Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The American corn diet is really an oil diet. Corn, as Pollan puts it, “is the SUV of plants. Growing it the way we do requires it to guzzle fuel in the form of fertilizer, about a quarter to a third of a gallon of petroleum for each bushel.” Processing the corn requires even more energy, as does moving those corn-derived products around the country.
Global warming skeptic also led tobacco industry campaign /
Krugman on Raymond and Exxon /
Japan hot and cold on warming /
America’s report card on the environment /
Dust Bowl uncertainty grows in Iraq
Talking Grub: Anna Lappe & Bryant Terry – good food & social justice /
Sustaining Ourselves Locally (SOL) – grassroots video /
Wheels of justice often roll over cyclists /
Reading smart growth: guide to the literature of sprawl /
Interview with Michael Pollan (new book “Omnivore”) /
Pedal power at UC Berkeley
Walksheds, cabspotting and smart places /
Spare the taxpayer, spur the economy, save the planet /
Creating resiliency & stability in horticulture /
Community Solution discusses Cuba film /
LAPD under fire for ticketing elderly pedestrian
Car-borrowing in Philly /
In praise of … commons /
Elderly woman ticketed for walking too slowly /
Natural light ‘to reinvent bulbs’ /
Let’s make a meal (Pollan’s “Omnivore”)
The once and future carbohydrate economy /
You are what you eat (“Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Pollan) /
Oslo’s sewage heats its homes /
From Brazil: A different kind of bus system
Think globally, eat locally /
A ‘green’ building rises amid Beijing smog /
Green building: sustainability is good business /
Forbes: America’s greenest cities /
U.S. cities’ preparedness for an oil crisis /
L.A. urban farmers fight for community garden /
Live uncomfortably, live long
The peak in global oil production will necessitate a relocaliztion concerning the things we need and use. It doesn’t get more local than your backyard so just how can you produce more of what you need at your very own home?
Big Oil’s big windfall (inadvertent subsidies) /
Pentagon seminars seek solutions to U.S. oil ‘addiction’ /
Biotech crops will hurt family farmers and deepen the energy crisis /
Agriculture interests push ambitious renewable-energy goal /
Daylight Savings – A drop in the Oil Drum? /
New fuel economy rules issued to auto industry
Before I put spoon to cereal, what if I consider this bowl of oatmeal porridge (to which I’ve just added a little butter, milk and a shake of salt) from a different perspective. Say, a Saudi Arabian one.
Michael Pollan: The modern hunter-gatherer /
California makes itself the most efficient place in North America /
Home builders turning green /
Farm goes for economic, ecological diversity /
US, African scientists seek biotech answer to hunger (sorghum)
How horticulture and related fields (such as urban forestry) might evolve to assist the transition to an economy without cheap oil.
