Studies tell us – Apr 7
-The Return of the Multi-Generational Family Household
-Energy trumps the environment, poll finds
-Study: health tends to improve during recessions
Building Community
Horseradish trees and hummingbirds
Some of the species of life that share this planet really want to be our friends, and have gone to great evolutionary lengths to prove it.
Economic history in 10 minutes
Economic history compressed into one sentence: "As societies have grown more complex, larger, more far-flung and diverse, the tribe-based gift economy has shrunk in importance, while the trade economy has grown to dominate nearly every aspect of people’s lives, and has expanded in scope to encompass the entire planet." As society dramatically simplifies itself in the wake of fossil fuel depletion, will we revert to some form of gift economy? Or will we catch and steady ourselves on some intermediate rung on the ladder of economic development?
Implications of Unmeasurable Capital
I was very struck by a piece by Steve Randy Waldmann at Interfluidity yesterday, entitled Capital Can’t be Measured. He is basically arguing that modern financial institutions are sufficiently complex that the concept of their “capital” is subject to measurement errors of the same order of magnitude as the capital itself. This rang true to me, and put into words something that had nagged at me in reading about financial reforms, but had not come clearly to the surface of mind.
The Meaning of Wood Heating: In their own words
Most of the participants in this case study reported that wood energy provides a “deeper experience” that enhances quality of life and possibilities for learning. Using wood energy results in a number of personal benefits that offer some insight into requirements for generating wider citizen interest in energy sustainability.
The breakdown of politics, continued
One of the pleasures of blogging is that the dialogue which it sometimes provokes, and my recent post reflecting on the health care vote and the apparent breakdown of ‘normal’ political processes produced a couple of thoughtful responses which seemed to me to take the discussion on.
Out of Africa – Apr 6
-Is Africa underpopulated?
-Zambia’s farming revolution poster boy
-Africa’s banking laws shut out the poor: Yunus
Deep thought – Apr 6
-Alex Steffen’s Optimistic Environmentalism: The Bright Green City
-Looting Main Street
-Walled In
‘Pay It Forward’ Pays Off
For all those dismayed by scenes of looting in disaster-struck zones, whether Haiti or Chile or elsewhere, take heart: Good acts – acts of kindness, generosity and cooperation – spread just as easily as bad. And it takes only a handful of individuals to really make a difference.
Solar greenhouses, Chinese-style
In Europe and North America, eating fresh perishable produce out of season usually means hauling it in refrigerated containers from regions where it’s in season, or growing it locally in heated greenhouses…Although these greenhouses boast extremely high yields, the amount of fuel needed to heat them generally far exceeds the amount that would be needed to haul an equivalent amount of produce from a region where it’s in season.
Children, the childless, and diverse human ecosystems
Parents love their childless friends, often their only source of grown-up activities like, say, uninterrupted conversation. Or drinking and shooting pool (mmm…). Plus they’re good babysitters! Unchilded people love having relationships with kids. Children love hanging out with adults who are independent and adventurous; they need uncles and aunties. Human communities are ecosystems, and in all ecosystems diversity is the key to health and resilience.
Barriers to Eating Sustainably, Real and Imagined
During the period of my life when I was a professional smart-ass (ie, my adolescence), I used to complain to my mother that even the day after she went grocery shopping, there was never any food in the house, only the component ingredients of food. As I teenager I wanted to eat like my peers who seemed to have an endless supply of chips and soda around. To have to come home from school and actually scramble eggs or make a sandwich seemed horribly unfair. My mother and step-mother expressed little sympathy.
