Food Fight!

By Seasunz, Ben Zolno, Earth Amplified and New Message Media

 Vandana Shiva goes hip-hop!? A serious message is packed into this comedic musical video. Warning - this might make you choke on your breakfast.

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Natural gas & fracking

By Resilience.org Staff, Resilience.org

•Report questions long-term productivity of gas wells in Barnett Shale•Town Sued After Barring Debate on Gas Extraction at Meetings•PwC: Shale oil surge poses threat to renewables•Gas company targets protected Manú park in Peruvian Amazon•NY fracking decision faces further delay on health study

Shale gas – Oct 8

By Staff, Energy Bulletin

-Cabot’s Methodology Links Tainted Water Wells to Gas Fracking -Shale gas report by health officer may remain secret -Experts: Despite China's efforts, technology constraints could curb shale gas development -Water problem in shale is drawing a flood of capital -Penn State Faculty Snub of Fracking Study Ends Research

A healthy (and profitable) oasis in Philly’s food deserts

By Sarah Treuhaft, YES! magazine

Want proof that the goals of business and the needs of the most vulnerable can align? Meet Jeff Brown, fourth-generation grocer and owner of the 10-store ShopRite regional chain based in Philadelphia. By mixing old-fashioned customer service with innovative new approaches, Brown is chipping away at the nation’s jobs challenge, starting in the communities hardest-hit by the financial crisis.

When mental health becomes an economic issue (and what to do about it…)

By Kathy McMahon, Peak Oil Blues

The challenge today is to learn how to identify the need for and to accept help with emotional problems quickly, and to recognize that not doing so could mean taking an economic as well as psychological hit.

Neoliberalism, degrowth and the fate of health systems

By Dan Bednarz, Allana Beavis, Health after Oil

There are unprecedented and widely unappreciated dangers posed to public health, nursing, medicine and allied health professions by the ongoing global economic contraction. This is a multilayered and, frankly, emotionally difficult topic to digest. Before discussing how health systems are affected we first lay out the larger social-ecological context of modern society’s predicament. This includes a brief overview of the idea of degrowth.

Sustainable healthcare

By Kim Adams, Health after Oil

Sustainable healthcare is achievable now, at (relatively) little cost and with existing knowledge. It is being demonstrated all over the world currently and has been demonstrated historically. Is it easy? No, it is challenging, but why would that be a reason not to do it? What we have is unsustainable, and more importantly, does not generate health.

Can we talk? In a meaningful way, that is…

By Cecile Andrews, Seattle City Living

Sometimes conversations get competitive and unpleasant. Everyone is trying to prove they’re right — that they’re smarter than everyone else. This drains our spirit, and we lose our energy to work for change. So we need to remember, in any kind of conversation, that it’s not a contest. Think of it as a barn-raising: You’re helping each other build something.

The Affordable Care Act’s Fatal Omission?

By Michael Bennett, Health after Oil

The proverbial elephant in the room (and perhaps the ACA’s fatal flaw) from my in-the-trenches standpoint is the sustainability question, How on earth is this health care system going to survive? The question has two components: First, the billions of dollars required to implement and sustain the ACA. Second, and most important, I’m talking about the viability of a system that is inextricably dependent on a ready supply of resources that are being consumed faster than they can be replaced.

Slapping bandaids on empire’s heart

By Mary Odum, Prosperous Way Down

Kunstler has succinctly summed up the big picture for American healthcare. We are slapping bandaids on empire's heart attack. I am revisiting healthcare reform for two reasons. First, healthcare's complexity creates a good exercise in broadening our scale of view. Secondly, now that healthcare reform is law, the question is, what does this new law mean for individuals at the small scale, and for the country at the larger national scale?

Crafting Resilient Health Systems: An Introduction

By Dan Bednarz, Health after Oil

During the 20th century an indispensible yet unrecognized factor allowed the health sciences to attain dizzying levels of organizational complexity and achieve countless life saving and prolonging breakthroughs. The health professions drew upon ever-increasing amounts of human and natural resources, particularly energy...Therefore, the complexity of modern health systems and their accomplishments are an epiphenomenon of economic expansion made possible first and foremost by natural resources; only secondarily are they reflections of capital and labor expressed through human intelligence, drive and ingenuity. The era of cheap and plentiful energy is over and this has profound implications for the health sciences and modern world.

Report links beef production with deforestation, threats to climate and health

By Staff, Union of Concerned Scientists

A report released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), “Grade A Choice? Solutions for Deforestation-Free Meat,” found that if Americans shifted their diets toward less beef and more poultry or pork, they would protect their health, protect forests, and protect the planet by reducing carbon emissions. “Because of the way it is produced, the more beef we eat, the worse global warming gets.”