Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Gail Tverberg Three scenarios of we may be headed are presented (continued exponential growth, downturn based on geological decline, and a collapse scenario). The major problems foreseen are different in each these three scenarios, as are the likely solutions. This post gives a brief overview of how these differ.
If you found yourself on the southern shore of False Creek at Westminster Avenue (now Main Street) on Saturday, Aug. 15, 1908 you would happen by opening day of Vancouver’s City Market. The grand building with dual bell towers and a generous waterfront promenade is plastered with signs advertising retail and wholesale “farm products” for sale and a restaurant serving “meals at all hours.” Could B.C.’s biggest city today bring back to life so vibrant a public space, building a key component in what could be one of North America’s most robust local food economies?
Rainey Hopewell’s crazy idea has ended up feeding a neighborhood and creating community. She and Margot Johnston planted vegetables in the parking strip in front of their house. They offer them free for the taking — to anyone, anytime — with messages chalked on the sidewalk noting when particular vegies are ready to pick. Neighboring children and adults are joining in to work on the garden, harvesting fun along with food, and even handing fresh-picked vegies to passers-by.
Economist Jeff Rubin, author of Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization says that high oil prices caused every US recession since the 1970s. Now we complain that credit scams are a bubble that will cause deflation. But is oil still lurking in there?
In India, 72 percent of women are involved in agriculture. But often, these small-scale farmers confront numerous economic barriers, including lack of access to training, markets and productive inputs. In a society where gender biases are deeply ingrained, women farmers also lack access to bank accounts and land tenure. And, women are also underrepresented in farmers groups and associations, making it harder for their voices to be heard.
More than a decade has passed since the first tentative email lists and conversations that launched the peak oil movement. During the years since, a central theme of nearly all factions of that movement has been the goal of inserting peak oil into the collective conversations of our time. The IEA’s awkward admission that the peak has already passed may just mark the arrival of the final stage in the struggle to make that happen. At this point, a new and even more challenging question emerges: now that we’ve won, what next?
If what we are witnessing is the actual peaking of China’s domestic coal production – which is half the world’s production — then this event could turn out to be as serious as the peaking of oil.
The news reported recently that scientists had proved conclusively what farm children have known forever. You can’t walk in a straight line blindfolded, or by extension, if you are lost in the woods or a corn field, you will invariably walk in circles. Those of us who have matriculated from farms in our youths with PhDs in ornery knowledge know all about walking in circles.
I’m not a patriot in the political sense, but I derive a great deal of attachment to the material reality of my country, to the literal earth in which I am embedded.
Considering climate change, Copenhagen, Cochabamba, the coming calamity, and most controversial: capitalism.
How do we transition a city? The answer to that is perhaps, simply, for each of us look at a size that is manageable, and I don’t for one second mean by this that a city is too large, not at all, but what I do suggest is that we each ask ourselves a question; “What size of place feels manageable to me, personally?”
Wood stove dealers are often faced with challenging questions from customers or from reporters about the environmental suitability of wood as a home heating fuel. We thought up some really hard questions and answered them as briefly as possible.
…When a local journalist asks for an interview you never know what kind of question you might be asked. With negative news about wood smoke pollution in the media these days, there is a good chance you will be asked an awkward question. You don’t want to be stumped, first because it is embarrassing and second because you’ll miss an opportunity to set the record straight.
