Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
An approximately 6,000-square-foot yard provides generous space for a bustling urban farm. From the street it is impossible to tell that the property holds everything from apple trees to tomato vines, rabbits to goats, and chickens to domesticated pigeons.
The British may waste more food than any other nation, throwing out 30-40% of all the produce they buy and grow each year, according to research. … modern food production methods may appear efficient, “but the reality is that large-scale manufacturing and rigid supply chains are creating very significant quantities of waste”.
[Cuba has] created what may be the world’s largest working model of a semi-sustainable agriculture, one that doesn’t rely nearly as heavily as the rest of the world does on oil, on chemicals, on shipping vast quantities of food back and forth… No one’s predicting a collapse like the one Cuba endured – probably no modern economy has ever undergone such a shock. But if things got gradually harder? … It’s somehow useful to know that someone has already run the experiment.
World grain yield fell for four successive years from 2000 to 2003, bringing reserves to the lowest in thirty years… The Independent Science Panel (ISP) and the Institute of Science in Society (ISIS) are launching a Sustainable World initiative to engage with all sectors of civil society to make our food production system truly sustainable.
A permaculture response to Peak Oil. There’s hope for the suburbs yet!
As fuel costs skyrocket, many businesses are struggling
Peer reviewed study finds that the energy consumed in corn farming and ethanol production is six times greater than what the ethanol end product provides to car engines in terms of power.
New plants for production of bioethanol fuel entering service in Germany will start consuming significant volumes of grain this year — but only at very low prices, market players fear.
High crude oil prices may have galvanized bio-diesel production, but some questions are now being asked in industry circles about the ethics of using a limited edible resource to meet the world’s energy needs, said an influential edible oils industry analyst.
A major international conference on “Food Security in an Energy-Scarce World” is planned for June 23-25 in Dublin, Ireland. The conference will seek to answer the question: “How can the world’s population be fed without the extensive use of fossil fuels in the production, processing and distribution of food?” [updated article with full conference details]
Imagine you’re standing in the produce section of your local grocery faced with a variety of apples. You want to make the best choice, for the good of your family, farm workers and the environment. Do you buy the organic Galas shipped from across the country or the Granny Smiths grown conventionally but locally?
I gave my first talk on peak oil in this room a little over two years ago. Like many people, when I first learned about it, I was very upset. I noted in my talk then that the problem looked serious and no one had any idea what to do. An Antioch attending said, “you should go to Cuba. They’ve already solved the problem.”
