Food & agriculture – Sept 11
-The way we eat is trashing the fragile conditions that make human life possible
-Syria: Drought driving farmers to the cities
-Plans for White House farmers’ market move forward
-Big Food vs. Big Insurance
-Food for all
Staff
United States – Sept 11
-Efforts to turn empty lots to a glass half full
-Obama’s Speech: The Doctor Is In
-Tom Friedman, our one-party democracy, and the clean energy jobs message
-Risk Pool
Nations & resources – Sept 11
-South Korea’s Hyundai Steel building ‘green mill’
-Is Resource Nationalism Back?
-A Power Station in Your Basement
Start by Asking the Right Questions – Thinking About the Terms for the Debate on Local and Organic Food
One of the reasons discussions of whether “organic” and “local” can “feed the world” often founder so badly is the whole set of presumptions that preceed such a discussion. So let’s talk about those – James McWilliams’ book _Just Food_ and others have stirred up a good bit of controversy on this subject, and lots of people seem to know the answers. But the real problem is that most people don’t really seem to understand what the questions are.
Peak Moment 150: The Waking-up Syndrome
Ecopsychologist Sarah Edwards, PhD, explains stages people often go through when facing the implications of climate change and resource depletion. She outlines various aspects of Denial, Anxiety, Awakening, Despair, Powerlessness and eventual Acceptance. Differentiating these from the normal grief process, Sarah emphasizes how we can face inevitable feelings of grief and free our energy for positive, practical action in our personal and community lives. (http://eco-anxiety.blogspot.com)
The just food debate – Sept 10
-The Problem With ‘Eat Local’
-James McWilliams’ over-hyped and undercooked anti-locavore polemic
-Just Food
Peak oil notes – Sep 10
A weekly round-up including:
– Prices and production
– The Monthly Oil Market Report
Solutions & sustainability – Sept 10
-Transition Towns project helps kick oil addiction
-Cuban Ambassador visits Cloughjordan
-In a small patch of land, hope reborn for Sudanese refugees
-Community Supported Agriculture thrives around Osceola, Wis.
-Celebrating the abundant growth of the farmers market
-Algae biofuel propels a braves’ new world
-Transition towns
A Terrible Ambivalence
The recent debate in print between Paul Kingsnorth and George Monbiot on the possibility of saving industrial civilization from itself never quite got past some very problematic core assumptions. The Archdruid offers a third opinion on the subject.
Middle East and Peak Oil – Sept 10
-Debate about peak oil is misleading
-Saudi provides realistic outlook on energy future
-OAPEC to spend $133 bn on boosting refinery output
-Abu Dhabi to invest $10 bn on green projects
-UNDP Arab Human Development Report 2009
Peak Oil is not a theory; Peak Oil is the reality of past and future oil production.
Over the past five years, Mr. Michael Lynch and I have debated future global oil production at meetings in Gothenburg (Sweden), Paris and Shanghai…The fact that he is an economist and I am a natural scientist means that we see the future of oil production from two different perspectives, but are in agreement that access to oil is of great importance to the world economy and our future.
An Open Letter to Amtrak
When I visited my native USA this summer, I needed to take my daughter from Minnesota to Missouri, a thousand-mile trek across the Heartland. I decided to use Amtrak, and wanted to share with you my perceptions of the journey.
