Inspiration

agroforestry in valley

Letter From The Farm: Realism And Planning For Utopia

By Chiara Garini, ARC2020

Ed. note: This article first appeared on ARC2020.eu. ARC2020 is a platform for agri-food and rural actors working towards better food, farming, and rural policies for Europe. This is part of a series of Letters from the Farm. Read more letters from Chiara's farm here. **** We are back on Chiara Garini’s forest farm at the foot of the Italian Alps. Three years in, her mushroom farm and forest garden is at a crossroads: should she expand or diversify? In any case Chiara is determined to bring utopia into her business plan, and tells us about an exciting new development on the farm… Temperatures today are again close to zero. But the snow in the last days has finally started to melt after weeks pretty much spent in an unusual peace, with lots of snow and inevitably limited social interactions. Leaving aside the moments of loneliness and concerns due to the...

  • March 12, 2021
Indian farmers' protest

India’s farmers’ protests are about more than reform — they are resisting the corporate takeover of agriculture

By Manu Moudgil, Waging Nonviolence

This article was originally published on Waging Nonviolence. On Feb. 6, protesters blocked roads at an estimated 10,000 spots across India as part of the ongoing movement against the new farm laws enacted by the national government last year. For over two months, the most populous democracy in the world has witnessed what is being called one of the biggest protests in human history. Hundreds of thousands of farmers have been rallying against three new laws that have thrown open the agriculture sector to private players. Protesters feel the legislation will allow a corporate takeover of crop production and trading, which would eventually impact their earnings and land ownership. They are camping on the roads connecting the national capital with major north Indian cities, braving harsh winters and smear campaigns from the mainstream media and ruling party supporters. Over 224 protesters have already lost their lives for various reasons, chief...

  • February 17, 2021
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Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide (Keeling Curve).

Climate change and the “law of acceleration”

By Kurt Cobb, Resource Insights

Acceleration is a common theme in contemporary culture and generally tinged with the connotation of "progress." But acceleration shows itself to be a two-edged sword when applied to the alarming trends in our climate.

  • April 11, 2021
Manchester Town Hall

A Manchester Boldly United for a More Equal Metropolis

By Sam Pizzigati, Inequality.org

Manchester’s new strategic gameplan comes from a special commission that metro area’s top governing body created last October “to survey the damage done and the inequalities exposed” over the past year and recommend what Manchester can do to transcend those inequalities.

  • April 7, 2021
Poitiers

Taking Power in a Crisis: France’s Green Cities

By Benoit Monange, Bruno Bernard, Léonore Moncond’huy, Green European Journal

In June 2020, after a drawn-out process punctuated by the peak of the health crisis, Green lists excelled in France’s municipal elections. They are now at the head of the executive in some of France’s largest cities, including Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, and Tours.

  • April 7, 2021
mini-gardens

Cultivating Food Security with Mini-Gardens

By Rachel Klucewicz, Transition US

CH’s Mini-Garden project was the perfect solution to reaching those with limited lawn-space and reducing in-person contact during the pandemic. 

  • April 7, 2021
Martin Luther King

“The Greatest Purveyor of Violence in the World”

By Liz Theoharis, Tom Dispatch

Dr. King warned that “a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death,” a statement that should ring some bells in April 2021.

  • April 6, 2021
Ellen Bass

What Could Possibly Go Right?: Episode 34 Ellen Bass

By Vicki Robin, Ellen Bass, Resilience.org

Ellen Bass is an award-winning poet, author and a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Her poems appear frequently in The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, and many other journals. From her view as a poet, Ellen addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?”

  • April 6, 2021
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