Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Green consumer: these two words paired together seem oxymoronic. With a lot of hype surrounding the so-called new green movement, we need to determine how we can use our time and money wisely, instead of impulsively, to make a legitimate difference to the environment, the economy, and to our wallets.
Drought shuts down Canadian rain forest resort
Fire experts warn of less manageable fires
How to Avoid War over Water
More Crop Per Drop
Of mites and men
If you are in one of the cars rushing by on the freeway, your efforts are just as important as mine as a farmer to develop post-fossil fuel agriculture. Part of the solution is political. To a large extent, the present rural landscape in much of America is the result of federal policy that subsidizes massive production of just a few, easily industrialized crops — corn, soybeans, wheat. This policy has caused the loss of soil, biodiversity, localized food markets and farmers, resulting in a fragile system dependent on increasingly tight and insecure supplies of petroleum.
When genetically modified plants go wild
Monsanto buys ‘Terminator’ seeds company
Grist gets hungry (3)
New books tells us where our food comes from
Kitchen stories – a craving for fellowship
Will putting in fluorescent light bulbs and starting a window herb garden really help you if there’s a crash? Here are some nitty gritty suggestions for Peakniks…
Iceland plans to be the first country to implement a hydrogen economy, taking advantage of its vast electric resources. However, sustainability is still wanting in this tiny, isolated island nation, despite its massive advantages over most countries. It cannot, at this time, free itself from the world oil economy.
– Alice Waters: Slow food nation
– One thing to do about food: A forum
(Eric Schlosser, Michael Pollan, Wendell
Berry, Winona LaDuke, Dr. Vandana Shiva…)
– Stewards of wine land (sustainable vinyards)
– California seeks to clear hemp of a bad name
– Black farms, black markets
– Local food in small towns (interviews)
– In praise of zealous nuts
– Permaculture – permanent agriculture
– NPR: eating local, thinking global
– My low-carbon diet
– “Sustainable well-being” – theme of
2007 AAAS conference
For readers interested in what can be done on a local level, please consider taking the following suggestions and recommendations to your local government leaders. (Report and recommendations from a member of the Portland Peak Oil Task Force.)
– Lappé: a right to food?
– Biofuels may strain U.N. goal to end hunger
– I was a student dumpster-diver
– The shocking truth about bread
A friend once suggested to me that the three worst things we could be doing for the environment are, in order of destructiveness, 1) drive cars, 2) eat meat, and 3) eat vegetables. I’d consider listing the car third.
When we finally take the off ramp (from oil-fueled agriculture) / Organic farmers up against the Wal-Mart / Will the world starve in the 21st century? / Namibia: fuel hike starts to bite farmers
