Letters from Chile – Increasing Water Security
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Eco-Villages, Economics, Education Centers, Food Shortages, Peak Oil, Potable Water, Social Gatherings, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh May 12, 2010
Editor’s Note: This is Part VI of a series. If you haven’t already, be sure to catch Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, and Part V.
The El Manzano community hold their finished hand pumps
Over the course of my short visit here the power has gone out, for one reason or another, multiple times, and when it happens the taps totally refuse to surrender their precious charge. I thus find myself almost compulsively filling my stainless steel water bottle at every opportunity.
Our dependency on electricity is great enough without exacerbating the problem manyfold by having that vulnerability daisy-chain on to such a basic human need as water.
Comments (0)Letters from Chile – Shaken Awake
Aid Projects, Building, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Eco-Villages, Education Centers, Food Shortages, Networking Sites, News, Peak Oil, People Systems, Society, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh April 28, 2010
The February 27 Chile earthquake moved cities, destroyed buildings and cost lives, but, for one small community, it also shifted priorities….
What’s left of a small house in the El Manzano village, Bio Bio region, Chile
All photos © copyright Craig Mackintosh
Señora Nadia makes the best of the situation
I awoke suddenly this morning at 6:03am. Despite being jet-lagged, my deep sleep quickly gave way to alarm as I felt the bed sway violently and heard the walls creak. I groped around in the darkness for some clothes, whilst wondering, drowsily, in the style that’s typical of my weird sense of humour, how many people die whilst delaying their exit in this way – just so they can look half-decent as they watch their world collapse around them?
Comments (0)Our Environmental Status and Future Events
Consumerism, Economics, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Peak Oil, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contamination — by Matt Whittley April 8, 2010
Editor’s Note: Geoff Lawton spoke at Geelong, Victoria last year. Matt Whittley shares some snippets from his talks.
If we are being honest with ourselves, most people would admit that the next 50 years is going to be a lot different than the past 50 years. Future generations are going to need to cope with overwhelming conditions that they had nothing to do with creating.
I believe that we need regular reminders and need fresh perspectives to assess what is going to happen tomorrow and how our actions today have an affect.
We are entering into critical times as we reach tipping points on economy, climate, energy, food, water, soil, and social elements. This video is a great call to action; Permaculture Design is the action!
Comments (0)Indoor Vegetable Garden with Topsy Turvy Planters and Window Boxes
Food Plants - Annual, Food Shortages, Nurseries & Propogation, Plant Systems, Urban Projects — by Matthew Trotter March 9, 2010
One cool product that I’ve had the pleasure of using is the Topsy Turvy Upside-Down Tomato Planter. (Note: I’ve since stumbled up on DIY version of this product made with 5-gallon buckets. How cool is that?) It’s kind of an experimental product as is, and I was using it in an even more experimental way. I got the Topsy Turvy so that I could utilize the vertical space in my indoor container garden. Not being able to grow a garden would have been the bane of my college dorm room existence…. but I wasn’t about to let someone tell me that I couldn’t do it.
Comments (0)U.S. Feeds One Quarter of its Grain to Cars While Hunger is on the Rise
Consumerism, Economics, Food Shortages, Peak Oil — by Earth Policy Institute January 21, 2010
by the Earth Policy Institute
The 107 million tons of grain that went to U.S. ethanol distilleries in 2009 was enough to feed 330 million people for one year at average world consumption levels. More than a quarter of the total U.S. grain crop was turned into ethanol to fuel cars last year. With 200 ethanol distilleries in the country set up to transform food into fuel, the amount of grain processed has tripled since 2004.
The United States looms large in the world food economy: it is far and away the world’s leading grain exporter, exporting more than Argentina, Australia, Canada, and Russia combined. In a globalized food economy, increased demand for food to fuel American vehicles puts additional pressure on world food supplies.
