The Food Crisis: “A Perfect Storm” - and How to Turn the Tide
Biodiversity, Consumerism, Economics, Food Shortages, GMOs, Global Warming/Climate Change, Health & Disease, Population, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton — by Craig Mackintosh
A recently released study, the largest of its kind, examines the root causes of, and solutions for, a food crisis that will likely get much worse before it gets better — and that will never get better if we continue with business as usual
I’m hungry.
No, not because I don’t have enough food to eat, but because I’m too busy typing and too lazy to walk to the refrigerator. How I wish it were this simple for the people I keep reading about.
Comments (3)Posted on: November 14, 2008
Chemical Based Farming Systems Robbing Us of Nutrients
Health & Disease, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton — by Craig Mackintosh
 Full Report (5mb PDF) Executive Summary (PDF) 2-Page Consumer Summary (PDF) Press Release (PDF) |
Nutrient levels in food supply eroded by pursuit of high yields
When we sit down to a meal of supermarket-bought produce, we like to think we’re getting a reasonable cross-section of the body’s nutrient requirements, but studies are showing that our chemical intensive monocrop farming systems are not delivering the vital ’secondary nutrients’ that our ancestors enjoyed. Plants ‘flourishing’ on fast, soluble chemical fertilisers get ‘lazy’ and do not develop the deep, healthy root systems that pull additional elements out of the soil. In addition, the soil micro-organisms that break down organic matter and minerals to feed to plant roots are being slaughtered through chemical bombardment and violent mechanised manipulation of their environment.
Essentially, we’re getting robbed, and having to pay for it in reduced health/vitality/longevity and increased medical bills.
Comments (1)Posted on: November 13, 2008
Learning from the Past
Biodiversity, Consumerism, Economics, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Population, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination — by Earth Policy Institute
by Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute, Washington D.C., U.S.A.
Our twenty-first century global civilization is not the first to face the prospect of environmentally induced economic decline. The question is how we will respond. We do have one unique asset at our command–an archeological record that shows us what happened to earlier civilizations that got into environmental trouble and failed to respond.
As Jared Diamond points out in his book Collapse, some of the early societies that were in environmental trouble were able to change their ways in time to avoid decline and collapse. Six centuries ago, for example, Icelanders realized that overgrazing on their grass-covered highlands was leading to extensive soil loss from the inherently thin soils of the region. Rather than lose the grasslands and face economic decline, farmers joined together to determine how many sheep the highlands could sustain and then allocated quotas among themselves, thus preserving their grasslands and avoiding what Garrett Hardin later termed the “tragedy of the commons.”
Comments (0)Posted on: October 25, 2008
Can Permaculture Save the World???
Alternatives to Political Systems, Bio-regional Organisations, Biodiversity, Consumerism, Eco-Villages, Economics, Financial Management, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, People Systems, Population, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Village Development, Water Contaminaton, peak oil — by Ted Trainer
Editor’s Note: Point one - this article is circa 1998, from the now ceased-publication Permaculture International Journal. Point two - it is now more relevant than ever, so please read and ponder. The article goes a long way towards explaining why I mix articles the way I do - some about Permaculture, some about current events, the global situation, and the desperate need for systemic social, political and economic change.
Ted Trainer argues that although the planet cannot be saved without Permaculture, not enough people in the movement realise where Permaculture fits into the solution.
We are fast approaching a period of enormous and probably chaotic change. Western industrial-affluent-consumer society is unsustainable and is rapidly running into serious difficulties.
Permaculture is a crucial component of the solution to the global predicament. However I want to argue that Permaculture is far from sufficient, and indeed that it can be counter-productive if it is not put in the right context. That is unless we are careful, promoting Permaculture can actually help to reinforce our existing unsustainable society. We must do much more than just contribute to the spread of Permaculture. We must locate Permaculture within a wider campaign of radical social change. Before I try to explain this, I need to outline how I see the global predicament we are in. Whether or not you will agree with my conclusions about what needs to be done and where Permaculture fits in will depend greatly on whether you share my view of the situation we are in.
Comments (4)Posted on: October 2, 2008
Easter Island - Our Past, or Our Future?
Economics, Food Shortages, Population, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh
 Click for full view Courtesy: Throbgoblins |
Easter Island has long been looked upon as an historical looking glass, through which we can observe the implications of continued environmental destruction to our planet - the larger island floating in a sea of black. The cries of a people that could clearly see destruction coming, but did little or nothing about it, come hauntingly down to us here in this new millenium. With startling clarity they teach us what happens when immediacy takes precedence over future needs.
If you have a moment to take a trip to another time and place, check out some of the material and links here. No need to dream of going to Easter Island though, as, in many ways, you’re already there….
Comments (0)Posted on: September 24, 2008
Humanure Handbook - Free Download
Compost, Conservation, DVDs/Books, Fungi, Potable Water, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Waste Water, Water Contaminaton — by Craig Mackintosh
With chapters like ‘Crap Happens’, ‘Deep Shit’ and ‘A Day in the Life of a Turd’, this is sure to be an interesting book, albeit possibly not one to read over lunch?
