The virtual salon: my home away from home
How to use flickr and social networking to dispense important, planet-saving information. Cultural jiu-jitsu from an expert.
Amanda Kovattana
Deconstructing Dinner: The erosion of civilizations (w/David Montgomery and Ronald Wright)
Deconstructing Dinner has recently been reflecting on the model of agriculture itself as the primary source through which most people on earth access their food. From our exploration of ethnobiology to recent topics on permaculture, it’s clear that there are other models available, which, for some people are a substitute for agriculture, and for others, complementary practices. But what within that dependence on agriculture are we all dependent upon? Multinational corporations? The chain grocery store? Perhaps the microwave!?
A friendly greeting from annelids
In this week’s post, the Archdruid introduces several million of his closest friends, reveals the secret Green Wizard meaning of the word “garbage,” and confronts the dreaded Squick Factor. His theme? Your future compost bin.
Peak oil: How supply crunch can lead to lower prices (for a while!)
There seems to be an on-going debate among peak oilers and many economists as to which came first, the chicken (peak supply flow) or the egg (peak demand).
A way forward — Climate hope in a prison of despair
The U.S. Senate has rejected taking action on a significant climate or energy bill this year. Heads are hanging in despair, moans of anguish are rising, and arguments are breaking out about who is to blame. While Washington has failed to act, the Earth is showing accelerating strains from our continued dumping of warming pollutants to the atmosphere.
The financial sector needs a civil society watchdog
Non-profits have suffered in the financial crisis no less than their counterparts in the private and public sectors. But could this be a ‘Greenpeace moment’: might philanthropic foundations support the creation of a civil society conscience for international finance?
A looming oxygen crisis and its impact on world’s oceans
As warming intensifies, scientists warn, the oxygen content of oceans across the planet could be more and more diminished, with serious consequences for the future of fish and other sea life.
Crop to Cuisine: Urban farming, food safety, and the new generation of farmers
This week, Crop To Cuisine steps into the field of urban farming. Food Safety Expert, Bill Marler, addresses the right to eat whatever you want. And Crop To Cuisine continues its series on the new generation of american farmers, From The Ground Up. All that and more.
Coping with vomitoxin in wheat
I’ve been eating home-baked bread from wheat flour slightly infected with vomitoxin. I have not vomited, nor have I suffered any ill effects as far as I know. The bread tastes just as delicious as our non-vomitoxic bread. I will try to explain and can only hope that you, gentle reader, will not think that this time I really have gone mad.
A different kind of ownership society
Drive across southern Minnesota near the city of Luverne, and you’ll see clusters of wind turbines poking up through the cornfields. Climb into one of these sleek, gleaming, white towers, and you’ll find sophisticated computer controls monitoring dozens of factors every moment (wind speed, pressure on the blades, and so on). Yet the way the turbines are funded and owned is just as innovative as the technology that runs them.
Deepwater Horizon: The aftermath
With BP’s oil well close to being permanently sealed, we are beginning to gain more insight into the effects the blowout will have on oil production in the years ahead.
A history of deficits
In President Clinton’s last full year in office (2000), the federal budget was roughly $1.8 trillion dollars. When President Bush was inaugurated in January 2001, his administration received the previous year’s $236 billion dollar budgetary surplus. By fiscal year (FY) 2010, a mere decade later, the United States’ budget had doubled to nearly $3.6 trillion, and incurred a $1.6 trillion budget deficit. A budget deficit is the difference between outlays (expenditures) and income for a single fiscal year.