Comments (0)Jeff Rubin – $225 p/barrel Oil in 18 Months and the End of Globalisation
Consumerism, Economics, Food Shortages, Peak Oil — by Craig Mackintosh January 18, 2010
Jeff Rubin, former chief economist at CIBC World Markets and author of the book Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization, was the keynote speaker at the Business of Climate Change conference in Toronto a few months ago. The clip below is the excellent presentation he gave, one that bleats the same message I’ve been sharing for a few years (see some of the links in ‘Further Reading’ section below, for example). Mr. Rubin predicts $225 p/barrel oil within months, and with it a forced relocalisation as long distance globalised trade becomes an economic impossibility. In it he talks about the insignificant scale of new oil finds in comparison with increasing demand from developing countries in tandem with the annual declines we see with our older fields. He talks about the absurdity of saddling our grandchildren with debts they can never afford to repay, just to bail out automotive industries that have no future in a world without oil anyway. He goes on to talk about the failures of Kyoto and the need for financial mechanisms that could speed a transition to a low carbon, relocalised platform.
Have a watch, and let us know your thoughts.
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The Looming Food Crisis and the ‘Food 2030′ Report
Biodiversity, Consumerism, Deforestation, Economics, Food Shortages, GMOs, Global Warming/Climate Change, Health & Disease, Peak Oil, Population, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contamination — by Craig Mackintosh January 6, 2010
It can’t go on like this….
Not long ago I was standing in a bookshop, minding my own business, when a book title leapt out in front of me. The book was "History’s Worst Decisions and the People Who Made Them". It documents the sorry tales of dozens of people throughout history who, with the best of intentions, made some fascinatingly terrible choices.
Comments (1)Anupam Mishra: The Ancient Ingenuity of Water Harvesting (Video)
Conservation, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Irrigation, Population, Potable Water, Regional Water Cycle, Water Contamination, Water Harvesting — by Craig Mackintosh January 4, 2010
India is a country where water shortages have become so acute that the failed monsoon rains in 2009 had people literally killing each other over buckets of water, and tensions are still rising. (See this video also.) In many places cities are receiving less than half the water their populations need to meet basic requirements, and the constant bickering between individual states often breaks down into violent clashes.
Comments (0)In Transition – the Movie
Alternatives to Political Systems, Bio-regional Organizations, Community Projects, Consumerism, DVDs/Books, Eco-Villages, Economics, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Peak Oil, People Systems, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh December 14, 2009
In Transition 1.0: from oil dependence to local resilience, available now!
The title says it all. Sit back and enjoy the latest work from the Transition Towns movement. You can watch in parts via YouTube below, or if you prefer, catch the whole thing in one hit on Vimeo.
‘In Transition’ is the first detailed film about the Transition movement filmed by those that know it best, those who are making it happen on the ground. The Transition movement is about communities around the world responding to peak oil and climate change with creativity, imagination and humour, and setting about rebuilding their local economies and communities. It is positive, solutions focused, viral and fun. – TransitionCulture.org
Part I
Comments (0)The Looming Global Water Crisis (Video)
Economics, Food Shortages, Water Contamination — by Craig Mackintosh December 13, 2009
Prelude: I just read a great interview with the Slovak hydrologist, and Goldman Environmental Prize winner, Michal Kravcik. Do check it out, as Michal has an excellent commonsense understanding of the growing water problem and its antidote.
History is littered with sordid tales of tribes and nations taking the best land and resources from others by force. These were in times where the population density was so low that greed, rather than need, was often the primary motivator. Two thousand years ago, for example, the world population was 3% of what it is today.
Today’s politically correct and population dense world doesn’t look so kindly on such pillaging (although, of course, it still goes on). The modern way is far more, let’s say… discrete. Rather than a sword or a tank, the weapon of choice is now more often a checkbook. The motivation, however, seems to still be the same.
Although the average person may not realise it, water shortage concerns are reaching the highest levels – resulting in a race between some of the world’s most powerful groups to privatise and take control of this most essential of resources.
The two clips below share a frightening insight into the exploitation, profiteering and control of water.
Comments (0)Who Owns Water?
Consumerism, Economics, Food Shortages, Health & Disease, Water Contamination — by Maude Barlow
Editor’s Note: Being 7 years old now, the dates and meetings mentioned in the article below are obviously not current, but the main content is more than highly relevant and makes for a very worthy read.
by Maude Barlow (founder of the Blue Planet Project) & Tony Clarke, originally published September, 2002
 Water – a need, or a right? |
Water promises to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century: the precious commodity that determines the wealth of nations.
