Food & Water

Food and agriculture – Dec 15

by

-Kicking the habit: why gardeners need to ditch their addiction to oil
-Leaked document shows EPA allowed bee-toxic pesticide despite own scientists’ red flags
-Saving our Soils and How the Old Peach Tree was Brought Back to Life
-Want to See My ASPO Conference Talk About Food?
-Urban Farming, Community Resilience and the Death of the Motor Industry in Detroit (Video)
-Planning Charitable Gifts to Your Favorite Food Organizations? Double Your Impact by Donating Dirty Stocks

Two lessons in practical ecology

by

Maybe it’s the approach of winter, or maybe it’s the spectacular fiscal irresponsibility at play in Washington DC, but the concept of storing food seems particularly relevant just now. Beyond the undeniable practical value of a full pantry, though, storing food offers two useful lessons in practical ecology — one about ecological limits, and the other about a strategy individuals, families and communities can use to prepare for our species’ impending collision with ecological limits.

Food: Tackling the oldest environmental problem: Agriculture and its impact on soil

by

I want to talk about the 10,000-year-old problem of agriculture and how it is both necessary and possible to solve it. Were it necessary but not possible this idea would be grandiose, and were it possible but not necessary it would be grandiose. But it has passed the test of grandiosity.

An agriculture that stands a chance: perennial polyculture & the hard limits of post-carbon farming

by

An alternative agricultural model based on polycultures of perennial crops will likely be more than just a ‘good idea’ in the coming post-carbon era – it’ll be a damn NECESSITY. So grab your shovels, America — it’s time to begin the transition to an agriculture that stands a chance.

Transition and solutions – Dec 10

by

– Glenn Beck embraces simplicity (for real!)
– 21 Holiday Gift Ideas for the Permaculture and Guerrilla Gardening Activists in Your Life
– NYT: The Beekeeper Next Door
– The UK Crash Course… now online and available free to all UK Transition initiatives…
– Why not eat insects? (video) – new!

Climate change and regime longevity in the DPRK (North Korea)

by

In the short to medium term, climate-driven food insecurity is likely to pull Pyongyang into increasing reliance on its nuclear weapons program as leverage to bargain for international largesse in the form of food, energy and fertiliser supplies. The increased importance of the nuclear bargaining chip in the context of climate change, in conjunction with the numerous other justifications for its nuclear proliferation (domestic politics, security, ideology), makes it even more unlikely that the regime will relinquish its nuclear weapons capability.