Fresh From Our Contributing Authors What's a "contributing author"?
BR-319 - Amazon’s Highway to Hell
Consumerism, Deforestation, Global Warming/Climate Change — by Craig Mackintosh
An old road through central Amazonia, that became overgrown and impassable in the 1980s, may get reopened and fully paved — threatening to escalate destruction of one of the world’s last remaining stands of tropical rainforest
To date, one fifth of the Amazon forest has been destroyed, that’s an area the size of France. Will it stop? It must, but will it? To stop it will require planning, foresight, and political and consumer awareness, determination and restraint. If the choice is left to industry alone, they won’t stop until it’s all gone.
It is said that if the Amazon shrinks much more, its inability to water itself from its own cycles of evaporation and precipitation will begin a spiralling cycle of drying - a tipping point that will be nigh impossible to return from. One of the greatest threats is the increasing demand for meat.
Comments (0)Posted on: January 16, 2009
Skating on Thin Ice
Global Warming/Climate Change — by George Monbiot
by George Monbiot - journalist, author, academic and environmental and political activist
I have spent the last two evenings skating. Last night we laid lanterns out across the ice and swooped and swung and fell flat on our faces on this silent lake in mid-Wales, for hours by moonlight. I should have been in bed - I have a chest infection and a cold - but I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.
For the exhilaration of this primal game was shaded with sadness: all of us knew that this time might be our last. It is many winters since most of the lakes in England and Wales have frozen hard enough to support a skating party; with every year the chances of another one recede. The fuss this country has made about the current cold snap reminds us how rare such events have become.
Comments (0)Posted on:
Phosphorus Matters
Compost, Food Shortages, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination — by Marcin Gerwin
Part One: Closing the Phosphorus Cycle
|
|
It might sound ridiculous, but for every container of bananas, coffee, tea or cocoa imported, we should send back a shipment of a fluffy, earth-like smelling compost. Why is that? With each container of food we import nutrients taken up by plants from the soil. We import calcium, potassium, magnesium, boron, iron, zinc, molybdenum, copper and many others. One of the essential elements imported in food is phosphorus. For every ton of bananas we import 0.3 kg of phosphorus, for every ton of cocoa it’s 5 kg and for ton of coffee it’s 3.3 kg of phosphorus. Tea is a bit more complicated, because the amount of phosphorus depends on the origin of tea - for example in 1 ton of tea leaves harvested in Sri Lanka there are some 3.5 kg of phosphorus, while tea from South India contains 6.6 kg of phosphorus (1).
Comments (1)Posted on: January 14, 2009
The Crash Course
Alternatives to Political Systems, Consumerism, Economics, Financial Management, Nuclear, Population, Society, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh
I’ve referenced Chris Martenson’s excellent ‘Crash Course’ a couple of times, but now I’ve discovered Chris has also uploaded it to YouTube, so can embed here for your convenience and viewing pleasure.
For those not familiar, this twenty chapter presentation is arguably the best effort I’ve seen to help people understand our current world predicament, with an emphasis on economics. It’s a must watch (in addition to ‘Money as Debt‘). Do share the link with your contacts.
Chapter 1 - Three Beliefs & Chapter 2 - The Three E’s
Comments (3)Posted on:
Greenhouse Effect
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Village Development — by Allison Ford
As The world warms, the dry areas of the globe are growing even drier. in Jordan, some villages are already working on what to do when the rain stops coming. Words by Allison Ford. Photography by Josh Estey/CARE. Originally published in Jo Magazine.
The last time rain fell in Bayoudeh was February 10. The land has only gotten dryer since then. People in and out of Jordan like to talk about how water poor the country really is, but 2008 arrived to prove it with a vengeance.
Um Mubarak increases the yeild of her trees with
mulch, and grows cactuses with gray water.
Posted on:
Please Help the Palestinian People in a Time of Tragedy
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, Village Development — by Nichole Ross
The Jordan Valley Project site is the triangular section in foreground
As Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip escalate, more and more Palestinian civilians are being displaced by damage or destruction to their homes. The need for refugee shelter has become critical. Geoff and Nadia Lawton are currently working on a PRI project in a Palestinian refugee village in Jordan. The project, known as the Jordan Valley Permaculture Project, is an effort to set up a Permaculture demonstration and education center. Due to the increased influx of refugees that will need food and shelter, this project is essential for survival for these people fleeing to the very arid Dead Sea Valley. Geoff, Nadia and others are working at full speed to get this center established as soon as possible so they can train refugees and impoverished locals to set up similar sustainable systems (food, water, shelter).
Comments (3)Posted on: January 12, 2009
Money as Debt
Alternatives to Political Systems, Consumerism, Economics, Financial Management, People Systems, Society — by Craig Mackintosh
Many of us are watching the current economic crisis with great interest (albeit with a lot of concern). A lot of us could also see it coming. Our modern economic systems are ultimately inviable, based on ever increasing debt and ever enlarging boom and bust cycles. Systemic economic collapse is inevitable, and painful (indeed, disastrous) though it may be, in many ways the sooner it happens the better it will be for the world. Our ecologies are running out of time, the rate of species loss is becoming exponential, the depletion of critical resources is moving ahead apace, and our human population continues to balloon year by year. We have formerly democratic nations heading towards fascism, and a massive consolidation of power giving money-motivated corporations the controlling influence over governments and media. Creating a whole new society will be excruciatingly difficult - but it will be impossible if we’re trying to do so without decent resources left to work with.
Watching the mortgage crisis in the U.S. is frustrating to say the least. We have thousands of defaulters becoming homeless, and yet, as you shall see in the clips below, the money they’ve borrowed to purchase their house was not even the banks - indeed, it didn’t even exist, but is essentially created out of thin air. The bank ‘loans’ money it doesn’t have, then when the borrower defaults, his home becomes the property of the bank - and yet the banks subsequently manage to secure massive bailouts from this same taxpayer.