As the World Summit on Sustainable Development draws closer, clear lines of contention are forming, particularly around the future of the world’s freshwater resources. The setting of the summit paints the picture. Government and corporate delegates to the September meeting will gather in the lavish hotels and convention facilities of Sandton, the fabulously wealthy Johannesburg suburb that houses huge estates, English gardens and swimming pools, and has become South Africa’s new financial epicenter. There, they will meet with World Bank and World Trade Organization officials to set the stage for the privatization of water.
Comments (0)An Urban Gardener Feeds a Community
Bird Life, Community Projects, Consumerism, Eco-Villages, Food Shortages, People Systems, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Sarah Gorman December 9, 2009
Bronwyn’s urban backyard is teeming with diversity. It is providing local families with nutritious food through her Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), but she doesn’t think she is doing anything exceptional. Students from Mulloon Creek Natural Farm’s Permaculture Design Certificate course recently visited Bronwyn Richards’ home in Braidwood, NSW, Australia. They learnt how an urban gardener manages to provide a constant supply of organic vegetables not only for her own family, but five others.
Comments (0)How to Repair the World
Aid Projects, Deforestation, Demonstration Sites, Education Centers, Food Forests, Food Plants - Perennial, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Land, News, People Systems, Plant Systems, Project Positions, Rehabilitation, Trees, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh December 8, 2009
The video embedded in this page spotlights the excellent work of Willie Smits I profiled a little while ago, where rainforest restoration in Borneo not only restored biodiversity and gave increased livelihood opportunities to local people, but it also increased cloud cover and rainfall as well. It’s well worth a watch:
We’re pleased to announce that we’re partnering with the makers of the video above, WeForest, to help establish self-replicating permaculture reforestation demonstration sites in accordance with our Permaculture Master Plan, in several worldwide locations – starting in Zambia in the first instance. Our Geoff Lawton has just agreed to be on their advisory board, and we’ll be working to supply guidance, knowhow and staff to pioneer these projects.
This is just one example of the many encouraging collaborative results we get as people boil current events down to their only logical conclusion – discovering we need to quit battling nature and get busy harnessing biological synergies to repair the earth and rebuild sustainable community interactions.
Comments (0)A Hotter Planet Means Less on Our Plates
Economics, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Population, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contamination — by Earth Policy Institute December 4, 2009
In the Sunday November 22, 2009 issue of Outlook in the Washington Post, Lester Brown discusses the significant implications of food security in the upcoming Copenhagen Conference.
by Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute
 China walks a tightrope between feast and famine. |
As the U.N. climate-change conference in Copenhagen approaches, we are in a race between political tipping points and natural ones. Can we cut carbon emissions fast enough to keep the melting of the Greenland ice sheet from becoming irreversible? Can we close coal-fired power plants in time to save at least the larger glaciers in the Himalayas and on the Tibetan plateau? Can we head off ever more intense crop-withering heat waves before they create chaos in world grain markets?
These are all climate-change issues, but they have something else in common: food. Copenhagen will be about climate, of course, but in a fundamental sense, it must also be about whether we will have enough to eat in the decades to come.
Comments (0)The Localization of Agriculture
Consumerism, Economics, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, News, Social Gatherings, Society, Village Development — by Earth Policy Institute December 1, 2009
by Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute
In the United States, there has been a surge of interest in eating fresh local foods, corresponding with mounting concerns about the climate effects of consuming food from distant places and about the obesity and other health problems associated with junk food diets. This is reflected in the rise in urban gardening, school gardening, and farmers’ markets.
With the fast-growing local foods movement, diets are becoming more locally shaped and more seasonal. In a typical supermarket in an industrial country today it is often difficult to tell what season it is because the store tries to make everything available on a year-round basis. As oil prices rise, this will become less common. In essence, a reduction in the use of oil to transport food over long distances—whether by plane, truck, or ship—will also localize the food economy.
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