Let's say just for a moment that you were ready to cash out. Quit your job. Sell your house. Take you and yours out of the rat race with a few hundred of your friends and family and relocate onto arable land. What tools would you need to sustain a livable—maybe even comfortable—lifestyle?
Open Source Ecology suggests you start with ~2.6 million dollars and
these |
fifty |
machines (← watch this first), collectively referred to as the Global Village Construction Set.
posted by carsonb
on Mar 28, 2011 -
48 comments
Green electricity from the artificial, tethered
ray (the fish, not the beam). Video
here.
posted by megob
on Mar 2, 2011 -
21 comments
Eartheasy is about sustainable living. It offers information, activities and ideas which help us live more simply, efficiently and with less impact on the environment.
[more inside]
posted by netbros
on Jan 8, 2009 -
9 comments
In 2009,
a remarkably gifted politician, confronting a remarkably difficult set of challenges, will
have to learn to say "No we can't",
Guantánamo will prove a moral minefield,
economic recovery will be invisible to the naked eye,
governments must prepare for the day they stop financial guarantees,
we will judge our commitment to sustainability,
scientists should research the causes of religion,
we will all be potential online paparazzi,
English will have more words than any other language (but it's meaningless),
Afghanistan will see a surge of Western (read: American) troops,
Iran will continue its nuclear quest while
diplomacy lies in shambles,
the sea floor is the new frontier,
we should rethink aging,
(non-)voters will continue to thwart the European project --
but cheap travel will continue to buoy it --
though it has some unfinished business to attend to, and
a Nordic defence bond will blossom.
The Economist: The World in 2009.
[more inside]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane
on Nov 27, 2008 -
31 comments
I’ve discovered that typically, a farmer who grows the forbidden fruits and vegetables on corn acreage not only has to give up his subsidy for the year on that acreage, he is also penalized the market value of the illicit crop, and runs the risk that those acres will be permanently ineligible for any subsidies in the future. (The penalties apply only to fruits and vegetables — if the farmer decides to grow another commodity crop, or even nothing at all, there’s no problem.)
If you can't stop demand, curtail production.
One farmer's view on the power of commodity crops. [more inside]
posted by Toekneesan
on Mar 1, 2008 -
33 comments
"Find Good Food Near You. Want fresh, locally grown food, but don't know where to find it? The LocalHarvest community level map makes it easy to find sustainable farmers, farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture projects (CSAs) in your area."
posted by dersins
on Sep 30, 2007 -
21 comments
"
The model of economic development that we are currently pursuing is unsustainable. Our energy consumption per unit of GDP is seven times that of Japan, six times that of America, and even 2.8 times that of India. China’s labour productivity is less than 10 per cent of the world total, and yet our emissions are over 10 times higher than the global average." ~ Pan Yue - deputy director of China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA). Part of a new generation of outspoken Chinese senior officials, Pan has given rise to a tide of environmental debate, attracting enormous attention and controversy.
Read his articles here : -
China: economic powerhouse, environmentally unsustainable -
part one and
part two
posted by infini
on Jul 29, 2007 -
34 comments
In the grand scheme of things, eating locally grown food may be more important than eating organically grown foods. To help you reach that goal, there's
100-Mile Diet, a blog that deals with the benefits and pitfalls of trying to eat only foods grown locally;
The Eating Well Guide, which will help you find markets, restaurants, etc. that go along with the sustainable foodthink; and
Local Harvest, which will help you find local
and organically grown food sources. (PS. Now's probably the time to start signing up for your favorite
CSA!)
posted by Dave Faris
on Apr 12, 2007 -
55 comments
Talk Energy is a filter site for discussion about sustainable energy. Their goal is to get a million people worldwide talking about energy. Members can post to a
main discussion page, create profile pages including their own journals and indentify their connections with other members. The chattiest people get free samples of neat products to
review, closing the communication loop for green companies. They're also giving away $50,000 USD in home energy renovation funds to one lucky person.
Innovators have their
own space to collaborate on ideas and projects. They're even offering
partnerships consisting of private discussion areas for any non profit that wants one.
posted by will
on Jun 1, 2004 -
7 comments
The World Summit on Sustainable Development, aka "Earth Summit II," will start soon in Johannesburg, ten years after the Rio
Earth Summit. Have things improved at all in the last ten years?
While there are some reasons to be
optimistic, the data isn't cheerful. Our
climate is growing unstable; tens of millions are
dying or likely to die, and hundreds of millions more likely to be made refugees, because of environmental pollution and degraded ecosystems; and half the plants and animals on the planet seem
headed for extinction over the next century. In short, things are grim.
What steps, big or small, are you taking to do your part for the environment?
posted by AlexSteffen
on Aug 17, 2002 -
30 comments
