Lindsay Curren

Our local eco swap

I’ve written before about the merits of swapping clothes and accessories you no longer want for “new-to-you” items instead. The three top benefits are: Saving money — one of the the keys to prosperity is spending less/saving more. Eco-friendly — reusing stuff helps avoid adding to the landfill. Fun! — getting together with others for a good …

Fracking movie “Promised Land” is a gusher

After I saw Matt Damon and John Krasinski’s new fracking drama Promised Land, I couldn’t help but compare it to the slew of trite pieces trotted out during the previews.

No place sacred: ENERGY (review)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. With that in mind, the 195 color, mostly full page — often double page — photographs in the Post Carbon Institute’s latest book, ENERGY: Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth, speaks volumes beyond its gigantic sized pages about the energy and environmental predicament humanity is immersed in today.

It’s time to change

This morning I’m participating in my first hOUR Economy time bank exchange. I’m giddy with excitement about it, feeling like I’ve taken another giant leap away from the industrial economy.

Ten low-tech responses to storms and emergencies

We live in a world dependent on electricity and we forget that being dependent on something — however wonderful that thing is — makes you vulnerable.

Getting my pilot's license

Ever since we first got together my husband and I have talked about how to respond to one of our key shared interests — peak oil.

Upcycling at its best. Review: “Sewing Green”

There's a lot of books out there on crafting and artisan-level work. They're usually how-to's that combine techniques, project ideas, and patterns. Some are wonderful but too often the projects either don't stand the test of time, or are a real stretch in terms of the use-value of the end product.

I'm better off, but...

The US presidential election has taken a predictable turn with the rhetoric du jour that asks, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” The implication being that, in the Great Recession, you can’t possibly be better off than you were in the good ol' days of Dubya Bush and Company.

Indian grid failure offers lesson to us all

In the US we may be staring at our own fate in India's crisis. I'd suggest getting ready for it to come to a neighborhood near you sooner rather than later. Even the recent derecho was a reminder that, in fact, electricity doesn't come from the switches on our walls, and that even our grid can look like spit balls and duct tape when an angry Mother Nature comes calling.

Hocus pocus as national strategy - Review: ‘Too Much Magic’

These days, it's as if Americans are permanently and pervasively stuck at age seven, more focused on the imaginative powers of Harry Potter's wand and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (or the latest iGadget) than running their own adult lives.