With this wonderful substance piling up in all the wrong places (after all, we’re running out of clean water, and yet we’re crapping in it…), this taboo topic deserves a lot more attention than it gets. Enjoy the book - and special thanks to the author Joseph Jenkins for making this freely available (warning: 22mb PDF - if you want to download chapter by chapter, scroll down on this page, or just read online here).
Comments (1)Posted on: September 18, 2008
Convergence of Issues Leads to Southern California Permaculture Convergence, August 29-31, 2008
Conservation, News, Presentations/Demonstrations, Social Gatherings, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Storm Water, Water Contaminaton, Water Harvesting, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh
Cooling off after the first day of the Southern California Permaculture Convergence,
hosted by the Quail Springs Learning Oasis and Permaculture Farm
Yesterday the Southern California Permaculture Convergence got underway. The word ‘convergence’ is the operative word here, and, ironically, to me at least, has a double meaning. Over the last couple of weeks, being here at Quail Springs just reminds me of the convergence of issues we face as a race, just as we ‘converge’ to network, share instruction and ideas, and find new ways to work together to face those same issues.
Let me explain, using an example very close to where we are today.
Comments (4)Posted on: August 31, 2008
Melting Borders, Melting Icecaps
Consumerism, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination — by Craig Mackintosh
 Smith, in the computer world of The Matrix. In nature there is order, but not uniformity |
Comments (1)The president of Nabisco once defined the goal of economic globalization as “a world of homogeneous consumption”, in which people everywhere eat the same food, wear the same clothing and live in houses built from the same materials. It is a world in which every society employs the same technologies, depends on the same centrally managed economy, offers the same Western education for its children, speaks the same language, consumes the same media images, holds the same values, and even thinks the same thoughts: monoculture. - Breaking Up the Monoculture
Posted on: August 28, 2008
Pesticides, and You
Health & Disease, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton — by Craig Mackintosh
I promised to follow up on our recent Which Came First - Pests, or Pesticides? story with some info on how these nasties can affect your environment, and you. We’ll do so, specifically, by looking at the meaning of the term bio-magnification.
How many have heard the term? Hmm…, a few raised hands. How many of you can explain its meaning to others in the class? Okay, not so many.
It’s actually a pretty simple concept to understand, and it’s a little frightening to realise the implications once you have.
Clear Lake, California
A classic story of bio-magnification was observed at Clear Lake in California, and well illustrates the deadly process.
In 1949 they sprayed DDD, a form of DDT, to kill a non-biting gnat. They met with success, initially…. Two years later the gnat was back, so they repeated the treatment (readers of our previous pesticide story will understand the term ‘pesticide treadmill’ in this context). Sprays continued at more frequent intervals until 1954. Over the course of these seasons, however, the carcasses of increasingly large numbers of grebes began to accumulate in the lake - hundreds of them….
Comments (0)Posted on: August 13, 2008
Which Came First - Pests, or Pesticides?
Insects, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton — by Craig Mackintosh
The Pest or Pesticide question is a lot more interesting and relevant than the whole chicken and egg argument - and one that’s easier to prove too! Whether you’re a farmer, gardener, or merely a consumer that’s not so keen on ingesting poisons, you might find the following of interest.
I know what you’re going to say - “pests must have come first, or they wouldn’t have created pesticides”. Well, as you’ll soon discover, it depends somewhat on your definition of ‘pest’, and your perspective on the world around you.
Comments (6)Posted on: August 12, 2008
Soil - Our Financial Institution
Biological Cleaning, Conservation, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Structure — by Craig Mackintosh
by Craig Mackintosh - originally published on Celsias
Soil - the substance you walk on, build on, and live from - provides your food, clothing, and even the air you breathe. It gives warmth, shelter, and the goods you possess. Soil is, I believe, a substance that is under-acknowledged, and also under attack, and its misuse is contributing greatly to the excessive release of CO2 into our atmosphere - making it a large contributor to global warming. Therefore, I felt it high time we came to its defense. Here goes.
Posted on: August 7, 2008
Small is Bountiful
Food Shortages, Population, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination — by George Monbiot
by George Monbiot - journalist, author, academic and environmental and political activist. Originally published in the Guardian, 10 June 2008
I suggest you sit down before you read this. Robert Mugabe is right. At last week’s global food summit he was the only leader to speak of “the importance … of land in agricultural production and food security”.(1) Countries should follow Zimbabwe’s lead, he said, in democratising ownership.
Of course the old bastard has done just the opposite. He has evicted his opponents and given land to his supporters. He has failed to support the new settlements with credit or expertise, with the result that farming in Zimbabwe has collapsed. The country was in desperate need of land reform when Mugabe became president. It remains in desperate need of land reform today.
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