s “Government Handouts”: Who Really Benefits?

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:31:00 GMT

If we are going to be truly resilient, then we must be compassionate about the suffering of those around us, and we must seek ways, both through policy and through our daily individual actions, that will help to rectify this suffering.

City Bees, Country Bees

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:40:00 GMT

Honeybees are not the only ones in trouble--bumblebees are too. This is the first of a two part series that will discuss how urban areas might be bumblebees’ best chance for survival.

Land, apples, and political engagement in Scotland

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:12:00 GMT

The community growing movement in Scotland reveals a desire, and an opportunity, for a more profoundly democratic politics.

The Permablitz: Transforming Urban Homesteads in a Single Day

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:24:00 GMT

During a Permablitz, an army of volunteers, friends, and neighbors descend on a home and transform the yard (back, front, or both) into a food-growing wonderland.

Farm to Childcare program expands to 62 sites across Minnesota

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:53:48 GMT

Beginning today, childcare centers throughout Minnesota are set to serve healthy, locally grown foods as part of a Farm to Childcare initiative—an innovative program designed in partnership between the Minnesota-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and childcare provider New Horizon Academy (NHA).

Food Waste Fighter: An Interview with Jonathan Bloom

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:43:00 GMT

...trimming our food waste is more important than composting our excess.

Food Rescue Program Spreads in Colorado

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 09:11:00 GMT

It’s a shocking fact that 40% of all food produced in the US goes to waste at some point in production.

Fear and action

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 15:03:50 GMT

Fear. It's that chill that creeps up your spine. That awful, churning hot knot, deep in the pit of your stomach. The tremble that makes your hands feel powerless. The freeze-up, that tempts you to inaction.

Mexico protests Monsanto with a Carnival of Corn

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 12:14:00 GMT

The current generation of Mexican activists is looking for new strategies to fight for social justice, and the March Against Monsanto provided an opportunity to fuse tradition and innovation into the building blocks for a global food revolution.

Worldwide Honey Bee Collapse: A Lesson in Ecology

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:41:00 GMT

We know what is killing the bees.

The Coming Financial Enclosure of the Commons

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:39:00 GMT

Financial speculation in food commodities has become one of the main drivers of food price volatility...the disruptive influence of financial speculation on food markets is only a preview of future crises...
While the impending new wave of financialization is a serious threat, it also opens new opportunities to bridge civil society struggles...

Canada's 'Northern Amazon' on the Brink

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:44:51 GMT

The Mackenzie River Basin, which occupies and protects one-fifth of Canada's fresh water, could be severely destabilized by climate change as well as unbridled resource extraction, including hydraulic fracturing, hydro dams and oil sands mining.

China’s Growing Hunger for Meat Shown by Move to Buy Smithfield, World’s Leading Pork Producer

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:48:00 GMT

Half the world’s pigs—more than 470 million of them—live in China, but even that may not be enough to satisfy the growing Chinese appetite for meat.

Up the Amazon on a Camel

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 10:45:00 GMT

One unintended consequence of GMO and monoculture crops is the desertification of some of the most bio-intense regions on Earth.

What permaculture isn’t — and is

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:37:00 GMT

Permaculture is notoriously hard to define.

Eating on the wild side

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 16:55:00 GMT

The biggest drop in nutrients was probably 10,000 years ago, when we stopped eating wild foods and became farmers.

COMMUNITY RESILIENCE CHATS: "Rebuilding the Foodshed" with Philip Ackerman-Leist and Asher Miller

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 18:28:00 GMT

Want to start a community-owned café, solar array, or investment fund but don’t know where to start? Join our Community Resilience Webinars.

Water – and Us – in the “Anthropocene”

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:03:00 GMT

The very notion of the Anthropocene encourages the risky belief that if we humans are now the dominant force of nature – the god species – then nature can’t hurt us.

ROOTS, SHOOTS AND SEEDS: The Spear Carriers

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 09:18:00 GMT

Roots, Shoots and Seeds is a book about the local community food movement, set around the wide arable fields of East Anglia, following the tracks of the crops that grow in these clay and sandy soils, from barley to flax, from rapeseed to potatoes.

Rivers and Stories

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 09:17:00 GMT

A book of river stories is, of course, an invitation to think about the relation between rivers and stories. It is also an occasion to think about the condition of the world's rivers, which we need urgently to do at this moment in the history of the human relation to the earth.

Review: Paradise Lot

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 09:01:00 GMT

In practice, self-reliance can be harder than permaculture experts sometimes make it sound. This is where Eric Toensmeier’s 'Paradise Lot' comes in. Anyone who finds him or herself discouraged in their permaculture garden efforts should take heart and read this book.

The Next Green Revolution (This Time Without Fossil Fuels)

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 07:25:00 GMT

A method of growing crops called the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) produces yields that can be four or five times higher than other methods.

21 Inspiring Initiatives Working to Reduce Food Waste Around the World

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 12:08:00 GMT

This week we’re celebrating World Environment Day (June 5th) by highlighting innovations working to reduce the tremendous food waste and loss that occurs throughout the world.

Fracking - June 4

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 15:41:32 GMT

•Fracking could ruin German beer industry, brewers tell Angela Merkel •Amerikas Schiefergas-Boom droht jähes Ende •Fracking Tests Ties Between California 'Oil and Ag' Interests •Most Americans don't give a frack about fracking •UK shale gas reserves may be 'bigger than first thought' •OPEC, at its Vienna meeting, grapples with shale oil

Food & agriculture - June 4

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 13:32:00 GMT

•Breaking the grass ceiling: On U.S. farms, women are taking the reins •The USDA's Latest Report on Energy Use in Agriculture •More Than Honey •Is the US About to Become One Big Factory Farm for China? •Peak Water, Peak Oil ...Now, Peak Soil?