Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
John Michael Greer It’s only in imaginary worlds — like those inhabited by today’s mainstream economists, for example — that every animal you will deal with as a gardener is a source of value to you. The key to dealing with those that aren’t, once again, starts with a grasp of the principles of ecology. The Archdruid explains.
-How to Get People Out of Their Cars
-The data problem that holds back climate action and smart growth
-Bicycle – The Freedom Machine
Darrin Nordahl, the author of Public Produce: The New Urban Agriculture, has chronicled the growing movement to put edible plants in public spaces–like Vermont’s vegetable garden on its State House lawn. Also, Ray Shadis, a consultant to the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution, will respond to the question: “Can the state of Vermont regulate Vermont Yankee without falling foul of federal preemption law?”
“There are enough people talking about growing food, but not enough growers.” Suddenly, my mostly sedentary Brooklyn life was filled with kale planting, chicken feeding, delivering produce to restaurants via bicycle, and picking up buckets of coffee grounds from local cafes for composting.
Here, there and everywhere, I plant little edible gardens. You might find one in a pot at the front door, trailing into a walk way, acting as ground cover, or exploding out of a patch of former lawn. I seem to have a driving, primal voice pushing me on to replace ornamentals with beautiful and yet nourishing stand ins.
We have even made excrement disappear in real life. Flush it and forget it.
1) There is a theoretical limit to how long a networked resource system can continue to function.
2) This limit is reached with little warning.
3) Even after the limit is approached and the squeeze on networked resources starts, the nature of the problem is not apparent to the resource producers, who are likely to say “there is still plenty of our resource available – we just need more inputs and better price signals”
What is the nature of “independence”? We talk about it like it can actually be achieved and that it’s a good thing. What if neither is true?
Yesterday, I was talking with a potential architect and I asked about lower embodied-energy basement wall systems. She mentioned Durisol, which is basically a type of lightweight block made from cement-impregnated wood waste.
The collapse of the talks at Copenhagen took away all momentum for change and the lobbyists are back in control. So what next?
– a Look at the Example of Detroit
-Lessons From a Low-Impact Week
-Free Geek – Computers for the Community
John and I take a trip out to visit Woody and Zoe at nearby Cuckoo Farm to see their gorgeous straw bale house, which has been plastered to meet health and safety regulations, and which now looks like an ancient thatched cottage. Over cups of tea I hear about anaerobic digesters and how simple a system they are.
