Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
A delightful and thoroughly enjoyable read: in my many years of reading environmental books there aren’t many I could say that about. I found The Seed Undergound on a table at the home of a member of Transition Mar Vista/Venice, at an open house (open garden) as part of last month’s 100+ home Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase.
I have ruminated enough times on this blog about climate change that it should no longer pop up its ugly head, and yet it never ceases to amaze me as to how well it lends itself to a quick article. As homesteaders, so many of our daily activities lead to the out-of-doors, and therefore keeps us connected to nature and all her changing faces.
The Edible Bus Stop (EBS) is a gardening project trying to transform neglected spaces throughout London into vibrant green patches of community engagement. The project is due to launch May 18, 2013 at the Grand Opening event, ‘Donate a Plant’ at the Landor Road Garden.
Regardless of terminology, one point is writ clear: the most technologically and economically advanced cultures in the world have the highest rates of food waste on the planet
As Detroit recovers from staggering unemployment due to the mass exodus of the auto industry, small business creation is now being touted by many locals as a better solution for resiliency, higher wages and employment stability than big business recruitment. But starting a new business from a dream with little business experience can be daunting, especially without the capital to carry you through early mistakes.
In a rural area in the former East Germany, late summer 2009: Shimmering heat, the intense odor of fermenting fruits is in the air. A tree covered with hundreds of juicy pears, and a foot-high layer of rotting fruit on the ground. A stone’s throw away – plums, mirabelles, elder bushes and every now and then an apple tree along the path, maybe of an old, rare variety. An abundance of fresh fruit – in normal seasons, much more than needed to feed birds, insects and other animals – forgotten, abandoned, unused.
As soon as we step out of our homes in pursuit of food, we cross an energy threshold that is worth considering.
If you think that a farmer ought to be able to use the seeds from one crop in the next season, you are entertaining illegal ideas.
We burn 800 million gallons of gas mowing lawns, and statisticians say that we spill 17 million gallons every year just refilling our lawn machines. If so, that beats the Exxon Valdez spill of 10 million gallons.
Many farmers consider organic no-till the ‘holy grail’ of regenerative agriculture because it combines the best of both worlds: reduced soil disturbance and no chemicals. Its development, however, came about as innovations so often do: by accident.
•Water increasingly crucial in energy policies, experts say •Acidification: the latest unknown for stressed Arctic ecosystem •Rivers Carry Away Waste Heat Form Power Plants at a Cost to the Environment •Safe drinking water disappearing fast in Bangladesh •Land O’ Lakes: Melting Glaciers Transform Alpine Landscape •Our Earth Hangout: Clean Water for All
•Science as Dialogue: What My Garden and I Are Discussing in 2013
•Biofuels a big cause of famine
•Food Price Inflation as Redistribution: Towards a New Analysis of Corporate Power in the World Food System
•Over half the world’s population could rely on food imports by 2050 – study
•Agriculture and Livestock Remain Major Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
