Jose Luis Vivero Pol: Treat Food as a Commons, not a Commodity
The presumption that food should be a commodity departs from millennia of human history in which societies found ways to share food and ensure that people had enough to eat.
Food & Water
Colombian fishers are fighting for their rights and protection of vital wetlands
In November, on the banks of the calm, reflective waters of the Cascaloa Ciénaga, a floodplain lake extending 12,000 hectares (120 sq km) in northern Colombia, a group of traditional fishers met.
Ten years of Small Farm Future
I wouldn’t normally be straining myself to get a post out on New Year’s Day, but (checks archive) blow me if today isn’t the tenth anniversary of this blog’s inception.
How our miraculous transportation system turns water into brine
Salting roads in winter makes them safer to drive on. But all that salt has to go somewhere and it’s starting to be a problem.
Knock the Head off the pedestal and raise the Hand
I believe we need to resurrect the Hand and the Heart in our world views, and knock the Head off the pedestal.
Blueprints for impossible futures
Instead of offering another blueprint for an impossible future, Max Ajl’s A People’s Green New Deal levels a critique at the genre itself, raising significant questions about the way that plans are proffered, and how most green futures implicitly accept the ongoing violence of capitalist imperialism.
The value of veg
But, just like when the pandemic hit, there is a great way round the potential shortages at the supermarket: local food producers. While there is a widespread misconception that anything local is also more expensive, you’d might be surprised about the value that local food delivers.
Fascine Mattresses: Basketry Gone Wild
Around the 17th century, the Dutch started reinforcing their dykes and harbours with sturdy mats the size of football pitches – hand-woven from thousands of twigs grown on nearby coppice plantations. These “fascine mattresses” were weighted with rocks and sunk into canals, estuaries, and rivers.
Reconfiguring Food Systems Governance: The UNFSS and the Battle over Authority and Legitimacy
By replacing multilateralism with multi-stakeholderism, the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) is advancing a vision of food systems governance that sets the foundation for stronger corporate influence both of the UN and food systems at large.
Talking giblets: animal welfare and the Christmas turkey
Try and choose a bird that has lived the best possible life for the budget you have available, and indulge in your Christmas dinner without the nasty after-taste of animal suffering on your conscience.
Colorado River trouble, rainwater harvesting, private wells, and the future of desalination
Preparing for coming water crises may involve water restrictions, conservation, and implementing self-supplying methods.
From the dawn of everything to a small farm future: a review of Graeber & Wengrow
In that sense, I endorse GW’s upbeat conclusion that it’s within people’s power to change things and remake their social world – not a power or a social world restricted to particular classes, groups, genders or political ideologies, but one available to everyone.
