Land, art, and signals from the edge
We know that emerging issues are emerging because they have a social form. Art gives us clues about the changing meanings of the future.
Food & Water
Live from Cochabamba – the alternate climate conference
Welcome to the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth—a massive meeting organized by the Bolivian government in response to the resounding failure of the United Nations-sponsored climate talks in Copenhagen last year.
– Video clips
– From Buenos Aires to Cochabamba (Guardian)
– Changing the Climate for Justice (ColorLines)
– “People’s climate conference” in Bolivia kicks off with ambitious aims (Grist)
– What Evo Morales wants
Dandelions: Miracles in your front yard (plus dandelion tincture recipe)
The dandelion is a much maligned meadow plant, a native of Europe. Americans fiercely and defiantly dig out and poison this miracle plant, for no obvious reason other than they think they should. I started thinking for myself, and I have found out quite a bit about this miracle plant.
Food & agriculture – April 18
– Inside Cuba’s urban agriculture revolution (video)
– Flight ban could leave UK short of fruit and veg
– Beating obesity
– The trouble with Brazil’s much-celebrated ethanol ‘miracle’
– ‘Biggest problem you’ve never heard of’: Peak phosphorus
– Phosphorus famine: The threat to our food supply (Scientific American)
A prominent political reporter digs into the obesity epidemic
Political reporter Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic has a new must-read piece on the obesity epidemic. Ambinder comes at the issue from the perspective of a former obese person, though he himself notes that his “cure” of bariatic surgery is risky, expensive, and one that can’t be considered a blanket solution for the general population.
Food & agriculture – Apr 16
-How world rice trade sparked price riots
-Our £17bn waste mountain: Annual bill for throwaway Britain
-Resistance to Weedkillers a Growing Problem for Engineered Crops, NAS Report Says
-In India, Wal-Mart Goes to the Farm
-What it will take to feed the world
-Report Says Contaminated Meat Is In Supermarkets
-Crop Diversity Pays Off
Back to the Land!
Get back to where you once belonged. Get your hands dirty, with this week’s grow-op on Radio Ecoshock. We’ll hear from the young farmers movement, with film maker and dirt farmer Severine von Tscharner Fleming of Greenhorn Radio. Community supported agriculture, organic, getting out, or grow where you are, feed the city, from the city. Our second guest, Sharon Astyk, says we need a nation of farmers…Radio Ecoshock digs in.
Urban, suburban and rural ag – Apr 15
-Urban farms herald green city ‘revolution’
-The art of hen keeping
-Hoophouse ventures prove crops can thrive year-around in Michigan
-On job creation—local fruits and vegetables vs. corn and soybeans
-Central Illinois produce 48 weeks of the year?
-From farm to fork
US Regulation of GMOs Called into Question in Reuters Report
At last, some thorough reporting on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the mainstream media. Reuters reporter Carey Gillam takes a look at the weaknesses in the US regulatory framework for GMOs, and the resulting blockade against independent research, and thus gives context to the current consumer backlash to GMOs worldwide.
A bee wrangler shows you how to mind your own beeswax
From activists to politicians, everybody loves to talk about the promise of green jobs. But in reality, who the heck actually has a green job, and how do you get one?
Yard for share: my hyperlocavore garden
The pea, radish, lettuce, and quinoa sprouts have emerged in my new backyard garden, outracing the chervil, cilantro, carrot, and chard seeds—and Wayde Lawler, my new-found Hyperlocavore buddy, is responsible for all this.
DIY health for all!!!
Cachexia is a term which means being in a general bad state of health, seemingly referring to the American medical system and the health of Americans in general. Rather than taking a reactive approach to health care (such as taking pills to mask symptoms), do-it-yourself (diy) health involves taking a proactive approach–claiming and maintaining health as a normal condition of daily living.
