Sharon Astyk

Ending “Farmer’s Wife” Syndrome

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We have used language to write women out of agriculture – out of its history, out of its present, engaging in the “housewifization” of real agricultural work. The implication that the farmer’s wife is not a farmer, and is thus knowledgeable about only kitchens and babies (as important as those things are) is a diminuation, an act of linguistic violence that erases the multiple competences of farm women, partnered or not.

How do we build local social capital?

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If I am right in saying “the key to resilience in the coming decades will be our ability, in the moment, to imagine ways around the crises we cannot prevent, predict or plan for”, then how can we increase the imaginative capacity of our fellow citizens so they/we will be ready, in the moment?

Energy – Feb 3

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– Science: Live Chat: Peak Oil—Is the Well Running Dry? (NEW)
– Michael Lynch: The Unfounded Fear of the ‘Peak Oil’ Monster
– Science: Technology Is Turning U.S. Oil Around But Not the World’s
– Once, men abused slaves. Now we abuse fossil fuels
– Thomas Homer-Dixon: Our peak oil premium
– The End of Elastic Oil
– Power paradox: Clean might not be green forever
– How Much Energy Does Energy Efficiency Save?

Beyond the Bubble Economy

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Public anger at the 2008 Wall Street bailout, concerns about debt, and a deep and pervasive fear that another financial crash is just a matter of time create an important moment of opportunity for a long overdue public conversation about the purpose of financial services and the necessary steps to assure that the financial sector fulfills that purpose.

ODAC Newsletter Feb 3

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High oil prices ensured that profits at the major oil companies rose again in 2011 – Shell’s full year profits leapt 54% to $28.6 billion while Exxon’s increased 35% to $41.1 billion. With this kind of money at stake it is no surprise it is almost impossible to get a sensible debate about our energy future…

Bill Rees’ last lecture

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Last December, after more than 40 years teaching at the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) at the University of British Columbia, Bill Rees gave his last lecture as a full-time professor. As one of his last students, I found his class captivating, and in following up with many of his former students, realized they felt the same way. His career defined the modern science of sustainability, and touched the lives of many, inspiring individuals to devote their lives towards adapting our species to live responsibly on this planet.

Poor Mitt

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Mitt seems to believe what most Americans believe, which is that those on social welfare programs are doing just awesome, while the real victims are middle class Americans. This is a pretty funny idea, but it isn’t just Mitt’s. The notion that lower and middle class Americans are struggling more than the truly poor is not an uncommon one by people who look on social welfare programs with hostility. If there’s anything really different about his assumptions it is the very funny classing of the desperately poor with the extremely rich as having a lot in common.

From mountain to sea: A vision for the rebuilding of Tohoku

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Why would a fisher care about the forest? The person to ask is Shigeatsu Hatakeyama, an oyster farmer from Kesennuma in Japan’s Miyagi Prefecture. We can learn a great deal from Hatakeyama. He is one of those rare types of people who can see beyond the day-to-day preoccupation of how to make a living — in his case, with an oyster farm — and instead embrace the world around them.