All Blog Posts (445)

Celt's Garden - Gardening in Small Urban Spaces

This is the year to start your food garden, even if you live in the city, even if your space is tiny, even if your gardening spot is your front lawn, or next to the street, or a bunch of containers, or at someone else's house.

If you have gardened before but not around here, I recommend Steve Solomon's book, Gardening West of the Cascades. He gets a bit excited, but the information about the special quirks of our biosphere is invaluable.

If you have never gardened before,… Continue

Added by Celt M. Schira on February 1, 2010 at 9:52am — 1 Comment

Transition movement too little too late according to Peter Goodchild on Culture Change

http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=597&Itemid=66

Editor's note: The author presents a definitive essay. Learn why:

• "Those who expect to get by with 'victory gardens' are unaware of the arithmetic involved."

• "There are already too many people to be supported by non-mechanized agriculture."

• "To meet… Continue

Added by Frank James on January 31, 2010 at 9:32am — No Comments

the tale of the ring

I have a ring that I wear pretty constantly-- a simple silver, or more likely nickel, ring. Because of when and how and by whom I came to have the ring, it is a constant reminder for me to own little and give generously.

When I was 16, I had the opportunity to go to El Salvador in a solidarity mission to visit Bellingham's "sister city" down there. It was, of course, an incredible experience for me (in fact, I have not said the Pledge of Allegance ever since I learned what our… Continue

Added by Chris Wolf on January 21, 2010 at 11:40pm — 1 Comment

European Nuclear Power Grows Long in the Tooth

No matter what nuclear power fans say on the other side of the Atlantic, French power plants are not aging well.

New Nuke Plants are the Answer!

Added by Rob Olason on January 17, 2010 at 10:25pm — No Comments

Feeding Whatcom County for a day.

How much food is consumed in Whatcom County in a day, a week, a month, a year? We know that the commercial farms in Whatcom County produce an abundance of milk, fruits and vegetables, more than can be consumed by our country residents. But how much food is produced in backyard gardens by gardeners who grow food to be consumed locally by themselves and others?

As we look to a future economy where imported food becomes impossibly expensive due to high growing and transportation costs,… Continue

Added by Rob Olason on January 17, 2010 at 3:02pm — No Comments

A Year of Voluntary Simplicity

Hello everyone,

My new year's resolution for 2010 is that I am going to practice Voluntary Simplicity, vowing to make little enough money that I don't have to pay taxes toward war (so about $9,350 for the year), and so that every lifestyle choice I make is carefully thought out and in line with my values. I have started this blog to record experiences I have, share tips that I stumble upon, and learn from your tips as well.

I had an interesting experience a few days ago. I… Continue

Added by Chris Wolf on January 9, 2010 at 2:20pm — 6 Comments

Even the worst days on the farm are better than the best days in a factory.

Gene Lodgson has written a wonderful tribute to the often ignored tree. For a breath of fresh air, read his essay...

Harveting Tranquility

Added by Rob Olason on January 7, 2010 at 7:19pm — 1 Comment

Future Hunger

"We are facing a problem that literally has never been faced in human history - we don't have enough people who know how to feed us to keep going foward. And for the most part, we're not even fully aware of the problem. We have no plan going forward. And our children are being taught that farming is unworthy of them. This, folks, is a crisis."

This article uncovers a huge challenge to future food supplies.

Added by Rob Olason on January 5, 2010 at 10:25am — No Comments

PROJECT FOR A REVOLUTION IN PHILADELPHIA bywriter/financial analyst Gregor Macdonald

"Here is my thesis: were all US cities to decide collectively that energy transition on an urban level had to commence at once, the embedded advantages of Philadelphia would suddenly become glaringly obvious."

Echoing Transition thinking, Macdonald argues that innovative responses to energy decline needs to happen at the city level. He believes that a mayor of a city in major economic decline is the likely candidate to propose bold new approaches. And such a mayor, and such a city… Continue

Added by Rob Olason on December 30, 2009 at 9:14am — No Comments

"The Political Ecology of Collapse, Part Three: The Bomb at the Heart of the System," by John Michael Greer

"Let’s walk through the logic. The most reasonable estimates suggest that, given a crash program and the best foreseeable technologies, renewable sources can probably provide the United States with around 15% of the energy it currently gets from fossil fuels. Since every good and service in the economy is the product of energy, it’s a very rough but functional approximation to say that in a green economy, every American will have to get by on the equivalent of 15% of his or her current income.… Continue

Added by Rob Olason on December 29, 2009 at 10:06pm — No Comments

Fertile Soil & Seeding Winter Dreams

Earthdreams awakening fertile fragrant nourishing living creations....I give thanks to the earth-creation and to farmers & growers who move within the earth's life cycles, and understand the limits of earth-gaia's gifts. I give thanks for farmer's growing passions envisioning the fertile dreams of tomorrow's nourishment!

