Politics – April 4
– From Lithuania, a view of austerity’s costs
– Israel’s “green” strategy to defeat enemies
– How to visit a socialist country (Cuba)
– Post-peak oil reality trumps right wing trend
Staff
Innovation – April 4
– The salty taste of energy independence
– New ‘smart’ roof reads the thermometer, saves energy
– Dept of Energy: Give us your ideas
Movement – April 4
– Kellogg’s six-hour day
– Why are there no young people in the room?
– Political strategy, macro and micro
– First Transition Town in Pennsylviania
“Possum Living” author steps out of the shadows
In the late ‘70s, at the age of 18, and with a seventh-grade education, Dolly Freed wrote Possum Living about the five years she and her father lived off the land on a half-acre lot outside of Philadelphia. Known for its plucky narration and no-nonsense practical advice on how to live frugally while keeping up a middle class facade, at the time of its original publication, Possum Living became an instant classic. Following her success as an author, Dolly Freed grew up to become a NASA aerospace engineer. She aced the SATs with an education she received from the public library and put herself through college.
Olympic gold medalist Björn Ferry our new Peak Oil ambassador
Could it be so that one of Sweden’s most popular sportsmen knows about Peak Oil?
Faith-based economics in two graphs
A newly available graph of projected oil supplies prepared by the U. S. Energy Information Administration shows us exactly how much faith it takes to practice faith-based economics. To be a true believer one has to wager the entire future of our oil-dependent civilization.
Food & clothing – April 4
– Marijuana, dark horse savior of California agriculture
– Bill McKibben: The only way to have a cow
– On job creation—local fruits and vegetables vs. corn and soybeans
– Farmers can return to proper role as innovators and stewards of the land
– Should we be planning a new approach for producing clothing?
Another post-oil-novel roundup
Review of two recent additions to the post-petroleum literary canon:
– Julian Comstock by Robert Charles Wilson
– Crossing the Blue by Holly Jean Buck.
ODAC Newsletter – Apr 2
World Energy ministers met this week in Cancun for the latest session of the International Energy Forum. The meeting resulted in a declaration committing its 66 signatories to an “enhanced global producer-consumer energy dialogue”. As if on cue, the oil price reached its highest point in 2010 on Wednesday at over $83/barrel…
Gaviotas: Village of Hope
We first learned about Gaviotas, the legendary sustainable Colombian village, in 2004, while working in our home state, New Mexico. The two of us helped found a group called La Mesita, “the small table,” composed of three educators, a renewable energy scientist, a water-rights attorney, and a community organizer. We decided to start a project that would involve teenagers in organic agriculture and renewable energy in Ribera, a rural village in the north of the state. We believed that reviving northern New Mexico’s agricultural and cultural traditions could help the region confront both its environmental crises, like unsustainable water use, and its deepening social problems, such as rural drug abuse and teen pregnancy.
Three Spring Edibles
Spring has sprung, which means it’s time to stop hiding from the environment and start consuming it. Even now, months before the berries arrive, there are plenty of tasty morsels to be had in forests and by streams.
Food & agriculture – Apr 2
-Push to Eat Local Food Is Hampered by Shortage
-Dwindling Food for Thought
-How a Band of Youthful Entrepreneurs Are Resuscitating an Ailing Vermont Town With a New Economy Based on Local Foods
-Restoring natural capital in degraded landscapes
