Resilience

The Five Stages of Collapse: Survivors' Toolkit

Thu, 09 May 2013 20:51:17 GMT

A user's guide to economic, political, social and cultural collapse by Dmitry Orlov

Starting a Community Garden

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:37:14 GMT

There are many ways to start a community garden. Whether you're working with friends, neighbors, or a local organization, there are many things you'll want to consider before you ever dig the first hole. This fact sheet is designed to give many different groups the basic information they need to get their gardening project off the ground.

Eat Up: The Inside Scoop on Rooftop Gardens

Thu, 02 May 2013 15:06:26 GMT

Soaring prices and concerns about chemical-laden fruits and vegetables increasingly drive us to grow our own healthy food close to home. In cities however, vanishing ground space and contaminated soils spur farmers, activists, and restaurateurs to look to the skyline for a solution. The hunger for local food has reached new heights, and rooftops can provide the space that cities need to bring fresh, organic produce to tables across North America.

Cows Save the Planet

Wed, 01 May 2013 15:52:48 GMT

Cows saving the planet? Why not? An idea that sounds preposterous begins to make sense when you take a soil’s-eye view of our current ecological predicament.

Starting a Community Orchard in North Dakota

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:16:00 GMT

Community orchards are growing all across America today. These orchards are being established by local organizations looking to beautify their land and grow healthful food for their people.

Vegetable Literacy

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:58:07 GMT

In her latest cookbook, Deborah Madison, America’s leading authority on vegetarian cooking and author of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, reveals the surprising relationships between vegetables, edible flowers, and herbs within the same botanical families, and how understanding these connections can help home cooks see everyday vegetables in new light.

How to start a seed library

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:24:58 GMT

Imagine if your public library didn't just check out books — but also packets of seeds. Watch this free webinar to learn how to start a seed library! At a seed library, patrons can check out seeds for free. They then grow the fruits and vegetables, harvest the new seeds, and "return" those seeds so the library can lend them out to others. In April 2013, New Dream hosted a webinar about how to start a seed lending program at your public library. Topics include funding models, obtaining starter seeds, patron orientation, and more. The webinar features speakers from seed libraries around the country.

Rebuilding the Foodshed: How to create local, sustainable, and secure food systems

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:51:44 GMT

Droves of people have turned to local food as a way to retreat from our broken industrial food system. From rural outposts to city streets, they are sowing, growing, selling, and eating food produced close to home—and they are crying out for agricultural reform. All this has made "local food" into everything from a movement buzzword to the newest darling of food trendsters.

Financing our Foodshed: Growing Local Food with Slow Money

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:12:02 GMT

In towns and cities across North America, a quiet revolution is underway. Fed up with sending their money off to make a fast buck in faraway markets, people are putting their money to work where they live, in markets they trust and understand - starting with food.

Food, Water and Energy: Know the Nexus

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:05:52 GMT

Food, Water and Energy: Know the Nexus, explains that when the food, water and energy nexus becomes unbalanced, there are clear consequences for public health, our economy and the environment,

Farms with a Future: Creating and growing a sustainable farm business

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 18:28:48 GMT

As communities seek greater resiliency in the wake of economic upheaval, job loss, climate change and global food shortages, local farmers are seen as a key resource to help reinvigorate, or create, a diversified, regionalized, ecologically-based food system. Farms with a Future explores the passion, creativity, and entrepreneurship that’s needed to help family farms find their niche and remain sustainable and successful in an age of agribusiness and consolidation.

Totnes and District Local Economic Blueprint

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:00:59 GMT

"Today sees the publication of what may well turn out to be one of the most important documents yet produced by a Transition initiative...The Blueprint is the first attempt that I am aware of to map in detail a local economy and to put a value on the potential benefits of an increased degree of localisation. If you like, it identifies “the size of the prize” of Transition." Rob Hopkins

What is Permaculture?

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:20:03 GMT

Permaculture is primarily a thinking tool for designing low carbon, highly productive systems but its influence can be very pervasive! What can start as a journey towards living a more ecologically balanced lifestyle can go far deeper, even transforming our worldview and radically altering behaviour.

