Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Many of us are discovering the joy of being able to make something ourselves, instead of just buying it. We know how a fruit grown from seed in our own yards tastes different than one purchased at a supermarket. We ascribe meaning to a gift beyond its material value and focus on the nature of the exchange itself.
-Toxic dispersants in Gulf oil spill creating hidden marine crisis
-Gulf Doctors Advised to Learn to Treat Oil-Related Illnesses
-Oxygen drops near BP spill but no “dead zone”-US
An exclusive behind-the-scenes investigative report taking an in-depth look into alleged local food fraud. In May 2010, Deconstructing Dinner received a tip from a farmer in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia who alleged that a local business who sells eggs to 18 retailers and restaurants and who was marketing their product as being predominantly from their own farm, was not true. According to the tip, the “farm” was not a farm at all, and housed no chickens on the property!
The April 2010 oil leak in the Mexican Gulf illustrates the risks being taken to extract oil from inaccessible fields, and in June a Lloyd’s 360° risk insight report said, “we have entered a period of deep uncertainty in how we will source energy for power, heat and mobility and how much we will pay for it.” The reason why such damaging extraction methods are pursued, and why Lloyd’s are telling us we face a “new energy paradigm” rather than normal market volatility, is that oil discoveries peaked 40 years ago, and oil supply is probably at its maximum, with decline soon to follow. This has substantial implications for transport, food, jobs, health, and health care.
– The Peanut Solution (patents and famine)
– Can science feed the world? (Nature magazine special)
– How to feed a hungry world
– Food: An underground revolution (Research on roots)
– Seeing a Time (Soon) When We’ll All Be Dieting
– World Carryover Grain Stocks Fall to 72 Days of Consumption
– Growing fuel by the roadside
Interview with urban homesteader and somatic psychotherapist Rachel Kaplan in Petaluma, California. “For a typical urban permaculture project, a can do attitude is essential. A willingness to experiment, make mistakes, and keep trying. … you also need to have a willingness to challenge yourself on some things which are just not accepted in our culture–composting your own poop, for example–and living in a way that others might find odd, challenging, disrespectful, messy or intimidating. You have to care more about the world you want to live in than the world we live in now.”
To suggest that we start reducing our dependence on air-conditioning is to invite dire forecasts of malaise, poor health, social turmoil, and economic collapse. But that need not be the case. Several lines of research indicate that reducing our dependence on chilled air could improve our quality of life.
Host Tamara Banks takes a look at the Transition Cities movement that is working for a way of life that is environmentally friendly, supports the local economy and conserves natural resources.
-Doctors want statins served with fast food
-Artificial meat? Food for thought by 2050
-Towering Lunacy
Below are excerpts from two recently released reports on transport. The first, Towards a Zero Carbon Vision for UK Transport, from a UK based team offers a pathway to a reduced carbon scenario for the UK transport sector based on a variety of strategies already in place in Europe. The second report has been produced for the American Public Transportation Association and addresses the links between public health and public transport.
– Guardian: Are you ready for a world without antibiotics?
– VOA: South Asia superbug is potential global problem
– Fears of a new superbug from Asia may be overblown, experts say
– Conflict of interest in ‘superbug’ report: Indian health minister
-Rise in wheat prices fastest since 1973
-Reviving Anarchy For The Sake Of Sustainability
-Foodprint Project: Exploring Food and Cities, and Cities and Food
-Agroecological farming methods being ignored, says UN expert
-How to feed a hungry world
-How to start growing food on social housing estates
