Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Farmers, following a bodhrán deftly drummed by Talamh Beo’s Fergal Anderson, brought themselves and their produce from their farms, telling a little of their stories of who they are, what they do, and how they do it. They stood front and centre, and it centred us too.
The garden is a profoundly simple setting for reconnecting with the earth, with one another, and with ourselves.
What if, in Algeria, water were no longer seen solely as a scarce resource to exploit or a threat to control, but as an ecological and economic capital to preserve and develop?
Ah well, the urgency of staving off as best I can the disaster capitalism that Philip Loring mentions keeps me going, even if it feels like a dispiriting and unequal battle sometimes. Cheers!
Climate abandonment can be avoided, or put off, in only so many cases. The culprits of this crisis may be water barons, but it is just one early punctuation point on a much longer, much steeper trendline.
The day after the solstice we gain a few more minutes of sunlight. Every new year, every season, every cycle, every brand new twenty four hours is a new beginning. Seize the day.
Janet, Racheal, and Joyce illustrate how knowledge, community support, and financial literacy can transform lives. They are building houses, saving money, improving their families’ health, and educating their children.
In the territory of Vojvodina, Serbia, farmers and young people are stepping up to care for the soil. “Guardians of Soil Health” is a citizen science project that teaches participants how to monitor key indicators of soil health, such as organic matter decomposition, pH value, moisture, structure, texture, and microbial activity.
In a Maghreb growing increasingly thirsty, water is no longer just a resource: it has become a diagnostic tool for our shared vulnerabilities, a marker of regional tensions, and perhaps — if we choose it — the foundation of a new era of ecological cooperation.
I reiterate my assumption that we will end up with a great degree of simplification in a post-collapse world. My assumption is also that there will be enough steel and energy to forge useful tools for agriculture and that the auxiliary energy needed over and above human muscle power will be a mix of animal traction, biomass, electricity from renewables as well as limited use of fossil fuels, at least where they are regionally available.
Every act of care, every restored relationship, and every small step toward shared responsibility contributes to the future that is already taking shape. This is work we can keep doing, steadily and together.
I do think we need this feast to return to its roots, as a potlatch, a bonding redistribution of wealth and full bellies, a rapprochement across the great divides, and a coming together in joy to feed each other. We need something that draws us into community, that builds ties, that creates relationship and memories.