Comments (5)Posted on: January 11, 2009
PRI Site Info Session at Zaytuna Farm
Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, News — by Craig Mackintosh
Geoff and Nadia Lawton have been running highly successful courses at Zaytuna Farm in Northern NSW, Australia, for a few years now. Now, with the pressing need to ramp up the pace of Permaculture education to try to help steer this misguided world onto something resembling a sane path, we’re now working towards improving and enlarging the PRI infrastructure and facilities. Click the image below for a larger view with more info. If you live in the neighbourhood, feel free to drop by on Friday the 16th to get the full scoop on developments.
And, whether you live nearby or not, any contributions to this noble endeavour are greatly appreciated.
Comments (0)
Posted on:
The Bigger They Are…
Comedy Break, Consumerism — by Marc Roberts
The arse falls out of the Chinese recycling industry, causing hardship to millions and stalling one of the few large scale attempts to limit the damage we’re doing.
Of course we should repair, re-use and recycle wherever possible - that should go without saying - but this stuff is travelling thousands of miles to seek out cheap labour, and is still inextricably tied in to high levels of consumption - which is, of course, why it’s flagging now. This international trade is a short term fix. The real solutions surely lie in reduction of waste through reduction in consumption.
Reports indicate that a reduction in consumption is coming our way anyway, so perhaps we might like to consider doing something about it?
Comments (0)Posted on: January 10, 2009
The Muffin Tin and the Sponge
Conservation, Potable Water, Regional Water Cycle, Roads, Storm Water, Swales, Waste Water, Water Contaminaton, Water Harvesting — by Craig Mackintosh
Two simple ways of illustrating how to plant the rain
Brad Lancaster, author of the award-winning books “Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond” and info-packed website www.HarvestingRainwater.com, demonstrates how we can get the most from the rain by planting it in the soil, then accessing it with living pumps of plants. These are simple concepts that help turn scarcity into abundance.
Comments (1)
Posted on:
Courses at Mulloon Creek Natural Farms
Courses/Workshops, Developments — by Tony Coote
Editor’s Note: PRI is pleased to announce we are partnering with Mulloon Creek Natural Farms, so we can, in addition to our course lineup at Zaytuna Farm, also run courses at their location - based a little east of Canberra, easily accessed by road and air from Sydney and elsewhere. Tony Coote tells us more:
Click for larger view
At Mulloon Creek Natural Farms (MCNF) we are bringing together various forms of natural agriculture, believing that each has its own significant advantages for how we manage our land. To date these are Organics, Biodynamics, Natural Sequence Farming, Holistic Management and Permaculture.
This year we are happy to be able to host 8 courses in conjunction with Geoff Lawton, Managing Director of The Permaculture Research Institute of Australia.
Comments (0)Posted on: January 8, 2009
A Better Way of Making a Living for Humanity
Alternatives to Political Systems, Bio-regional Organisations, Consumerism, Eco-Villages, Food Shortages, People Systems, Population, Society, Village Development, peak oil — by Chuck Burr
We are no more able to find our way forward living as Homo modern as we are living as Homo hunter-gatherer. Both ways are blocked. Living today on the infinite growth treadmill as Homo modern results in the death of our planet. Homo sapien has exploded our population to a level that we can no longer run back into the forest to make a living like the Mayan did. So what are we to do?
The question is actually, not “what are we going to do?”, but is “how are we going to make a living?” First lets rule out the obvious, we can no longer make a living as Homo consumer. Peak oil will put an end to our happy motoring and consuming lifestyle before we get the chance to consume the world.
Comments (1)Posted on: January 5, 2009
Genetically Modified Foods Unsafe? Evidence that Links GM Foods to Allergic Responses Mounts
GMOs, Health & Disease — by Jeffrey M. Smith
By Jeffrey M. Smith, executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, and author of the highly acclaimed Seeds of Deception and Genetic Roulette.
|
Here’s looking at you kid. Genetically modified crops are linked to death, disease, sterility and more. Big Biotech are effectively turning us into lab rats… |
Genetically modified (GM) foods are inherently unsafe, and current safety assessments are not competent to protect us from or even identify most dangers. Overwhelming evidence to support this conclusion is now compiled in the book Genetic Roulette: The documented health risks of genetically engineered foods, which presents an abundance of adverse findings and theoretical risks associated with GM foods.1 The book documents lab animals with damage to virtually every system studied; thousands of sick, sterile, or dead livestock; and people around the world who have traced toxic or allergic reactions to eating GM products, breathing GM pollen, or touching GM crops at harvest. It also exposes many incorrect assumptions that were used to support GM approvals. This article, excerpted from my book, summarizes some of the findings related to allergic and immune responses.
Comments (1)Posted on: January 4, 2009
Pay Monsanto, or Starve
GMOs — by Craig Mackintosh
Many have yet to comprehend the implications of this continuing business trend to grow, merge, centralise and consolidate. I hope the following will help. If these companies are to continue their takeovers, and rule our planet - then shouldn’t we consider what it will be like in their servitude? Depending on what part of the world we live, many of us get to vote our governments into office. The choices offered might not be ideal, but at least there’s a semblance of democracy. But, certain enormous corporations are gaining the power of governments - even over governments - and I haven’t seen the ballot slip.
Posted on: January 3, 2009
Slip Hazard
Comedy Break, Consumerism, Global Warming/Climate Change, Society — by Marc Roberts
With apologies to Robert Newman
A percentage of climate scientists expect that climate engineering of some sort will be required - because we as a species just can’t be arsed with changing our behaviour.
Marvellous. Can I have my Jet-Pack now?
