Year: 2012

Elect more women: Prerequisite for a sustainable economy

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In 1990 there were only two women in the U.S. Senate, but in 2013, twenty women will be serving in the Senate, and another 81 women will take office in the House of Representatives. With this record number of Congressional seats held by women, the U.S. is closing in on the global average (20%) for lawmaking bodies. This is good news because evidence suggests that governmental bodies with more women are more likely to tackle issues of social justice and environmental health (and they’ll be more likely to pass budgets that reflect these concerns).

Homegrown Life: The farmer goes fishing

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It seems that when it’s time to go about reflecting on life as a farmer and modern-day homesteader, my mind wonders to the dreamy romanticism of the things on the farm that have very little to do with planting, hoeing, harvesting and washing. Instead, I get caught up in that all-consuming thought that so much of our toil and digging is wasted. Rather than worrying about pesky thoughts of debt and drought and diseases on the tomato vine, it might be easier (and superior) to spend my time letting the land feed us with what it already produces.

Collaboration and co-operation: Sleeping giants of economic shift change

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We are caught between an old system that no longer works and a new one that is trying to emerge. In recent times more and more people have grappled with articulating, what they see as the new economic model, with increasing confidence and detail. I believe that the ‘three C’s’ (the change-maker, cooperative and collaborative movements) now offer a credible alternative to traditional economic system. I’ll try to do that belief justice throughout this article in a way that is neither too philosophical or too niche to really have an impact.

Abundance gifting

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Somewhere in the holiday season between shoppers breaking down Walmart doors on Black Friday and the wise men showing up with gifts for the baby Jesus, my town has been holding an event known as the "Abundance Swap."

The one chart about oil’s future everyone should see

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When people read about a long-term forecast of world oil supply–say, out to 2030–they often believe that the forecasters are merely incorporating our knowledge of existing fields and figuring out how much oil can be extracted from them over the forecast period. Nothing could be further from the truth. Much of the forecast supply has not yet been discovered or has no demonstrated technology which can extract or produce it economically. In other words, such forecasts are merely guesses based on the slimmest of evidence.

The war on Christmas and why it matters

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Christmas season is making me tired. And I’m just as tired of hearing Fox News announcers sound more and more shrill each year as they hammer on a War on Christmas allegedly waged by militant secularists, atheists and other non-real-American types.

What happens when we shock a system?

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Have you ever noticed that some things in the world like to be disrupted? Rogue militant groups set out to garner counter-attacks that distract their opponents while draining their resources. Viruses encourage multi-cellular organisms to activate their immune systems in attempts to wipe them out. Teenagers seek the disdain – and occasional wrath – of authority figures in their lives.