Act: Inspiration featured

Food as Medicine

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We no longer think of food as medicine, or expect it to be medicine.  We are more often concerned about the negative aspects, avoiding the unhealthy foods we shouldn’t eat.  Plants have provided our medicine for most of human history.

10 Groups Creating a Real Sharing Economy in the Appalachian Region

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The Appalachian region, home to 25 million people, comprises of West Virginia and parts of twelve of its surrounding states, reaching as far north as New York and south to Mississippi and Alabama. Certain areas of the region are known for high levels of poverty and infant mortality rates and low life expectancies. The region is also home to a number of sharing initiatives, from community gardens to coworking spaces, that aim to connect people to various resources and to each other.

Time Is Running Out for the Planet

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I’ve spent my life living in rural America, some of it in blue state Vermont, some of it in red state upstate New York. They’re quite alike in many ways. And quite wonderful. It’s important that even in an urbanized and suburbanized country, we continue to take rural America seriously. And the thing that makes Vermont in particular so special, and I hope this book captures some of it, is the basic underlying civility of its political life. That’s rooted in the town meeting.

Hoboken Resolves to Mobilize

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Last week was a turning point for our movement: the first big win for mobilization on the city level. After a year of work by members of the Climate Mobilization Hoboken, a resolution passed unanimously through the Hoboken City Council on November 1 calling for mobilization to city-wide carbon neutrality by 2027.

Healthy Soil, Healthy Plants, Healthy People

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Healthy soil is so important for life on earth yet so poorly understood or appreciated.  Science and technology brought us the “green revolution”; chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, supersized tractors, genetically modified crops adapted to life drenched with agricultural chemicals.  What is rarely apparent to most agricultural specialists is the damage this is causing the soil, basically turning it into ‘dirt’.

A Precautionary Tale: Excerpt

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As Günther and his cows wove their way through Laatsch, a beeping horn stopped him. He turned around, spreading his arms to slow the bovine promenade behind him, and let the car slip by before he and his cows stepped back into the main thoroughfare for their jaunt from the barn to pasture. The driver had Swiss plates and a business suit. Someone in a rush to make money, he surmised, while he headed out to his fields to seal his own financial fate in several plastic bags.

I Bet You Don’t Know These 8 Amazing Things about Trees

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It’s safe to say that life  would not be the same without trees. In fact, all human civilisation is dependent upon them. Not only as a source of valuable resources, but also for the ecological benefits they provide – called ecosystem services. We all know trees are awesome, but most people don’t quite understand all the important things they do.

Saving Farmland for Future Generations

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Welcome to community-owned Huxhams Cross Farm set on the rolling hills of south Devon on the edge of the Dartington Hall estate. Secured by the Biodynamic Land Trust (of which more later), its 34-acres exemplifies human-scale farming in a world increasingly dominated by industrial farming.

Review: No Is Not Enough

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Despite my various friendly critiques here, it goes without saying that Naomi Klein is one of the most important figures on the radical left today. There are few other activists who are able to make radical arguments that are read by so many and taken seriously in the mainstream.

Permaculture Design as a Pedagogical Resource

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Major societal change in the coming decades necessitates new pedagogical design and sustainable instructional methodology. This proposal makes the case for using a permaculture design model as a resource to create an ecologically regenerative pedagogy for a sustainable future.

Stop the Leakage: How Food-centered Urban Design Solves Economic Challenges

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What happens when you eat the wrong food over and over again? We call it “leakage.” Leakage is when capital exits the economy rather than remaining in it.  Our current food system as designed (or left un-designed) is a constant source of leakage for our cities and a missed opportunity for urban planners.