Food & agriculture – July 11
– Local food’s next step may be ‘innovation center’
– Rust in the bread basket
– Urbivore’s Dilemma: Getting by with a little help from my friends
Act: Inspiration
Solutions & sustainability – July 11
– Sustainability: From Excess to Aesthetics
– Bamboo Houses to the Rescue
– How to Share Time
– Six ways to teach kids to value community life
Transition in the big city – part I
The Transition movement coaches us to "begin in your own backyard." But what if your backyard happens to be one of the biggest megacities in the world?
Lighting the way to a new economy
Listen carefully. This is serious. We seek: Within a generation, a global system of human-scale, interconnected Local Living Economies that function in harmony with local ecosystems, meet the basic needs of all people, support just and democratic societies, and foster joyful community life.
Struggling to be ‘fully alive’: Reports on coping with anguish
“I don’t have anything to say that hasn’t been said many times over the centuries.” That may have been the most insightful response to my essay asking people to report on how they cope with the anguish of living in a world in collapse.
(Journalism professor reports on responses to his survey)
Improving the sustainability of water treatment systems: Opportunities for innovation
There is growing recognition of the need for increased access to drinkable water across the world and for water treatment approaches that improve the quality of the delivered water and re-establish a balance between human and natural systems…Localized, networked water treatment systems improve access to potable water, encourage the development and diffusion of innovations through reduced financial and technical risks, lower the potential of total system failure, and provide easier trial and replacement of specific innovations and greater organizational capacity.
BP spill: what the locals are doing
The ruined Louisiana marshes remain off limits, but locals gather at a fund-raiser in New Orleans’ Vaughan’s Bar and work out what they can do, as the oil spreads ever eastwards
How not to fry: Keeping cool without air conditioning
The northeast is having its first heatwave of the year, and I thought it was a good time to re-run a piece I wrote about what to do in extreme heat if you don’t have air conditioning. Because we all know what heatwaves mean – not just physical stress, health crises and unnecessary deaths from heat, but also blackouts and brownouts as everyone charges up their a/c. So what do you do when the power is out and the heat is on? These suggestions include, I think, the most important strategy – be aware of other people.
Resilience: personal preparation
My “standard of living” is a fraction of what it formerly was, but my quality of life has never been higher. We live in a house less than half the size of our former house, my beloved boat is gone, and we have a garden and chickens in the backyard. (Video and PDF of book chapter.)
Will the peak oil reality change how we raise children?
As the understanding of the problems created by peak oil are rising exponentially, there are a number of other peaks that have made their collective way in to our consciousness, peak money, peak phosphorus, peak coal to name but a few. All these peaks imply a head on collision with hard limits but not much has been mentioned about another very important peak, the peak of our current parenting practices. What will this peak mean to parents struggling with the usual parenting issues? Will the inevitable slide down the other side of Hubbert’s oil curve, help parents or hinder them?
Population growth must stop
Earth’s population is approaching seven billion at the same time that resource limits and environmental degradation are becoming more apparent every day…Resource scarcities, especially oil, are likely to limit future economic growth; the demographic transition that has accompanied economic growth in the past may not be possible for many nations today.
Michelle Long: How locally owned businesses are starting to change the world
Michelle Long, executive director of BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies), explains how BALLE communities are using locally owned businesses to create a safe space outside the dominant system for the next economy to develop. She spoke at Shelburne Farms on June 11 at the Inspired by Slow Money conference.
