Entropy, Peak Oil, and Stoic Philosophy. I had plenty of time for my talk at the conference “Peak Oil: fact or fiction?”
Held in Barbastro (Spain) on May 4-7 2011. So, I could ramble a little on various subjects, from the entropy of complex systems to the stoic philosophy of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (above). Perhaps too many things but, in any case, here is a version written from memory where I tried to maintain the tone and the content of my talk. I have added headings for clarity.
Climate Progress. The Archdruid Report. Planning for the harvest: Time management for the chronically overworked. This year will be interesting - we anticipate adding two or three more people to our household (and maybe more - we're gently looking for a housemate or two once things settle down with the foster kids).
In past years I've mostly been able to keep up with the "every year the kids get bigger and eat more" growth needs, but this ups the ante in several ways - besides adding more mouths to feed, we anticipate that the first few months we'll be pretty focused on the kids, with less time for garden and preservation than usual. I could let some of it go - just accept that this year less will be done, and I may get to that point, but the thing is that the work I do putting up food is so valuable to us that I hate to give it up. It is valuable because I know what is in my food - I know it is safe and nutritious.