Planning for the future of farming
California farmland faces threats from development at the same time food security is threatened by global energy descent.
Food & Water
Kentucky college to host sustainability conference April 21-23
Seven Kentucky colleges and universities, along with 13 state and community organizations, have organized a conference that speaks to the severe and imminent threats to sustainability that face our nation.
Solutions & sustainability – Feb 28
New Permaculture Activist focuses on peak oil /
“We have to get smart fast”: Learning from Balinese rice farmers /
Dovecote attractor – a mainstay of sustainability /
Sauntering toward a post-oil era: replacing cars with feet
The power of community: How Cuba survived peak oil
"Try to image an airplane suddenly losing its engines. It was really a crash"… A crash that put Cuba into a state of shock. There were frequent blackouts in its oil-fed electric power grid, up to 16 hours per day. The average daily caloric intake in Cuba dropped by a third.
Solutions & sustainability – Feb 24
Smart friction-free sailing /
Lovins and other links /
Forgotten by many, a Brooklyn neighborhood nourishes its own /
How the feds make bad-for-you food cheaper than healthful fare (the cheap-corn policy)
Reflections on Six Years of Relieving Oneself into a Bucket.
The time has come at TransitionCulture to address one of the less palatable but, I think, more fascinating aspects of this whole energy descent business. What happens when it becomes too costly, unfeasible or, due to sudden disruptions to our energy supplies, impossible, to run our mains sewage system?
Politics & economics – Feb 22
Ex-CIA director Woolsey on oil addiction and alternatives /
Good news: [natural] gas prices are up. Bad news: they’ll fall again /
Pain at the pump doesn’t faze new-car buyers /
Indian villages for sale /
Interview with Russian Minister of Industry and Energy Khristenko
Organic fruit and vegetable growing as a national policy: the Cuban story
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba had to deal with extreme energy and fertilizer shortages. Micheline Sheehy Skeffington gives us some insight into how they transformed their agriculture.
Solutions & sustainability – Feb 22
San Francisco examines power of dog droppings /
Making compost of infected flocks may curb spread of bird flu /
UK & Japan: Achieving a low carbon society /
Amazonian terra preta soil can transform poor soil into fertile, reduce carbon /
States are already pushing to end our addiction to oil
Politics & economics – Feb 8
Cuba’s oil bid angers U.S. /
Bush wants new fuels, but cuts energy-saving program /
Farmers try to limit pain of high fuel prices /
Budget doesn’t allocate funds to build oil reserve /
The geopolitics of natural gas
Solutions & sustainability – Feb 7
Dream Farm: how to beat climate change & post fossil fuel economy /
In appreciation of small towns /
Neighbours in England have turned eco-guinea pigs /
Growing demand for organic produce helps young farmers /
Winds of climate change make their impact felt in many a boardroom /
Could we get by without new power?
Solutions & sustainability – Feb 1
The hippies were right all along about happiness /
The end of suburbia – or the beginning of widespread permaculture? /
McKibben on eating local for the winter /
Saving small farmers /
Miguel Altieri on industrial agriculture and agroecology /
Magazine “reap/sow” for young food activists /
Bat or badger? It’s the roadkill recipe book
