Tag Archive | "gardening"
Visiting Chicago
I will be speaking in Rockford, Illinois the afternoon of Monday, 27 September as part of International Bioenergy Days 2010. Details are here. But this brief post is not about my conference presentation. It’s about my visit to Chicago. As long as I’m flying in and out of Chicago, I would like to interact with [...]
Continue reading...Making other arrangements: I’d like to help you
Monday, June 28, 2010
Now that my own living arrangements are in order, I would like to help other people more directly than I am able via the blogosphere, email, and telephone. My ability to provide assistance has been facilitated by the departure of my booking agent: I cost less now that it’s just my paycheck on the line, [...]
Continue reading...The agenda revisited
Saturday, June 19, 2010
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. (Arthur Schopenhauer, one of my philosophical heroes) ______________________ Based on recent comments in this space, and also in my email in-box, I am compelled to provide an updated overview of my proposed agenda [...]
Continue reading...We didn’t start the fire
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Actually, to counter singer/songwriter Billy Joel, we did start this FIRE. Not you and me, of course, but our culture. The U.S. industrial economy is all about Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate. The FIRE is about to run its course, extinguished by the absence of fuel in each of those interconnected sectors. The financial sector [...]
Continue reading...A day in the life: further adventures at the mud hut
Sunday, May 16, 2010
People keep asking me what my days are like. How do I spend a typical day? Now that I’m retired from the academic life — or rather, now that I’ve departed the academy in disgust and despair — I no longer spend time in my swivel chair, dispensing information on the telephone or tending to [...]
Continue reading...What we leave behind
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Like most people, I’ve long been interested in the notion of my legacy. Will anything I produce outlast me on this planet? Has my teaching inspired critical thought, appreciation for the natural world, or empathy for humans and other animals? Will the pages containing my written work be used for something other than fire-starter and [...]
Continue reading...What works: community
Friday, April 2, 2010
As we continue into the decades-old, but only recently acknowledged era of destruction and extinction, it’s apparent the current model is not working. Truth has fallen and taken liberty with it. A vast majority of Americans are aware the industrial economy clings by the barest of threads but, too fearful of individual retribution to disrupt [...]
Continue reading...What works: food
Friday, March 26, 2010
As I described in my prior post, water is a big deal for humans, as it is for all life on Earth. But food is pretty important, too. Currently, most Americans store large quantities of food in the form of body fat. The primary storage facility for unconsumed food is right down the street, in [...]
Continue reading...What works: Caveats for a series of essays
Monday, March 15, 2010
My next few essays will concentrate on the cardinal elements of survival: water, food, body temperature, and community. Unless and until we secure these four entities, we will not survive. At the mud hut, our goal is not merely survival. We intend to thrive during the post-carbon era. We relish the opportunity to see the [...]
Continue reading...City living in a post-peak world
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
This headline at today’s version of Energy Bulletin caught my eye: Are cities sustainable in a post-peak oil world? The editors at Energy Bulletin, reflecting contemporary culture, clearly do not understand sustainability. At every level, from the individual through the culture and even through the species, ours is a transient existence. We should be focused [...]
Continue reading...
Saturday, July 24, 2010
14 Comments