Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
NASA research scientist Benjamin Cook explains how the Dust Bowl years of the American Midwest were not entirely a “natural disaster” and how lessons learned then prevented a sequel.
Produce has been the low-hanging fruit for many people wishing to eat local. But local dry goods including wheat, the staff of life, is much more difficult to source in British Columbia. As demand grows, however, more farmers are experimenting with wheat production. What’s lacking, they say, is ready infrastructure to process that wheat — which is why clunkers like the Clipper are forced out of retirement.
I’ve pondered whether to stop describing our vortex of dilemmas as a crisis of sustainability. “Sustainable growth” –and its derivative “smart growth”–has been a successful riposte to Meadows, et al.’s 1972 The Limits to Growth that has sapped vigor and anticipation from sustainability.
Christopher Alexander, architect, thinker, designer, author of the seminal ‘A Pattern Language’ and of the more recent extraordinary ‘The Nature of Order’ series of books, has long been someone whose work I have admired greatly.
“… I finally realised that every one of these cultures had essentially a system of rules – though ‘rules’ is too strong a word because they were not binding. They weren’t being forced down somebody’s throat, but they were rules that everyone understood and which had to be used to get a good result.”
The current American food system can be expected to unravel as the limits to growth begin closing in. Somewhere between the gourmet notions that dominate too much of today’s “slow food” and the mass-produced product that passes for fast food, a new incarnation of traditional working class cuisine is waiting to be born.
Events from 2010 contain the seeds of transformation. None of the following stories is enough on its own to change the momentum. But if we the people build and strengthen social movements, each of of these stories points to a piece of the solution.
– Hans Noeldner: Peace on Earth / Human legs
– Dr. David Fleming: a tribute
– Songs of Petroleum – Jan Lundberg’s Autobiography
– Space Enough and Time: An Expat’s Siberian Experience
The Community Supported Agriculture model is providing very successful around the world in various manifestations. It can involve communities owning a share in a local farm, setting up their own farm, paying an annual subscription to a farmer they support, and many other variations on the theme. The model is also being applied to other enterprises, such as pig clubs or community supported bakeries. Where possible, use the community buy-in generated by your Transition initiative to support community supported initiatives.
How do we “save the bees?” It seems like giving the EPA a swift kick in the behind might be a good start, but for all you non-political types (like myself), you can also do something at home.
Consuming less doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice freedom or walk around in grey smocks and eat gruel, as many free marketeers would have us believe. Capitalism can foster innovation, but as the dearth of truly ecologically sane consumer choices reveals, capitalism also hinders innovation when it’s not profitable enough.
Currently, as financial markets stagnate and food prices swing wildly and the environment is under siege, more and more people, communities, and nations are taking steps to reduce their vulnerability to a volatile global economy.
Christmas comes but once a year and its excesses pack a crippling punch. Then there’s all those “so what’s new in your world” conversations. Bringing up peak oil feels tricky. How to cope? Let me count the ways…
