United States – Nov 21
– The Tea Party Targets… Sustainable Development?
– Here’s where we should cut: corn ethanol subsidies
– Walmart local food?
– U.S. Oil Imports Shrink, Yet Worries Loom
Food & Water
Food (we can do it!) – Nov 21
– LA Times: Foraging is green eating at its purest
– Food in Uncertain Times: How to Grow and Store the 5 Crops You Need to Survive
– Cities can feed themselves
– A Rapture of Humus and Human Aversion to Waste
– Good Things Come in Small Farming Practices
– Design For Life – The Food Forest Story : Movie Trailer
Innovation of the week: Gathering the food growing at our feet
After many years of studying invasive plant species in Patagonia, Argentina, Dr. Eduardo Rapoport, Professor at the Universidad Nacional Del Camohue, realized that many of the “pests” he was cataloging were edible. “I found that, especially in areas disturbed by man, such as roads, back lots, and gardens, there are a great deal of unintentional food sources.” As a result, Dr. Rapoport found himself looking at these “pests, invaders, and weeds,” in a very different light.
G20 pushes business as usual, small farmers demand system change
The G20’s agenda is driven by corporate capital as evidenced by the G20 Seoul Business Summit where around 120 top global CEO’s met with G20 leaders to discuss corporate priorities. In contrast, civil society and social movement representatives voicing people’s demands and priorities were not allowed into Korea. The Korean government effectively prevented the democratic participation of civil society and social movement representatives from abroad by denying visas and by forcibly deporting others.
Corn Crazy
If there is anything rational about this market, food prices, especially meat, must go up significantly. I sure don’t want to be a representative of the people when Americans have to start paying double what they do now for a steak.
The sincerest form of reverence
The technological triumphalism so popular in today’s industrial cultures loves to boast about dominating Mother Nature; the primitivist counterpoint heard now and then from society’s fringes prefers being dominated by her. Somewhere in between these sadomasochistic extremes may be found other alternatives. With the assistance of Charles Darwin and an assortment of homegrown vegetable seeds, the Archdruid explains.
A User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save it – A review of Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed’s latest book
Anyone who has spent much time discussing peak oil, the collapse of civilizations, climate change or modern security issues eventually confronts the issue of historical antecedents. The [Insert choice of vanished civilization here] collapsed because of X, and that’s the same thing that is happening now . . . . For those who have delved more deeply into such lines of argument, one thing becomes abundantly clear: historical civilizations did not collapse for a single reason. Fast-forward to present, and there is no shortage of commentary forecasting crisis or collapse of our modern civilization. But these analysts have failed to advance a comprehensive systems-theory approach to our civilization’s troubles. Enter Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed.
Food incubators produce jobs, food security
Making the step from raw farm products to cans in a consumer’s pantry is not trivial. It takes more than access to equipment, it also takes business and marketing sense, relationships with area stores and restaurateurs and compliance with state regulations, to name a few.
Mark Shepherd’s 106 acre permaculture farm in Viola, Wisconsin
I recently had the pleasure of visiting Mark Shepard ‘s family permaculture farm in Viola, Wisconsin. Mark has planted an estimated 250,000 trees over the last 15 years on his 106 acre farm. Forest Agriculture Enterprises is known for its hazel nut, chestnut, butternut, nut pine and apple produce, scion-wood and value added products. Mark has a lot of wisdom on not only farm operation but also community and staff and intern economics.
Joining In The Dance
Despite the much-ballyhooed claim that ours is an “information society,” the industrial world is remarkably careless with the information available to it — and especially with that provided by nonhuman Nature. The simple act of saving the seeds from one’s own garden plants offers a way to tap into Nature’s information economy, and participate in a dance of communication that offers options more anthropocentric conversations too often leave out.
Good ol’ food and farming – Nov 11
-A Socially Conscious Way to Invest in Farmland: An Interview with Dr. Jason Bradford about Farmland LP
-Mushroom Abundance
-Growing Food Starts and Ends with The People
Peak Moment 184: YES! Ready for anything
“An awful lot of what we’ve taken for granted about the future can’t continue,” says executive editor Sarah van Gelder of YES! Magazine, whose Fall 2010 issue is about people creatively building resilient families and communities. Publisher Fran Korten describes local food as an important avenue into a much larger vision of what we can become. Fran and Sarah discuss sources of real happiness that don’t destroy the planet, an upcoming issue of YES! Magazine on families, their weekly “YES! This Week” e-newsletter, and the YES! emphasis on helping people see possibilities and take action on positive initiatives.
