Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Police removed local geologist Matt Price from the Petroleum building where he was hanging for two hours after being tarred and feathered by disgruntled former friends and colleagues. Patrolman Derrick Quinn reported, “We had to wait for the angry mob to disperse. Man, do they hate radical honesty.”
But self-sufficiency, I realize, is a misnomer. What I am aiming for is local sufficiency. While I am marginally better at providing for myself, my gradually accumulating “locafficiency” is very much dependent upon people I see day-by-day.
You may noticed that we have made some subtle changes to the site. The main one is the addition of a toolbar along the bottom which connects through to EB’s new Facebook fan page.
We are currently facing a worldwide recession. Many people cannot find employment, and many things are poorly done or not done at all, because businesses and governments say they don’t have the money to fund them. I am not an economist nor do I have a complete understanding of the economy, nevertheless, like the boy who pointed out that the emperor was naked, I see things that strike me as odd.
More and more individuals, foundations, and other institutions are showing an interest in investing capital in food companies that address social and/or environmental issues, a phenomenon both mirrored and encouraged by a growing number of conferences, panels, workshops, and even entire organizations dedicated to the field. At first glance all this activity might seem like great news–but if we dig a little deeper, there are some hidden impacts that good food advocates would be wise to examine a little more closely.
“There are people who have bought into what I would consider a very inappropriately optimistic idea of the future, and they insist I am a doomer. People who are hard core doomers insist I am a blind optimist. Because we in Western civilization these days tend to be thinking in terms of two and only two categories.”
A Transition council would be one where politicians and officers are fully aware of the implications of climate change and peak oil; where the community and council have a plan for life after cheap oil; where the council acts as an enabling force for community groups and as a liberator of new ideas from the community; where the council’s leaders put the local area and the planet before the needs of national government wherever necessary; where the priority is on increasing the happiness or well-being of residents above all else; and where there is space for a deeper understanding of the dramatic changes we are going through and how to achieve behaviour change.
The phrase “school lunch” may be more likely to bring to mind visions of artificial nacho cheese and processed foods than fresh vegetables. But in Washington D.C., D.C. Farm to School Network is trying to change that by connecting school cafeterias with local farms and educating students about gardening and cooking with fresh produce.
About a billion people or 1/6th of humanity goes to sleep hungry each day. Most assume it is because not enough food is there to go around. Though this may become true in future unless we have an urgent course correction, at the moment this abomination is the result of lack of access to food, not its absence.
-£669 ($1068 Canadian) worth of food grown on this patio, balcony and windowsill
-Sorry, New York Times: The Bee Die-Off Case is Not Closed
-Striking a blow for a softer, greener world
-NtP in Italy
-Wal-Mart To Boost Buying From Small And Local Farms
A weekly free bike coop where you can use mechanic’s tools and expertise to fix your bike? Free clinics where schoolkids or neighbors learn to maintain or build their own bikes from used parts? While Chauncey and Dash Tudhope-Locklear make a living repairing bicycles, volunteer projects support their mission of empowering “social change through bicycles.” With an eye to local food self-reliance, they even repair farmers’ bicycles for free.
What are we for? What do we desire? While I acknowledge my own distasteful and ill-designed dependence on fossil fuels, I can heartily say I’m for community gardens, walkable and bikable cities, local economies that are (shockingly!) based on a currency besides money, and for vacant land and homes being available to those who need them or will make use of them.
