Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
– Occupy protesters blocking gates at West Coast ports, halt operations at some
– Launching a New Online Library that Can’t Be Destroyed
– (Re)learning the Value of Place and Occupying a Sustainable Future
– The Fracturing of Occupy Wall Street
The power of the Transition to Unsustainability relies on the threat of physical force backed up by the story that there is no alternative: that there is no way of belonging. Here in Scotland (as I am sure elsewhere) that story has been given the lie over the last 15 years as communities on the west coast have taken back their land into community ownership.
From their zero-mile bistro to zoning and financing innovations, O.U.R. Ecovillage in BC, Canada has paved the way for many communities worldwide. For Brandy Gallagher, the story on the planet right now could be a shared ethos of caring: “Everyone is fed. Everyone is taken care of.” Asserting that “No is just an uneducated Yes,” Brandy shows how a village mindset can transform individuals, preserve land, reduce resource use, apply permaculture principles, change laws, and even the way money works.
In these days of increased concern over food security, resource scarcity and deteriorating ecosystems, the system of design known as permaculture is an important part of finding sustainable solutions.
– In Uniform at Protests, and in Trouble as a Result
– My Occupy LA Arrest (Fox “Family Guy” writer)
– Russian Vote Wrath Swells Protests as Putin Blames Clinton
– Putin Contends Clinton Incited Unrest Over Vote
– The New Cyber-Industrial Complex Spying on Us
– Fox: The Muppets Are ‘Brainwashing’ Young People To Hate The Oil Industry
– How net neutrality helped Occupy Wall Street
– Amazon Launches Christmas Attack on Local Shops
A book from England called “The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger” helps explain what Occupy is about.
The book describes the effects of inequality that have been measured by years of research. The authors gathered all the research and came up with some surprises. What is particularly surprising is that it’s not just the poor who suffer from inequality — we’re all victims.
The streets of Barcelona appear deceptively calm at first sight. Fashionable people stroll the streets, shopping bags in hand, while others stop to drink a glass of wine at a sidewalk cafe. These luxurious images project a sense of prosperity onto the streets of Barcelona, but underneath the surface, a struggle rages. The 15 May Movement that captured the global imaginary just six months ago and encouraged people all across the world to occupy public space and hold massive democratic assemblies is no longer limited to the central square. Now, they are everywhere.
As the 17th Conference of the Parties wraps up in Durban, South Africa, the scientific consensus on climate change risks has never been clearer…yet, world leaders appear to be unable, or unwilling, to lay the groundwork for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While climate change “sceptics”, often close to powerful vested interests, distort the science and delay change in developed countries, fast-growing developing countries are also making any serious global agreement to reduce emissions difficult to achieve. An undesirable coalition of “big-emitters” appears to be gambling with the Earth’s climate….Meanwhile, for a growing number of countries, climate change is no longer a distant prospect.
-The New Agtivist: Edith Floyd is making a Detroit urban farm, empty lot by empty lot
-A citizen activist forces New Mexico’s dairies to clean up their act
-Citywatch: Food’s a trip, Actually a Baker’s Dozen of Trips
-Amish Farms to Hippie Co-Ops Fight FDA Inquiry
-Industrial-Sized Rooftop Farm Planned for Berlin
-Small farmers crave horse power
We, the Indigenous Peoples of the world, united in the face of the climate crisis and the lack of political will of the States, especially the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, demand the immediate adoption of legally binding agreements with shared but differentiated responsibilities, to halt global warming and to define alternative models of development in harmony with Mother Earth.
How best do you help a resilient economy emerge in a region that has one foot in ancient ways and traditions – its other in the world of global universities and nuclear power?
