Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Most of us have only a little knowledge of the awesome events going on in nature right around us all the time. That’s why we must ceaselessly travel in search of distraction far and wide. There are wonders at work right under our noses but we don’t notice. It is even more lamentable now that we have abandoned the real world for the electronic world.
Let us imagine human beings climbing up a rather steep and precarious tree, boosted up by fossil energies into a place we simply could never get to without them. The problems we are facing right now all originate in our fundamental inability to voluntarily set limits – that is, at no point did most of us even recognize the basic necessity of stopping at a point at which we could get down on our own, without our petrocarbon helpers.
Carson Tak has made history as the first known modern-era sail-powered passenger service captain/entrepreneur… Such a life as Carson Tak’s is enviable. However, what he’s doing for a living is more than just float and gloat. He raises awareness on the world’s oil crisis every time he hoists his sails, and on land as well as sea he participates in sustainable economics: utilizing and promoting the gift economy.
As I mentioned, when we finished our home and moved in last Christmas, the fields in front of our home were mud and builders’ rubble. Now we have four garden beds in, built only in the last eight weeks, we have planted a number of trees for fruit, nuts and firewood, but have not yet begun building our greenhouse and chicken run. Having these things does not make a family completely self-sufficient, for there is no such thing, nor would it be desirable.
-Food prices to rise by up to 40% over next decade, UN report warns
-Just Not Made that Way
-How Goldman gambled on starvation
-Nitrogen and Phosphorus: The Future of Toilet Design Hangs in the Balance
-Eating to Live or Living to Eat?
Peek behind the scenes at Peak Moment TV’s home base. Janaia Donaldson shows guest host Ivey Cone the solar power system, woodstove for heat (and winter waffles), and super efficient refrigerator. Choosing to reduce their footprint, she and Robyn Mallgren, Peak Moment videographer, don’t feel deprived at all. Janaia discusses what led them to leave the Bay Area, what it’s like to live on 160 acres of forestland, which they’ve preserved “in perpetuity” as a wildlife sanctuary, and shows us some of the members of the natural community they live in.
This post is a continuation of “Transition in the Big City,” a description of how Transition ideas are being applied in Los Angeles. Part I discussed issues of scale, the formation of the city hub and pods, and the structure we use today.
The second of a two-part feature on the City of Vancouver’s multi-year process to approve backyard chickens. Because of the many similar debates underway within city councils across the country, this focus on Vancouver’s efforts looks back over the past few years to track just how this process first began and how it evolved from there. Perhaps other hopeful or illegal backyard chickeners can glean some pointers from Vancouver’s efforts. Among the many voices heard on this part II of our coverage is some of the opposition to the proposed bylaw change voiced to the city from local animal welfare organizations.
Lisa Kivirist is a bonafide Farmer Jane in Wisconsin where she runs her family farm with the help of her husband and son Liam. Off grid and creative, she and her husband have figured out how to make a living in a rural place — something that’s not really easy to do. Lisa is also a Kellogg Food and Society Policy Fellow specializing in the role of women in agriculture and speaks on the subject frequently.
The BP spill demands a far more significant response than ongoing cleanups, unsuccessful attempts to plug the gushing oil, and desperate efforts to mitigate the multitude of impacts from the biggest oil catastrophe in U.S. history. The BP spill demands a paradigm shift in how we run our economy and carry out our governance. Historians will one day look back on this spill as the nadir of governmental regulatory performance, in which oil companies commandeered and corrupted the Interior Department oil leasing program. So what’s the response we need to get the paradigm shift going? How about declaring a new holiday?
-Project yourself into the future
-From despair to impassioned inspiration
-Getting Theah from Heah on the Great and Glorious Fourth
Today, we are rarely called upon to find the limits of our compassion. In a post-peak oil world that will in all likelihood no longer be the case.
