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Not so weedy now
S.M. King, MCV (Australia)
“A weed,” he said, “is nothing more than a plant out of place.”
It’s not often these days that I crave the wallop of a bong. But a loving declaration about weeds made me long for, well, weed.
… At the tail end of Weedbuster Week, myself, Partner and about 40 folk hungry for nettles gathered to hunt for edible weeds. Or, more to the point, we’d come to challenge our assumptions.
Leading the charge against convention and tastebuds was the amiable Adam Grubb. The educated forager is, as it happens, a climate change thinker of note. Some time ago, he helped found The Energy Bulletin. This website remains a daily requisite for the globe’s Greener Than Thou.
It’s easy to be beset by gloom when thinking about peak energy. And, frankly, The Energy Bulletin makes wusses like me want to run to the protection of the nearest bong. However, exercises like a Weed Walk don’t feel at all apocalyptic. This constitutional is a real and positive action.
“It’s about suburban adaptation to climate change,” says Grubb as he waves a spray of the stuff that I’ve been pulling out from under my rose bushes for years
The stuff is chickweed. Apparently it’s edible and medicinal. It can be used as a circulatory tonic, a cure for constipation, and cooked in a soup. It boasts more phyto-nutrients than I’ve had hot bongs and, according to many weed enthusiasts, tastes better than spinach.
… For information about Adam Grubb’s Weed Walks visit:
www.eatthesuburbs.org
(10 September 2008)
Adam Grubb is Editor Emeritus of Energy Bulletin.
Post Carbon Newsletter
Post Carbon Institute
For many families, September means one thing: It’s “back to school” time. The return to the classroom is an annual pilgrimage almost all of us have gone through as children. But, in the broader sense, the practice of going back to school–of relearning or building new skills–is something that follows many of us throughout our lives, whether by interest or necessity.
In this month’s newsletter, Post Carbon is taking a closer look at education. We explore how reskilling for a world without cheap, abundant oil should be included in the movement towards green collar jobs and the role of schools in preparing for peak oil. Among this month’s commentaries, we also explore how students get around now that gas prices have gone up dramatically.
Also this month, Richard Heinberg examines how we could really reduce the cost of oil. Quick hint: it’s not about drilling more. And in his first installment of a series on key aspects of global oil and gas supplies, Julian Darley probes U.S. imports from Mexico.
Last but not least, take the opportunity to catch up with highlights from Relocalization Network, Global Public Media, Energy Bulletin, and our upcoming events.
(5 September 2008)
Architecture 2030 E-News Bulletin
Architecture 2030
In This Issue:
• 2030 IQ Quiz
• Drill Here, Drill Now
• 12,954 Nuclear Plants
• Sea Level Rise
(6 September 2008)
The newsletter and Architecture 2030 website are recommended by EB contributor Bill Henderson. -BA
Clay Shirky on Self Organisation (video)
Clay Shirky, TED Talks via Transition Culture
Rob Hopkins writes:
This is rather wonderful, and worth a few minutes of your time. In advance of tomorrow’s meeting in Bristol to discuss and refine the Transition Network Structure Document, Shirky’s insights into collaboration and self organisation are fascinating and very relevant. Thanks to James Samuel in New Zealand for coming across this…
(9 September 2008)
In my experience, Shirky’s self-organization idea applies to the peak oil blogosphere and Energy Bulletin. -BA
