Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
We have only to look at historical events to see that it is perfectly possible, for both good and ill, to radically change circumstances in a host of ways that looked completely impossible not very long before.
As we move deeper into the twilight of the petroleum age, grand pronouncements and proposals for massive “solutions” abound. Far more useful, if less noticed, are simple, scalable, low-energy technologies that could make a big difference in the unraveling of industrial society.
If we transition to cellulosic ethanol — which utilizes whole plants, not just the seeds, as in conventional ethanol — we’ll need even more phosphorus. And demand for this finite resource, located mainly in geopolitically troublesome places, will grower at an even faster clip than the current 2.3 percent compounded annual rate.
A tragedy, like the dead chickadee in the photo, seems small compared to what is happening in the calamitous world we live in now, but not to me.
California’s corn production skyrockets
Insect explosion ‘a threat to food crops’
Global demand lifts grain prices, gobbles supplies
Farmers and carbon offsets
A really bad day for biofuels
Robert Rapier: The politics of biofuels
Biofuels leading to rights abuses: report
Dark side of a hot biofuel (palm oil)
Ethanol’s effects bother boaters
Energy crisis hits Tajik press
As Asia food prices bite, analysts warn of worse to come
Rainfall shortages threaten Costa Rica power
Black smoke over China (book reviews)
The upside to peak fertilizer
Nitrogen pollution stomps on biodiversity
Astyk: Time for a new Victory Garden movement!
Studies conclude that biofuels are not so green
Tajikistan ‘facing catastrophe’
Frozen Tajikistan pleads for energy aid
Pakistan industry warns of economic turmoil due to energy crisis
Botswana power shortage a serious obstruction to growth
What you may have suspected for years is true: Natural resources are consistently undervalued (Report from a recent conference of systems ecologists on emergy research)
Hooked on growth: our misguided quest for prosperity
Rolf Nordstrom discusses depletion scenarios
Feeding people
The big picture: climate chaos (Jamais Cascio)
The organic apocalypse
Fermentation and food: The revolution will not be microwaved
Farming the Amazon with a machete and mulch
Homogeneous horror in agriculture
Bob Waldrop on local food systems
The birth of a farmers’ market
