Amelia Earhart and the complexity problem
As I watched the recently released film about Amelia Earhart, I couldn’t help thinking about parallels between her journey and ours as an industrial culture.
Food & Water
Web & media – Nov 12
-Building With Whole Trees
-From TED: Edward Burtynsky photographs the landscape of oil
-Straight Talk for the Planetary Era: A Trio of Book Reviews
-Eric Sanderson pictures New York — before the City
-Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth sequel stresses spiritual argument on climate
More To Grass Than Meets The Eye
You can tell that the photo above is not a lawn because of the glob of sheep manure in the center. Unfortunately most people do not graze farm animals on their lawns. What you are looking at is mostly bluegrass and white clover, two plants that grow wild all over the United States… No plant “invasion” could be any more beneficial.
The great global land grab
The global food crisis has prompted various rich countries to start buying up land in the poorer world to secure their food supplies. As well as affecting domestic food supplies in the countries affected, Sue Branford says it could be a time bomb for the world’s ability to cope with climate change.
Deep thought – Nov 10
-Clive James isn’t a climate change sceptic, he’s a sucker – but this may be the reason
-The Stories We Tell…
-Building a Better Citizen
-Sacred Activism: An Unprecedented Marriage
Can we handle the truth?
The International Energy Agency (IEA) released World Energy Outlook 2009 today. Even before the sham was shipped, it was exposed as a big ‘ol bucket of lies. Seems the current administration thinks Americans can’t handle the truth, so we need to apply some pressure to keep the lid on the facts. If this country’s paragon of transparency (i.e., world’s leading liar) and master of hope (i.e., wishful thinking) actually trusted the American people, perhaps we could avert chaos.
Crop to Cuisine: The Art of Overeating
Crop To Cuisine takes a look at “Smart Choices”, Sacks for Sacks, Animal Welfare in Ohio, and more. We also hear from Leslie Landis about The Art of Overeating, and the importance of doing so this holiday season.
Water – Nov 6
-Scientists Reveals Secrets Of Drought Resistance
-Speaker says water limitations not recognized
-A Drought-Stricken Land Offers Help With Water
-A Victory for the ‘Water Underground’
-EROWI – energy return of water invested
Food & agriculture – Nov 6
-Jonathan Safran Foer’s ‘Eating Animals’ Book Will Fundamentally Change the Way You Think About Food
-Back to the Land: The New Green Revolution
-Farm Aid
-Georgia growers filling organic niche market
-Discussing the future of urban agriculture in KC
Growing in Community
I think the question of land access may end up being the central political issue of the coming century. In both the rich world and the poor world, we’ve systematically deprived people of easy access to land. We have driven up the price of land in the rich world by encouraging sprawl, and thus forced out agrarian populations that previous fed cities. We have pushed people into cities in the name of globalization and industrialization, and claimed their land for speculation.
Climate & environment – Nov 6
-Coping With Climate Change: Which Societies Will Do Best?
-GM’s Money Trees
-The Carnivore’s Dilemma
-USDA Research: Does No-Till Really Capture More Carbon?
-Why growing virgin vegetable oil to burn is crazy
-Pachauri Still Sees a Chance for Success in Copenhagen Talks
-The Inferno
Renewables & efficiency – Nov 6
-A Plan to Power 100 Percent of the Planet with Renewables
-Farms going green to save and survive
-Solar power from Sahara a step closer
-Nearly 200 Organizations and Companies Urge Senate to Adopt Key Energy-Efficiency Provision in Climate Bill
-Report Argues for a Decentralized System of Renewable Power Generation
