Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The evidence is mounting that we have entered a new regime of prolonged record-smashing extreme weather events thanks to our as-yet unrestricted emissions of greenhouse gas. But, as Francis, told ThinkProgress, that doesn’t mean we can attribute the stalling of Harvey to climate change and “near-record-low ice conditions in the Arctic’s Pacific sector” with certainty.
Of course, effective climate mitigation is not assured even if the use of solar and wind power rise. In the absence of solid measures to remove coal, gas and oil from the energy system, fossil fuels could co-exist in an infelicitous equilibrium with renewable energies for decades to come. Pricing out polluting coal through carbon taxation would complement policy designed to boost solar’s share of the global electricity mix.
What took place here is an example of what I call “Fig Nation,” an informal farm economy and community based on producing, sharing, and enjoying. The concept of Fig Nation is simple: A few weeks back, my nephew and I harvested five pounds of elderberries. We cleaned, bagged, and tossed them in the freezer. Yesterday I pulled them out and combined them with water and honey to make an elderberry mead. Come winter, I’ll enjoy the mead with guests. Welcome to Fig Nation, where sharing brings pleasure and automatic membership.
We are living in a world where holistic, systemic crises threaten the future of humanity. And yet, there has been an historic pattern of fragmentation in the physical and social sciences needed to tackle them. I have taken on the life mission to guide the evolution of cultural sciences so that they become fully integrated with the dynamics 0f our changing Earth.
The magazine “Piseagrama” injects criticism and creativity into the debate about public space in Brazilian cities, resulting in concrete action by citizens and exchange with initiatives from other places. One could say that the last few years, in Brazil, have been marked by the emergence of movements that seek, besides understanding the city as a web of flows and functions, also to rethink the role of architecture nowadays.
Earlier this month, I gathered at the village of Cloughjordan, County Tipperary to learn how to do just that. There the organisation Cultivate held an intensive course in permaculture, drawing more than two dozen people from eight countries. Permaculture, strictly speaking, is a system of designing gardens, buildings and landscapes to re-use as much energy as possible and waste as little as possible.
Since Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas late Friday night, more than 40 inches of rain have fallen in parts of the Houston metro area, producing the worst flood in the city’s modern history. The latest forecasts show another 15-25 inches on the way before Harvey clears out of the area on Wednesday. Harvey is sure to rank as the worst rainstorm in U.S. history, according to an initial analysis from the Texas state climatologist.
This is what a group of powerful people look like when they lose touch with reality. As we have already seen the techno-innovations that are supposed to mitigate climate change are largely granfalloons. The elite fantasy of growth combined with R&D and techno-innovation to resolve the climate crisis can do a lot of damage by diverting us from the reality of the catastrophe that humanity faces.
Both the bar and the hostel are managed by Le Coop Verte (“The Green Co-op”), founded over a decade ago to create a “participatory network” of locals interested in promoting sustainable tourism in the area. It has about 500 members, from past hostel guests who purchase $10 memberships to support the hostel, to local activists, and former and current employees. Members who live in the area are asked to participate in occasional board meetings and seasonal chores such as raking leaves.
The lack of internet access is especially problematic because it is a key driver of inequality, which is a principal threat to not just democracy, but all human rights; hence, the barriers listed above only serve to exacerbate inequality. As the authors of a paper that examined sustainability and participation in the digital commons (Franquesa & Navarro, 2017) emphasized: “it is well established that there is an access gap between citizens who can afford a digital device and an internet connection and those who cannot.
Many alternatives to industrial agriculture are emerging, and small farmers have been the pioneers of one such alternative: agroecology. The term refers to ecological principles and practices related to various aspects of farming, including soil health, water management, cover crops, crop rotation, biodiversity, natural pest control, and more.
With 16,000 vacant properties in Baltimore—a number some say is severely undercounted and may be closer to the 23,000 that the U.S. Census estimates—there’s plenty of blight to fix. Adding community land trusts into the mix of solutions to throw at the problem seems likely—if not this budget, then next.
