Culture & Behavior

Grains and how we get them – July 12

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This post talks about a seldom-mentioned aspect of local sustainable food production: how do we get our carbs? Local and urban fruit and veg production is all very well and needs to be encouraged, but as East Anglia Food Link Coordinator Tully Wakeman says, “…fruit and veg supplies only about 10% of our calories”. How and where our grains are grown, and how they can be sustainably transported and processed form the crux of this issue.

On the darker side…waiting for the other shoe

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The dark, wet days of early summer in the northeastern U.S. are fitting for how it seems many are feeling these days. As we’ve transitioned into a new season on the calendar, the weather hasn’t followed suit. And as we’ve entered a new era after the economic crash of 2008 and the looming threats of climate change and peak resources, much of the world speaks not of these issues but guardedly anticipates a return to normalcy [sic]. I don’t believe that’s going to happen.

A brief ecological manifesto

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For a European website I attempted to write a concise, blunt assessment of our ecological predicament in hopes that perhaps at least one person of influence might read and understand what I believe we face: “We are in overshoot. Failure to recognize this fact and act on it will ultimately condemn humans worldwide to nature’s cure for this condition: collapse.”

Pediatrician sees three-year-old on cell phone

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The long-term consequences of young children already taking their gaze away from living people and constantly-changing nature to look down into and be captured by static machines concerns me. Who benefits and what is lost? What is appropriate technology use? What induces obsessive/compulsive/addictive behavior?