Two thirds of the globe is turning into desert, at the same time that our population is heading towards ten billion, and we are disturbing weather patterns by pouring heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Fossil fuels are behind the “greenhouse effect” that is warming our atmosphere, but our land
Continue readingTag: Agriculture/climate
350 or bust: We Could Have Stopped Climate Chaos But We Were Too Damned Cheap
What a beautiful Friday morning in my part of the world. The sky is blue and clear on a minus 16 degree C March 1st day. I’m watching two pileated woodpeckers enjoy the suet in the bird feeder just outside the window. They certainly are impressive birds, especially close up!
Continue reading350 or bust: Mr. President, Please Don’t Overlook Climate Change
A message from an Oklahoma farmer for President Barack Obama, as he prepares to deliver his State of the Union address tonight:
Continue reading350 or bust: Real Food Friday
* In recognition of American Thanksgiving yesterday, and National Buy Nothing Day today, here’s some food for thought on eating sustainably. Second generation food activist Anna Lappé has worked with a coalition of groups working for a more sus…
Continue reading350 or bust: It’s All About Food – and Zombies
Okay, maybe we don’t need to worry about zombies but we should certainly consider future food shortages, not to mention the pesticide-laced food and genetically modified food (GMO) we are already exposed to on every trip to the grocery store. Today is World Food Day, and while I write this I’ve
Continue reading350 or bust: McKibben On Maher: Climate Denial Smack-Down
Two of my favourite Bills talk climate change, along with the Republicans at the table. It is, as 350.org posted, a seriously awesome “smack-down” – climate science and reality versus climate nonsense. With infinite patience, Bill McKibben responds yet again to the same tired old Republican/conservative talking points: *Thanks Jen
Continue reading350 or bust: Really Cool Old Squash and Writing Festivals
I still haven’t had a chance to catch my breath since returning home from our trip to Newfoundland last week, having jumped with both feet into the Turtle Island Writing Festival the afternoon of our arrival, including hosting one of the distinguished authors. Today I once again hit the road,
Continue reading350 or bust: Our Broken Food System And Our Poor Health
Everyone on the planet requires regular meals every single day of our lives. Despite the incredible importance of food, our North American food system, like much of the rest of the world’s, is dominated by a handful of agricorps that have a very cozy relationship with the U.S. and Canadian
Continue reading350 or bust: We Are The Solution As Well As The Problem
This podcast features Joel Salatin, interviewed by Chris Martenson from Peak Prosperity.com. Salatin rejects the idea that all human involvement in shaping the landscape is bad; in this interview he discusses how humans can improve the environment through “ecological participation”. I always feel better, and more optimistic, after listening to/reading
Continue reading350 or bust: Change Is Coming: This Dinosaur Economy Is Going Extinct
With over half of the U.S. in a drought, concerns about what this will mean for food prices. Farmers are starting to feel the impact, and consumers will soon, too. Out of KTVQ news in Billings, Montana, a state affected by the drought, comes this report: “For sure, the full
Continue reading350 or bust: Vandana Shiva: A “Dinosaur” Mentality Guides The Planet Right Now
One of the best interviewers on television, Bill Moyers, speaks to one of the global sustainability movement’s “superstars”, physicist and food activist Vandana Shiva. The discussion is wide-ranging but centers around genetically modified seeds/foods and the fight against corporate agro-giant Monsanto: These seeds — considered “intellectual property” by the big
Continue reading350 or bust: A Radical Monday Morning
Today is the first cool and rainy day in quite a while, so I’ll be spending the morning the way other “radicals” the world over are, in the kitchen and the garden reclaiming democracy and occupying the food supply. I’ll be cooking up strawberry & rhubarb jam with organic local
Continue reading350 or bust: Meatless Monday Musings
Wow – this is inspiring! I sure wish Will Allen was in charge of food policy in the U.S., rather than the Monsanto crowd.
Continue reading350 or bust: Our Food, Ourselves
Considering that most of the people reading this blog will be part of the lucky global minority who eats at least three times a day, it is astonishing how little thoughtful consideration most of us (myself included) give to food, which powers us through the rest of our day. Any
Continue reading350 or bust: Kitikaanikamik, “Where People Come To Grow”
Kitikaanikamik is an Ojibway word that means “the place where things grow”. The Local Foods Initiative (RLLFI) in the northern Ontario town that I live in has applied to the Aviva Community Fund for “seed” money to get our s…
Continue reading350 or bust: An Apple A Day
One of the responses that we can all take to the looming peak oil/climate change crisis is to work to make our communities more resilient (for more on this, check out the Transition Town movement). And one of the ways to build resilience is to increa…
Continue reading350 or bust: Nobel Laureate: It is the People Who Must Stand Up For the Environment, Make Their Leaders Change
Fridays are the days I usually focus on good news. I think the best news around these days is that Rupert Murdoch and his right-wing, democracy-corrupting News International is finally being subjected to the harsh light of public and criminal investiga…
Continue reading350 or bust: The End Of Cheap Oil: An Opportunity to Create A Better World
“As a species with the creativity, adaptability and opposable thumbs that enabled us to create an Oil Age in the first place, we can be pretty certain that there will be life beyond it. Similarly, we may be able to prevent the worst excesses of c…
Continue reading350 or bust: Extreme Weather Events: Brought To Us By Big Oil & Gas
Happy Canada Day! What a week it’s been on the climate/weather front. Here in northwestern Ontario we’ve been experiencing a lovely June, although firefighters say it’s the driest summer in five years (which means they’ll have a…
Continue reading350 or bust: Climate Change Wake Up Call: Eat Local, Eat Fresh, Get Healthier
A fellow climate activist recently said that climate change is a gift to humanity, if we choose to accept it. What I understand from that is that climate change is a massive wake-up call that we humans need to change the way we are interacting with our…
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