It’s hard to keep track of the number of ways the United States continues to find to shoot itself in the foot. For instance, did you know that US meat and milk exports failed to pass European standards for drug residues last year? There oughta be a law, and in the EU, there is. Since when do Americans fit the definition of international law breakers? It would appear since … [Read more...]
Tilling the soil in 2012, part 1
It’s all in a day’s work for family farmers of the 21st century: Colony Collapse Disorder, dealing with Monsanto’s threats, global warming disasters, the government crackdown on family farms, genetically-engineered crops. Where once American plowmen had merely to contend with unpredictable weather, infertile soil, inaccessible water supplies, poverty, accidents and disease, … [Read more...]
From the vault: Review of Sacred Demise
Carolyn Baker’s book, Sacred Demise: Walking the Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization’s Collapse, offers a very strong dose of reality. While Baker saves some of her most gasp-worthy assertions for the end of her book, it's safe to say that there isn’t a page that doesn’t possess qualities similar to those of cod liver oil: it’s for our own good … if only there were … [Read more...]
Fahrenheit 11
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has been dropping some climatic bombshells lately, and people the world over have taken note. The Agency, widely known for its cautious approach to forecasting energy use, says the numbers now speak for themselves. What are they saying? So far, the figures say it’s time to end developed countries’ dependence on fossil fuels, and … [Read more...]
Time to step up
Next on the climate change agenda: Durban, South Africa, the location of the next round of global climate talks. The first phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires next year, by which time a new agreement needs to have been reached. Climate agreements are important because the signatory nations commit to reaching certain goals by a certain time. This being the case, it's always a … [Read more...]