Food & Water

Urbanites in the edible forest

by

“Farmers should not go to university,” Jo said, “what is taught there is not sustainable. What good is it for a farmer to have an education if he is not taught how to be sustainable?” I glanced at Jo’s boy Than wondering how this boy would be educated. … Yet I understood what Jo was saying. Perhaps an education was just another form of runaway consumerism training students to increase their needs and consume more resources in order to “succeed”. What, indeed, was sustainable about it? What was progress for a Thai farmer if the use of modern agriculture meant endless debt and health problems from pesticide use?

Creating Ecosystem Ark Gardens

by

Recreating and preserving ecosystems are effective ways of enabling nature to preserve itself, but setting up such environments often results in fairly stable, low-maintenance yards that for some people just don’t satisfy the need to roll up the sleeves and garden. In seeking an outlet for an abundance of creative energy, both active gardeners and frustrated conservationists might consider adopting this guiding concept: the garden as ark, a la Noah himself. The idea here is to seek out and save plant species—both wild and domestic—that are threatened with extinction. Raise then in a garden designed especially to allow them to thrive, safe from the rigors of an advancing civilization seemingly bent on stamping them out. The challenge and excitement of rescuing and growing a rare orchid or caring for an endangered rose that was once grown in ancient Rome give zest to gardening.

Everything you need to know, in order – part II

by

Ok, I’m going to try and work some more on the list of necessary skills. So five more entries on this subject – and more coming. Last time was the absolute minimum – but I’m still working on a list of everything you might ever need to know.

Review: Plan C by Pat Murphy and Small is Possible by Lyle Estill

by

Pat Murphy’s Plan C is a rich treasury of practical suggestions for reducing fossil fuel consumption and fostering community cooperation—while Lyle Estill’s Small is Possible is an engrossing portrait of a small Southern town that is already taking these steps

Good organic garbage

by

While this misguided attempt to make money off of high gas prices is going on, America for the most part throws its organic garbage into plastic bags that are sent to landfills, where it decays and pollutes ground waters. But what if municipalities across the country passed ordinances requiring homeowners to keep their organic garbage—paper, leaves, yard waste, kitchen scraps, and so on—separate? What if all this garbage was not discarded, but was taken to centers where it was treated with simple enzymes that turn starches into sugars, and those sugars were fermented into ethanol?