Manual for creating a community Food Forest on public land

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:24:41 GMT

Kramerterhof: A tour of Sepp Holzer's permaculture farm with his son Josef

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:22:13 GMT

Visit Sepp Holzer's amazing, biodiverse farm 1500 metres (almost 5000 feet) on an Austrian mountain. Most neighbouring farmers mainly 'farm' monocultural spruce plantations, Sepp is able to produce an incredible range of crops through the creation of microclimates and his unique water management systems. Sepp builds water retaining ponds and lake systems high up on the mountain which have become thriving aquacultures producing fish for the table as well as wildlife habitats teeming with biodiversity. The water creates microclimates around the banks where Sepp is able to grow an abundant edible landscape of fruit and nut orchards plus heritage vegetable and grain crops planted along the banks. In a cold Alpine climate you can find oranges, lemons and kiwis growing, as well as numerous other fruits and vegetables.

Sustainable Market Farming

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:02:51 GMT

Across North America, an agricultural renaissance is unfolding. A growing number of market gardeners are emerging to feed our appetite for organic, regional produce. But most of the available resources on food production are aimed at the backyard or hobby gardener who wants to supplement their family's diet with a few homegrown fruits and vegetables. Targeted at serious growers in every climate zone, Sustainable Market Farming is a comprehensive manual for small-scale farmers raising organic crops sustainably on a few acres...

Cathrine Sneed: The Garden Project

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:14:08 GMT

The Garden Project is a program in the San Francisco area where former criminal offenders learn horticultural skills and grow organic vegetables that feed seniors and families in their community. Cathrine Sneed, founder of the Garden Project in 1992, speaks about this successful model for change and reform.

7 food forests in 7 minutes with Geoff Lawton

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:33:11 GMT

Food forests are at the heart of Permaculture and fast becoming a hot topic in many areas of debate as people realise the their full potential.

Issue paper: Know the nexus

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 17:12:22 GMT

Food, water and energy systems are inextricably linked, and as recent events like droughts, oil spills and increasing food prices make clear, the United States can no longer view these systems in isolation. Our new paper, Food, Water and Energy: Know the Nexus, explains that when the food, water and energy nexus becomes unbalanced, there are clear consequences for public health, our economy and the environment (See our Press Release from January 14, 2013). The paper describes how and where these systems intersect, how they rely upon each other to function and how they can have a significant impact on each other.

The "Be Prepared" Booklet for Young Australians

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:17:21 GMT

This booklet is based on my interpretation of what the Scout Leader, Lord Baden-Powell, would be thinking about in these current and uncertain times. What would he be saying to today’s young people? Two of his quotations were – “There's nothing like 'Being Prepared,' is there, for what might seem possible, even if it may not seem probable.” And, “Try to leave this world a little better than you found it and, when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate you have not wasted your time but have done your best.” They are still very valid today...

Transforming Urban Environments for a Post Peak Oil Future

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:17:19 GMT

The Post Peak Oil Vision Plan analyzes probable implications of Peak Oil on the City of San Buenaventura and the surrounding region, and describes a vision for Post Peak Oil planning that responds to these implications by building upon positive trends that are already taking place. This vision is supported by planning and design guidelines as well as a phased implementation plan. The regional vision emphasizes preservation of natural resources, concentration of the developed footprint, and intra-regional collaboration.

Starting Community-Led Food Enterprises

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:17:00 GMT

A Local United pack on how to set up your own community-led food enterprises. Local United is building a virtual organisation to set up and promote trusted systems for the rapid development and deployment of new community-led social venture models, among other things.

Totnes Economic Blueprint

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:16:39 GMT

Estimating the potential value of a new kind of local economy, mainly in terms of money (revenue and jobs), but also exploring the social and environmental benefits that come with a Transition approach to enterprise.

Worldwide Permaculture Network Resources

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:16:37 GMT

A new and growing interactive database that's showcasing the exciting, solutions-based work being implemented by permaculture projects and practitioners worldwide.

Food Chain Workers Alliance Resources

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:16:31 GMT

Want to know more about food workers and food justice? See the great resources listed on the Food Chain Workers Alliance resources page.