Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Chris Nelder Smil’s mantra is this: "All of the past shifts to new sources of primary energy have been gradual, prolonged affairs, with new sources taking decades from the beginning of production to become more than insignificant contributors, and then another two to three decades before capturing a quarter or a third of their respective markets."
In practice, self-reliance can be harder than permaculture experts sometimes make it sound. This is where Eric Toensmeier’s ‘Paradise Lot’ comes in. Anyone who finds him or herself discouraged in their permaculture garden efforts should take heart and read this book.
There’s a mordant irony in the fact that a society as fixated on the future as ours is should have so much trouble thinking clearly about it.
Self-reliant, “intentional” communities, as they’re often now called, have been around for centuries. They have come in a myriad of forms, including monasteries, secular communes, co-ops, cohousing communities and many others.
Good news! Two Friday nights ago the universe answered my plea for help in locating a new source of honey bees.
The name of the popular American television series "Mad Men"comes from the nickname given to those who worked in New York City’s advertising agencies in the 1950s. The nickname came from the advertising profession itself whose members felt that one had to be a little mad to work on Madison Avenue.
One of the most important and least popular lessons taught by the history of ideas is that every attempt to answer the big questions—where did we come from, why are we here, where are we going, and so forth—gets whatever support it has from two distinct sources.
How I’m using the scientific method to learn how to grow the most food possible in my backyard, and how other people can do so as well.
In Douglas Adams’ science fiction series, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a computer dubbed Deep Thought discovers the "answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything." Here I ponder the answer to the slightly expanded question of life, energy, the universe, and everything.
To begin with, it’s important to recognize that no fixed rule sets apart those changes that get called “progress” from the ones that don’t.
I have ruminated enough times on this blog about climate change that it should no longer pop up its ugly head, and yet it never ceases to amaze me as to how well it lends itself to a quick article. As homesteaders, so many of our daily activities lead to the out-of-doors, and therefore keeps us connected to nature and all her changing faces.
Lurking behind the cover story of terrorism and modern unease is an even more troubling development: the endgame of fossil-fueled civilization, and hence, the end of space travel.
