In Transition -From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience

Planted your garden yet?

The garden I helped get in the ground in Bermuda a month ago is already providing all the salad greens the household needs. The one I've helped put in here in North Carolina in the last month is already yielding fresh organic lettuce and swiss chard. The corn, onions and beans are 4 inches high, the turnips, carrots, and and cukes are well on their way. The blueberry bushes are several inches bigger. Have you planted your garden yet?

Our continued reliance on non local industrial agriculture is fraught with problems, from over reliance on climate destroying fossil fuels, destruction of carbon sequestering soil ecology, the extreme dependence on mining of fossil water to irrigate crops, the contamination of our ecosystem with genetically modified organisms, and the pollution of drinking water with pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. This is all not to mention the health degrading effects of our diets so heavy with processed food substitutes, high fructose corn syrup, and the unknown (though getting less so) dangers of consuming genetically engineered organisms.

But our problems are as nothing compared to the damage our export of this pernicious form of agribusiness has had on the developing world. People are literally starving to death because they were convinced to give up their traditional sustainable modes of sustenance in favor of lining the pockets of corporate shareholders by growing cash crops for export. Their water sources are drying up, their farm workers are dying due to exposure to deadly chemicals, or committing suicide due to the burden of debt the have been pressured into by their governments in cahoots with the agribusiness giants. This situation represents a threat to civilization itself. If you doubt that, just look at Darfur and Somalia. Read more at Climate Progress;

"It’s not news that Lester Brown is warning about our unsustainable approach to feeding the planet. But it is news that Scientific American has run a major article by him on how “The biggest threat to global stability is the potential for food crises in poor countries to cause government collapse.”

Americans support regulating Greenhouse Gases

Recent polls have shown that Americans are in favor of dealing with Climate Change through the regulation of greenhouse gases. As reported at Worldchanging;

"the new Washington Post/ABC poll of 1,072 Americans (here) found: While majorities across the board support government regulation of greenhouse gases, it peaks among liberals (88%) and under 30s (80%), vs. 61% of conservatives and 64% of seniors. Support also ranges from 85% of Democrats, 65% “strongly,” to 64% of Republicans, 39% strongly. Concern about its cost is broader, and stronger, among those who’d presumably be hit hardest — lower-income adults. ... Americans appear to fully understand the worst-case consequences of what they are supporting. Imagine how the polling will ultimately turn out when President Obama and his team actually launches an all out messaging blitz on energy and climate action, with a tax cut for the poor and middle class, with aggressive strategies to lower their energy bills and create green clean energy jobs, and with a clear message of the cost to Americans of inaction." - Joe Romm

The Idea of Geoengineering is Being Used Dishonestly - Joe Romm

It's another case of "Don't worry, technology will bail us out." Bullsh$@! I agree with this
post over at Climate Progress

5 ways you can save Ocean Life

Thanks to Ecointeractive for the heads up on this,

US may never again need to build a new coal or nuclear power plant.

Thanks to OpenAlex for this tidbit.

"The chairman of the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has stated that the US may never again need to build a new coal or nuclear power plant. He argues that smarter grids along with better storage for renewables will make new conventional baseload capacity unnecessary. Many people have made the argument before. But its sure was a surprise to see it coming from such a highly placed official in the US government. " -Alex Aylett

read more

Scientist Warning of Health Hazards of Monsanto's Herbicide Receives Threats

Apparently we are not to be allowed to know about the dangers of using Roundup
As reported by Organic Consumers Association
"There are reports coming out of Argentina of attempts to intimidate the lead researcher of the study showing that Roundup - the glyphosate herbicide developed by Monsanto, could cause brain, intestinal and heart defects in fetuses. ... Dr. Carrasco has warned that the doses of herbicide used in his study "were much lower than the levels used in the fumigations," and so the situation "is much more serious" that the study suggests because "glyphosate does not degrade". ...

According to an article in the Argentine press, after news about the study broke, Dr. Carrasco was the victim of an act of intimidation, when four men arrived at his laboratory in the Faculty of Medicine and acted extremely aggressively.

Two of the men were said to be members of an agrochemical industry body but refused to give their names. The other two claimed to be a lawyer and notary. They apparently interrogated Dr. Carrasco and demanded to see details of the experiments. They left a card Basílico, Andrada & Santurio, attorneys on behalf of Felipe Alejandro Noël.

