The co-benefits of community energy. Proponents of renewables (including this website) often praise “energy democracy.”
Nonetheless, hard data on the benefits are few and far between. Now, a new study provides an overview. Craig Morris reports. Do community projects provide greater returns to locals than utility projects? Swedes show how eating organic eliminates a family's pesticide load. The Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL) was commissioned by Coop, Sweden's largest grocery store cooperative, to find out whether switching to an all-organic diet could reduce the level of pesticides found in people's bodies.
IVL found a Swedish family of five who were not organic food eaters. They had them eat regularly for a week (i.e. conventionally) while testing their urine daily; then for two weeks the family ate only organic while being tested daily. Growing Own Food Greek Man’s Secret Weapon Against Economic Meltdown. G7, be warned: your 'New Alliance' threatens to destroy small-scale farmers. Addressing food and nutrition insecurity requires promoting an agricultural system based on human rights and food sovereignty through local control over natural resources, seeds, land, water, forests, knowledge and technology.
Small-scale food producers are collectively the leading investors in agriculture, estimated to produce 70% of the food in Africa. Addressing food and nutrition insecurity on the continent requires the full participation of those who are already producing, and promoting an agricultural system based on human rights and food sovereignty through local control over natural resources, seeds, land, water, forests, knowledge and technology. This is crucial for small-scale women and men farmers, pastoralists, livestock farmers, fisherfolk and hunter-gatherer societies. One of the most worrying illustrations of this trend is the G8 'New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition', launched in 2012 by the G8 and implemented in ten African countries.
Man builds low-cost tiny home with recycled materials for $500. Generate Endless Hot Water Without Electricity Or Solar Power. Food Sovereignty: 5 Steps to Cool the Planet and Feed Its People. How the industrial food system contributes to the climate crisis Between 44% and 57% of all GHG emissions come from the global food system Deforestation: 15-18%
The Time Has Come For Local Agriculture. Portrait of Joan Gussow by Robert Shetterly.
(Credit: AmericansWhoTelltheTruth.org) Editor's note: The artist's essay that follows accompanies the 'online unveiling'—exclusive to Common Dreams—of Shetterly's latest painting in his "Americans Who Tell the Truth" portrait series, presenting citizens throughout U.S. history who have courageously engaged in the social, environmental, or economic issues of their time. This Twenty-Something Hopes to Unleash the Next Green Revolution. In 2010, a young man on a quest for enlightenment walked into the office of Jerry Hatfield, director of the USDA’s National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment in Ames, Iowa.
Cuba’s Rapid Transition to Sustainable Agriculture. The five key factors behind Cuba’s rapid transition to sustainable agriculture are strong scientific capacity, farmer literacy, solid agricultural extension, large cooperatives, good soils, water and of course climate.
The structural changes and institutional framework that supported the transition include, above all, organic fertilization and soil conservation. The use of organic and biofertilizers have allowed the substitution of organic methods for chemical fertilizers to meet the nutrient requirements of crops previously met through external inputs. Cuba’s Rapid Transition to Sustainable Agriculture. The Sun Hive: experimental Natural Beekeeping. Sun Hives are a hive design coming out of Germany and now gathering interest in Britain.
They’re part of the world-wide movement towards ‘apicentric’ beekeeping – beekeeping that prioritizes honeybees firstly as pollinators, with honey production being a secondary goal. The Sun Hive is modeled in part on the traditional European skep hive, and is aimed at creating a hive that maximises colony health. Fermentation is the New Canning.
Island in Scotland to be First 100% Self-Sustaining Place on Earth. World-leading food project to 'abolish itself' due to success. The Fife Diet, based in Burntisland, was set up in 2007 with the goal of persuading local people to help cut carbon emissions by eating more local food.
It became known as one of Europe's largest food projects, with more than 3000 members. Now founder Mike Small has announced the scheme is going to run without funding or staff from next year, when its current round of backing from the Scottish Government's Climate Challenge fund is exhausted. The Climate Challenge Fund provides cash for community groups to run projects that reduce carbon emissions. Water Filtration Using Plant Xylem.
Effective point-of-use devices for providing safe drinking water are urgently needed to reduce the global burden of waterborne disease.
Simple Pine Branches Can Filter Out 99% of Bacteria Producing Clean Water. By Good News Network Friday, February 28, 2014 Earth - Science. Maya Mountain Research Farm. How to repair your broken goods - from an iPhone to a washing machine. When the chief scientific adviser to the energy department says that the economy of this country is built on a culture of “buying lots of stuff and then throwing it away” we all know, deep down, that he is right.