Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Albert Bates Many people seem to believe that it is possible to have a rapid transition to a “low carbon economy,” based on a totally different pattern of production of energy carriers (using different primary energy sources) and a totally different pattern of consumption of energy carriers, while still guaranteeing the same set of end uses.
I recently had the pleasure of visiting Mark Shepard ‘s family permaculture farm in Viola, Wisconsin. Mark has planted an estimated 250,000 trees over the last 15 years on his 106 acre farm. Forest Agriculture Enterprises is known for its hazel nut, chestnut, butternut, nut pine and apple produce, scion-wood and value added products. Mark has a lot of wisdom on not only farm operation but also community and staff and intern economics.
In spring semester 2011 the Institute for Sustainability and Post-carbon Education at Bristol Community College in Fall River, Massachusetts will offer an online course titled, “Building Sustainable Health Systems: The Essential Role of Public Health.” The premises of this course are that 1) the structure and content of public health, medicine and nursing will be deeply transformed as society reaches the limits to growth and 2) public health is critical to all socioeconomic localization and community building.
Despite the much-ballyhooed claim that ours is an “information society,” the industrial world is remarkably careless with the information available to it — and especially with that provided by nonhuman Nature. The simple act of saving the seeds from one’s own garden plants offers a way to tap into Nature’s information economy, and participate in a dance of communication that offers options more anthropocentric conversations too often leave out.
These two problems could solve each other. the infamous mileage of SUVs and Hummers only results from the empty space in the back; fill it up with passengers and it becomes a very green choice. Local officials could buy them cheaply, or rent them to use to ferry passengers in lieu of bus lines.
-A Socially Conscious Way to Invest in Farmland: An Interview with Dr. Jason Bradford about Farmland LP
-Mushroom Abundance
-Growing Food Starts and Ends with The People
The IEA’s position is summarized in the graph – conventional crude oil production has already peaked in 2006! Suddenly, the subject of impending peak has gone from not worthy of discussion to in the past already!
The WEO 2010 report just released by the International Energy Agency makes quite a number of assumptions that seem wrong, and omits important ideas. Here are a few that Oil Drum staff members have mentioned.
A mid-week roundup of peak oil news, including
-Developments this week
“An awful lot of what we’ve taken for granted about the future can’t continue,” says executive editor Sarah van Gelder of YES! Magazine, whose Fall 2010 issue is about people creatively building resilient families and communities. Publisher Fran Korten describes local food as an important avenue into a much larger vision of what we can become. Fran and Sarah discuss sources of real happiness that don’t destroy the planet, an upcoming issue of YES! Magazine on families, their weekly “YES! This Week” e-newsletter, and the YES! emphasis on helping people see possibilities and take action on positive initiatives.
The abandoned farmsteads shown here are not far from where I live. Such sad scenes are easy enough to find. They have been a part of the landscape of my life, grave markers of the agrarian culture that I love.
– “The Ultimate Roller Coaster Ride: A Brief History of Fossil Fuels” (Post Carbon Institute)
– “The Story of Electronics” (Annie Leonard)
– “Permaculture: The Growing Edge” (Starhawk and Donna Read)
– “The Economics of Happiness” (Helena Norberg-Hodge)
– “Collapsus” – what energy collapse might look like (interactive video)