Dr. Carrasco also reports being subjected to offensive phone calls and there have been disparaging references to his research in newspapers with links to agribusiness. Dr. Carrasco however is resisting the intimidation, saying, "If I know something, I will not shut my mouth."

read more at OCA

Powered by Coal on 60 minutes

BioChar and the wonders of the soil.

Look after the soil, keep it chemical free, and it will look after you.



Thanks to Replanting the Rainforest and EcoInteractive for the heads up on this fascinating video and the following excerpts.

"What is Biochar? Biochar is charcoal that is created by heating biomass (plants) under low oxygen conditions, which sequesters the plants’ carbon, rather than releasing it into the atmosphere. When Biochar is used to amend soil, the resulting Terra Preta sequesters more carbon, increasing its own volume. The activity of friendly microorganisms, called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, increases as well. The fungi spread beyond the original carbon, fix additional carbon, stabilize the soil and assist in nutrient uptake by plants. Biochar also improves soil fertility, reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers. It conserves water, prevents erosion and acts as a natural carbon filter for water by removing chemicals from runoff.

Biochar is inert and remains in the soil for thousands of years. It cannot be cut down, burned down, nor is it susceptible to erosion. It is self-renewing.

Biochar could be a solution for:

• Hunger and Food Insecurity
• Deforestation and Biodiversity Loss
• Excess Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere
• Methane and Nitrous Oxide emissions from soil
• Renewable Energy"

HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION - Radical Change Taking Root

Eat the Suburbs: Gardening for the End of the Oil Age

Thanks to the Organic Consumers Association for the heads up on this video.

Really good news! High speed rail for the US

This is the best news I've heard in along time. Finally the US is going to attempt to catch up to the rest of the world when it comes to sensible transportation.

For only $13 billion, that's what, about 5% of the amount we handed the gamblers who brought the economy to it's knees, around 10% of what our backward auto industries want to maintain our disastrous reliance on a 50 year old transportation plan that was obsolete 40 years ago, and maybe 1% of what we've wasted in the biggest corporate welfare package in recent years, the war in Iraq.

This is genuine investment in America's future, building something real that will facilitate our countries move towards a competitive, low carbon economy.

Read more at Worldchanging

Here is an excerpt from President Obama's speech on the matter;

"If we want to move from recovery to prosperity, then we have to do a little bit more. We also have to build a new foundation for our future growth. Today, our aging system of highways and byways, air routes and rail lines is hindering that growth. Our highways are clogged with traffic, costing us $80 billion a year in lost productivity and wasted fuel. Our airports are choked with increased loads. Some of you flew down here and you know what that was about. We're at the mercy of fluctuating gas prices all too often; we pump too many greenhouse gases into the air.

What we need, then, is a smart transportation system equal to the needs of the 21st century. A system that reduces travel times and increases mobility. A system that reduces congestion and boosts productivity. A system that reduces destructive emissions and creates jobs.

What we're talking about is a vision for high-speed rail in America. Imagine boarding a train in the center of a city. No racing to an airport and across a terminal, no delays, no sitting on the tarmac, no lost luggage, no taking off your shoes. (Laughter.) Imagine whisking through towns at speeds over 100 miles an hour, walking only a few steps to public transportation, and ending up just blocks from your destination. Imagine what a great project that would be to rebuild America.

Now, all of you know this is not some fanciful, pie-in-the-sky vision of the future. It is now. It is happening right now. It's been happening for decades. The problem is it's been happening elsewhere, not here.

In France, high-speed rail has pulled regions from isolation, ignited growth, remade quiet towns into thriving tourist destinations. In Spain, a high-speed line between Madrid and Seville is so successful that more people travel between those cities by rail than by car and airplane combined. China, where service began just two years ago, may have more miles of high-speed rail service than any other country just five years from now. And Japan, the nation that unveiled the first high-speed rail system, is already at work building the next: a line that will connect Tokyo with Osaka at speeds of over 300 miles per hour. So it's being done; it's just not being done here.

There's no reason why we can't do this. This is America. There's no reason why the future of travel should lie somewhere else beyond our borders. Building a new system of high-speed rail in America will be faster, cheaper and easier than building more freeways or adding to an already overburdened aviation system –- and everybody stands to benefit."