Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Jan Lundberg Carson Tak has made history as the first known modern-era sail-powered passenger service captain/entrepreneur… Such a life as Carson Tak’s is enviable. However, what he’s doing for a living is more than just float and gloat. He raises awareness on the world’s oil crisis every time he hoists his sails, and on land as well as sea he participates in sustainable economics: utilizing and promoting the gift economy.
Peek behind the scenes at Peak Moment TV’s home base. Janaia Donaldson shows guest host Ivey Cone the solar power system, woodstove for heat (and winter waffles), and super efficient refrigerator. Choosing to reduce their footprint, she and Robyn Mallgren, Peak Moment videographer, don’t feel deprived at all. Janaia discusses what led them to leave the Bay Area, what it’s like to live on 160 acres of forestland, which they’ve preserved “in perpetuity” as a wildlife sanctuary, and shows us some of the members of the natural community they live in.
Europe is finally starting to think about its longer-term energy issues, and how they affect transportation plans. To try to deal with these issues, a new European Energy Consultation was set up, specifically to look into these issues. The European Energy Consultation asked for interested individuals to provide their input.
This post is a continuation of “Transition in the Big City,” a description of how Transition ideas are being applied in Los Angeles. Part I discussed issues of scale, the formation of the city hub and pods, and the structure we use today.
-Wanted: Some Journalists With Guts to Take on the Government and BP!
-Out in the Oil with Captain Dave
-Obama admin imposes new freeze on deepwater drilling
On a hot Saturday in mid-July in my corner of the country, when everyone else is cavorting on Million Dollar Beach at Lake George, or plying the aisles of the home Depot, or riding their motorcycles in faux-outlaw hordes, I like to slip away to the neglected places where nobody goes. I seek out the places of industrial ruin – there are many around here in the upper Hudson Valley, and they are mostly right along the river itself, because there are many spots where the water tumbles and falls in a way that human beings could capture that power and direct it to useful work.
As I mentioned, when we finished our home and moved in last Christmas, the fields in front of our home were mud and builders’ rubble. Now we have four garden beds in, built only in the last eight weeks, we have planted a number of trees for fruit, nuts and firewood, but have not yet begun building our greenhouse and chicken run. Having these things does not make a family completely self-sufficient, for there is no such thing, nor would it be desirable.
When most people think of fossil fuel supplies, they think in terms of barrels of oil, cubic feet of natural gas and tons of coal. But in evaluating how much energy in the form of finite fossil fuels the world has left, these are no longer adequate measurements.
-Science and The Gulf Spill – Scientists Gauge The Impact of Oil
-Review of questioned IPCC report says conclusions ‘well-founded’
-Prehistoric Humans Caused Climate Changes, Too?
-A Climate Change Corrective
-Food prices to rise by up to 40% over next decade, UN report warns
-Just Not Made that Way
-How Goldman gambled on starvation
-Nitrogen and Phosphorus: The Future of Toilet Design Hangs in the Balance
-Eating to Live or Living to Eat?
First off, Canada is not now, nor is it ever likely to be, an “Energy Superpower”. This term was first used by Prime Minister Harper on the eve of the 2006 G8 meeting.
The second of a two-part feature on the City of Vancouver’s multi-year process to approve backyard chickens. Because of the many similar debates underway within city councils across the country, this focus on Vancouver’s efforts looks back over the past few years to track just how this process first began and how it evolved from there. Perhaps other hopeful or illegal backyard chickeners can glean some pointers from Vancouver’s efforts. Among the many voices heard on this part II of our coverage is some of the opposition to the proposed bylaw change voiced to the city from local animal welfare organizations.
