All Blog Posts (445)

On the first night of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program Certification offered by the IBEW 191, the topic of the price of power came up. FERC mandates states sell citizens the lowest priced electricity available which in Washington is hydro produced. Thus, energy produced by the windmills in the eastern part of the state is not being fully utilized. Just another unintended consequence on the path to greener power.

The IEA is the international organization that many governmental bodies look to for authoritative data on energy, put in place during the energy crisis of the 1970s.  They put out a major report once per year, and I have been reading the executive summary of this report for about 7 or 8 years.  It is fascinating to see how the report evolves year after year.  I wrote a piece for Energy Bulletin a few years ago, looking at the trend of the reporting from 2005 through 2009 (…

The single mother in New York City told her story to the NY Times: She's a self-employed writer, illustrator and marketing materials designer. She lives modestly with her two half grown boys in a tiny apartment. "Sometimes, my clients pay late. Sometimes, they don't pay at all." She relies on the food bank to get through the month, especially that last grim week. All of which just highlights how difficult subsistence activities are in a tiny apartment in the middle of NYC, dependent on cash…

Single momma of 2 year old, looking for work and a place to live (all at once...when it rains it pours!) Please let me know of anything along the Transition lines and event coordination. I am a recent Americorps and hard worker but value every minute I have with my son. Am willing and able to barter in many ways. Please contact me for more information if you are reading this. I need my community now more than ever... and the more I feel you, the more I will give back someday. Service is my…

          Transition Whatcom sponsors many wonderful events every month. They include co-sponsored author events at Village Books, our monthly movie night, gatherings and talks. In addition our members create and participate in many, many events.  With such a creative, diverse community, it is easy to miss out. The TWOG has decided to provide a recap each month of some of the main events that have brought us together and inspired us during the month. 

           Please recognize that…

Hurricane Sandy as Greek Tragedy

by Mark Hertsgaard, The Nation

Never has a hurricane been more aptly, if tragically, named than Sandy, the superstorm that flooded New York City and battered much of the East…

♥ Tickets on sale now for Friday, Nov 9. We are predicting a sold out KIRTAN. ♥ Looking forward to Sparrow for vocal response, local bassist Brent Kuecker's grooves & Stefan Cihelka on Tabla. Bring a cushion for sitting, although you might not sit for too long. Come prepared to move your body and stir your soul! ♥…

That's right, four hundred pounds of potatoes from 400 row feet with 33 pounds of seed potatoes. Which sounds very organized, but actually it was 15 different varieties and the yields were highly variable. German Butterball, 5 pounds of seed potatoes, over 60 pounds harvest. That's the second year of stellar performance. Krista and I got the same result last year in our variety trials. The German Butterballs also had the most gaps in the row, so the yield was from 2/3 of the plants. I think…

I've changed the title of Heinberg's latest essay.  See the bolded sentences below.  Beyond the many great reasons already circulating about why we need to "Power Past Coal," here's one more: building a huge terminal for the purpose of sending coal to China could become one of our greatest boondoggles.

- David

Australia, Meet the Post-Growth Economy…

Last night I had the privilege of introducing author Andrew Nikiforuk to the “Literature Live” audience assembled at Village Books in Bellingham, WA.  His latest book is The Energy of Slaves: Oil and the New Servitude.  It…

I recently wrote an article for a publication that ended up not happening, so I thought I would post it here. I hope it provides some food for thought.

         ".....ecology needs psychology, psychology needs ecology.  The context for defining sanity in our time has reached planetary magnitude”.           

                              Theodore Roszak, in Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind

        We live in an…

my best belief

is the love 

that I am

expressing itself

the way that it can

sometimes through silence

 …

PLEASE SEE THE RE-CAP OF THE EVENT BELOW THE OFFICIAL POSTER!

 …

It's time to run around like crazed squirrels. Summer's bounty is upon us. Trim those herb bushes and dry them ASAP, as they may winter kill if cut back any later. Dry, pickle, and freeze the excess from your garden. All sorts of random fruits and veg can be dehydrated with an electric dehydrator: blueberries, prune plums, green zucchini slices (the yellow dries to vile due to its gourd ancestry), small young winter squash slices,  green beans, broccoli leaves, mushrooms, green onions,…

Skin one half chix and soak in water with sea salt. Rinse and place in baking dish atop sundry veggies, apples, garlic, onion and bay leaves. Top with a tomato, orange, thyme, cracked blk pepper, curry and garam masala sauce. Cover in wet pickled grape leaves and roast at 375 for one hour, baste every 15 minutes.



Magnifique.

 …

I’d rather be talking about bio-char or terra prieta if you will. My wood stove allows me to control the air intake. Giving a lower supply of Oxygen is the goal in achieving pyralysis . At the end of the night I add a  stick of wood and reduce the intake. The small black charcoal pieces and ash are added to the compost pile for a week or two then combined with a wheelbarrow of fertile forest soil, some pond scum, a small bucket of clam shells (broken), mycyliated wood chips (local…

I would first like to thank those whose tireless efforts have brought about the awareness of climate change to an ever broadening audience. Along with the 2012 weather records, an up tick in public interest has become almost palatable. I therefore have little time to concern myself with the deniers of this subject. Although amazed by their ability and energy wasted clinging onto such ever-evolving false narratives, their ignorance seems to proclaim all species…

Where do the worlds of Occupy, the Transition Towns movement, and the Integral community meet?  Perhaps in the work of Charles Eisenstein.

"I consider Charles Eisenstein one of the up-and-coming great minds of our time. Rarely have I met a person who combines such philosophical and spiritual depth with such practical insights into the cultural and institutional origins of…

“How many seeds can a man plant in a lifetime?”....Nature can heal if released to its own wisdom.   However in severely damaged landscapes, humans can play a healing role, simply by sowing seeds.  And humans also need to stop invasive actions that use mined energy, ie. stop the mowing, weed-whacking, plowing, & stop adding…