It's December 21st,2009, and I've just put in my first phone call for seeds, to Bountiful Gardens/Ecology Action, and they don't even have their 2010 catalogue… Continue

Added by Heather K on December 23, 2009 at 3:00am — 2 Comments

Addressing my Carbon Footprint, part 1

I have emitted 32 tons of CO2 this year. Yikes! Next year I expect to reduce that to 18 tons. An average American emits 27 tons; the average citizen of the world emits just 5.5. (http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/)

According to an IPCC report cited by Rob Hopkins in his Handbook, within 20 years we need to be emitting 80% less than now, and within 40 years we need to be sequestering… Continue

Added by Brian Carpenter on December 21, 2009 at 2:06am — 2 Comments

The Ecotechnic Future, a book by John Michael Greer

Hello to Transitioners. I have just completed a fresh new book called 'The Ecotechnic Future', by John Greer, a former resident of WA & OR. In contrast to many other treatises on 'peak-oil', 'post-carbon' and related topics, he writes quite well. The book frames his view of the future in the language of ecology. And this can be useful in framing our own discussions. I published a review of the book for in Amazon.com but since Peter Smith's review is much better than mine, I'll give you… Continue

Added by Thomas Beeler on December 19, 2009 at 11:09am — 1 Comment

What It Looks Like When a Local Authority REALLY Gets Transition...the Monteveglio story...

Italian Community goes "transition"

Added by Rob Olason on December 12, 2009 at 9:00pm — 2 Comments

How Many Cyclists Does It Take To Power A Hairdryer?

The BBC tackles reality programming in a documentary that measures how much electrical energy a family uses by the number of pedaling cyclists required to supply the electricity.

The shocking take away: 80 long distance riders can't keep up to a family of four.

One Long Ride

Added by Rob Olason on December 5, 2009 at 1:28am — No Comments

Incredible Edible Todmorden-a community committed to growing their own food

From the homepage of their website:

"Incredible Edible Todmorden aims to increase the amount of local food grown and eaten in the town. Businesses, schools, farmers and the community are all involved. Vegetables and fruit are springing up everywhere. Public flower beds are being transformed into community herb gardens and vegetable patches."

This is a really interesting holistic approach to involving a community in "resilence building" around food production.…

Continue

Added by Rob Olason on December 3, 2009 at 8:30pm — 1 Comment

Being Open to Abundance

It seems the more we are challenged to our core, the more we tend to contract our energy and hold onto things, money, our stuff we perceive we might need. Heck some of us are holding onto old memories, self views and fat cells that do little to insulate us from life. It's easy to say that such things are not making us any happier. I sometimes wake up at night realizing I have clenched my fist. I just remember what an old teacher said once to me: "You can't receive abundance and joy if you are… Continue

Added by Susan Templeton on November 30, 2009 at 11:00pm — No Comments

More LESS DEBT Slower!

I've been musing more and more about the subject of debt management in the face of so much gone wrong in our culture. Ironic given my work is about helping people buy homes and find funds for things like renovations and building or business expenses. You see, I see people every day who have gotten in too deep. I hear their stories and try to help them find a way to get out of the situation. Most are smart, motivated people who simply did not see a loss of income ('cash for clunkers' killed a… Continue

Added by Susan Templeton on November 25, 2009 at 9:35pm — No Comments

Bicycle Power with Pedal-Assisted Electric Motors for Long-Distance Commutes

Bicycles are one of the most efficient human powered machines.

Riding a bike can be a joy!

However, not everyone in our community is able-bodied enough to ride up our hills or go the long commuting distances from rural home to the urban market on our hilly roads or in our often dark, cold & wet climate.

The new bicycle technology that combines the efficiency of the human powered bicycle with the technology of a power-assisted electric motor & a rechargeable battery…

Continue

Added by Heather K on November 24, 2009 at 5:00pm — 6 Comments

Australian Senate: Peak Oil motion defeated 31:6

This is an interesting posting in the RSS feeds on the Whatcom Transition ning site, that I think is very telling about the level of political will to name the elephant in the room, let alone do something about it.

I think the size of the opposition on this vote reveals that the traditional politician has a huge learning curve on the upcoming "Story of the Century." I also think that when the paradigm shift regarding peak oil and climate change become undeniably avoidable for even… Continue

Added by Rob Olason on November 23, 2009 at 2:53pm — 1 Comment