Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
-Human-made Crises ‘Outrunning Our Ability To Deal With Them,’ Scientists Warn
-City life is a honey trap from Frances’ beleaguered bees
-A New Way to Turn Plastic Into Fuel?
-Don’t despair — get out there and do something
-Conservation for a New Era
Dandelion leaves flown thousands of miles north from Mexico now grace the organic section of our best local grocery stores…I find myself smiling at the latest proof of the power of our greening greenbacks. I am as well amused and saddened by the irony that the leaf generously and effortlessly yielded every hour for most months of the year by soil and worms in our own backyards must be carried north in airplanes guzzling barrels of oil and spewing millions of pounds of greenhouse gases.
-Not your average peak oil theory, from Macquarie
-Total issues oil shortage warning
-Would You Know How to Survive After the Oil Crash?
-Squeezing the last bit of oil from Mother Earth
-UK at risk of global energy shock, says MPC’s Andrew Sentance
-Let a thousand eco-documentaries bloom!
-Six Questions for Peter Maass on the Violent Twilight of Oil
-Yes Men Hoax: “Special Edition” of NY Post Warns of Climate Change Threat
-Barack Obama Must See Michael Moore’s New Movie (and So Must You)!
A few months ago, I had an email exchange with Bill McKibben about the commonly perceived but, we both agreed, false distinction between lifestyle changes and political acts. Those of you who have read _Depletion and Abundance_ know that I spend a good bit of time on just this subject – on the idea that our ordinary daily activities are not political acts, or that we can resolve our problems in a way that isn’t whole, that doesn’t include our personal way of life *along* with our political and community activism.
While walking the boardwalk at Pattaya, that weekend, I noticed a sign posted in a police sentry box, urging people not to throw garbage or cigarette butts on the beach. The sign was in Thai and English and the words “Keep it clean for the King,” caught my eye. Underneath in smaller type was added “and safe for children and wildlife”. Suddenly it came to me. The King was not coming to the beach anytime soon. He was a symbol representing the commons. He supported the interests of the people so the people returned the favor and called themselves supporters of the King because he supported them. Didn’t anybody get it? Did the West even have a symbol of the commons?
The conundrum we call human nature readily rises to the occasion of a crisis and as readily slacks off when the living is easy. During its decade of prosperity based on precarious financial schemes, Iceland grew politically apathetic and a little dull and demoralized. When its mismanaged economy crashed spectacularly in October 2008, furious citizens took action and a vibrant civil society emerged; it was the best and worst of times as the country lost its economic wealth and social poverty…
San Antonio’s new Mayor Julian Castro, in office just three months, has inherited a dilemma. The nation’s 7th largest city is suffering from almost 8% unemployment. With limited resources, the Mayor and City Council are searching for ways to create local jobs. At the same time, the City, through its municipal utility City Public Service (CPS), is burning through hundreds of millions of dollars on just paperwork, to prepare to spend billions on a new nuclear power plant project some 200 miles away at Bay City, TX.
-Japan’s recession brings growing interest in fruit and vegetables
-Thoughts on the legacy of Norman Borlaug
-The Ultimate in Eating Local: My Adventures in Urban Foraging
-The Big Question: Should landowners be forced to give up space for allotments?
-Gardens launch own organic meat
-Feeding the future: Saving agricultural biodiversity
-Davenport man: Good time to plant food in public spaces
-USDA to unveil “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative
-Feeding the world: which countries are most at risk?
-What we need to form Florida’s green economy
-Britain’s first housing co-op leads the way in sustainable living
-No Impact Man and the Pursuit of Happiness
-Enabling Inward Community Investment: insights from the DTA conference
-Squatters’ rights
-One Man’s Trash …
-Real people, real preparation, Part 5, Carolyn Baker Interviews Robin Rucker
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-World Bank spends billions on coal-fired power stations
-EPA moves to block W.Va.’s largest mining permit
-“The Coal Nightmare”
-Will the Brixton pound buy a brighter future?
-Stroud Pound unveiled
-The Stroud Pound Hits the Tills
