Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
It’s time to connect the headlines between persistent unemployment in the United States and growing food insecurity. The next Obama stimulus package should focus on how local food can address both simultaneously.
Overwhelmingly history suggests that the psychological trauma of watching your world transformed often strikes men, particularly men of middle age and above, harder than it does women. How do we soften the blow?
As economist Herman Daly once commented, he would accept the possibility of infinite growth in the economy on the day that one of his economist colleagues could demonstrate that Earth itself could grow at a commensurate rate.
-Care Farming
-Campaign to save tropical forests failed by food giants
-Golf and the great Lao land grab
-Food carts take the curse off Portland’s parking lots
-One quarter of US grain crops fed to cars – not people, new figures show
-Reclaiming Value: An Interview with Raj Patel
-How Cows (Grass-Fed Only) Could Save the Planet
I have run out of room for my tomatoes. Over the last three years, I have placed tomato and pepper plants all throughout my current garden beds, and now I need a new spot to rotate them into to avoid building up diseases in the soil. Thus, last weekend’s activities.
-Past Peak Oil Travelling towards Transition
-Why Transition? Creating a Brighter Future
-The Future of our Food Supply
-‘Peak water’ could flush civilisation
–
For something as critical as food, it is common sense that society should design for resilience. Reliability in food production in the face of change requires a system capable of rapid evolution. Resilience is therefore a core principle of sustainability.
In this episode we continue with the theme of school gardens and farms. I am joined by Debbie Hillman of the Edible Acre Project, a project in a suburb just outside of Chicago Illinois. Debbie discusses the origins and implementation of the project, the role of a the farm/garden in education, and practical strategies for those looking to develop similar projects in their communities.
First, we need a miraculous comprehensive substitute for crude oil. Then we need a miraculous removal of carbon from the atmosphere. We need the first miracle right now. We need the second within a generation.
It takes a long time to make big changes to society. I would argue that looking ahead 40 years, to 2050, is probably a wise thing to do for planning purposes.
A friend of mine, Colin Beavan (aka No Impact Man) once observed that cutting your energy usage should be as easy as rolling off a log – that as long as it is always easier to use more resources, and the path of least resistance heads towards taking the car or turning up the heat, we’re destined to struggle. And he’s right.
Rather than follow the customary American dream, Tammy and Logan sold their home and car, and moved to a bikeable/walkable neighborhood in Sacramento, California. After reading Derrick Jensen’s writings, this couple used Your Money or Your Life as a means to get out of debt and, they feel, regain their lives and their future. While they recount the psychological challenges of facing a future of declining resources, the catalyst that continues to move them forward is a dream of living in an affordable tiny house within a supportive community).
