[PeakOiler]

This Reuters article tells me that members of Congress don't have a clue with regard to population overshoot.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ASHINGTON (Reuters) - A 93-year-old agricultural scientist and Nobel laureate regarded as the father of the "Green Revolution" in farming received the Congressional Gold Medal on Tuesday for a life-long battle against world hunger.

President George W. Bush was on hand at the U.S. Capitol for the presentation of the highest civilian honor to Norman Borlaug, whose advances helped nearly double the food supply in countries including Mexico, India and Pakistan.

[Homesteader]

Yeah, I wonder if anybody pointed out during the ceremony that Mr. Borlaug's work hadn't ended or even mitigated world hunger, but merely made it possible for a lot more people to go to bed hungry.

I saw a documentary on GMO's that had Mr. Borlaug stating angrily stating that people who supported organic farming were misdirected, misinformed and basically delusional, and that GMO's were the only way to feed the starving hordes around the world. (which he helped create).

Guess he didn't read the U. of Michigan study showing organic farming methods can produce 2-3 times the amount of food as "modern agriculture". Or the U.N. report that stated that modern agriculture is the most destructive human activity on Earth.

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Homesteader', 'G')uess he didn't read the U. of Michigan study showing organic farming methods can produce 2-3 times the amount of food as "modern agriculture". Or the U.N. report that stated that modern agriculture is the most destructive human activity on Earth.

[PeakOiler]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ElijahJones', '
')The irony of this is stupendous. By increasing food supply you enable exponential growth and probably increase the size of the eventual overshoot. Our doom is twice as ferocious because this man got happy with his chemistry set. It shows how irresponsible humans have been with scientific knowledge. Having ignored the holistic truths, or maybe we are just unable to see them, we change one element of a complicated system and then wonder why things don't turn out the way we thought they would. The brilliant stupid scientists of the 18th and 19th centuries gave many of the troubles we now face.

[KevO]

Burn Baby Burn. The Green Movement, Peak Oil and Transition Towns

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')ome say to save the planet, we should ‘burn, baby, burn’ and that the green movement is in fact killing the Earth by slowing the inevitable. The inevitable has only become the inevitable however very recently and only then if you ‘believe’ that we’re past the ‘it’s now too late, fuck it’ period.

[peasea]

ok I understand the sentiment in going out and seeing the world before you die ( sort of ) .

The bit about planes has always puzzled me , build planes , build airports , by the time you can use ( built ) them they're too expensive to run - eh what?

this just highlights the trouble with the political system we have that rates 4 years as an eternity

peak oil , yeah really , when ? a week from now? no ? forget it then I need to look good now.......now where's Paris hilton , Ipod phone , ( insert vacous reason here )

sorry friday , could never handle fridays.......

P.

[KevO]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('peasea', 'o')k I understand the sentiment in going out and seeing the world before you die ( sort of ) .

The bit about planes has always puzzled me , build planes , build airports , by the time you can use ( built ) them they're too expensive to run - eh what?

this just highlights the trouble with the political system we have that rates 4 years as an eternity

[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KevO', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('peasea', 'o')k I understand the sentiment in going out and seeing the world before you die ( sort of ) .

The bit about planes has always puzzled me , build planes , build airports , by the time you can use ( built ) them they're too expensive to run - eh what?

this just highlights the trouble with the political system we have that rates 4 years as an eternity

[Aaron]

By extending the "transition" time frame, we encourage even more growth than would have been possible otherwise, making the consequences of the transition into energy poverty that much more potent.

You dog wants a hybrid.

[Twilight]

Ah, transition towns...

Devon and Cornwall - economically poor, underdeveloped infrastructure, long-suffering farming communities... yes, if you're already there, good luck.

Bristol? Brixton? Stroud? Stop kidding yourself. You're fucked.

"Who will be the first Transition City?" they ask on their website. Whoever wants a slice of the consumer electronics recycling action!

[gnm]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aaron', 'Y')ou dog wants a hybrid.

[Gerontion]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Twilight', 'B')ristol? Brixton? Stroud? Stop kidding yourself. You're fucked.

[manu]

I think that pstarr and kingcoal hit the nail pretty much on the head. I would just like to add that when you have a group of greedy buisnessmen running a country, and their idea of progress is rape of the earth to increase their bottom line. The propaganda in schools from the time you enter is that simple living is backwards, dirty, disease, ect. Now these same people are running big agro farms. They rape the land, poison it and all the other living creatures. It doesnt matter to them as long as they make $$$. They push that to wastefully consume products that are un-needed is happiness. So if you want to lead in green solutions, get off the grid. Simplify your life as much as possible. Ox power not toxic power.

[Ferretlover]

SundanceChannel.com/green
It’s Not Easy Being Green: Join the Strawbridge family in their quest to be self-sufficient and environmentally responsible as they leave suburban comfort for a run-down 300-year-old English farmhouse and three acres in Cornwall. During the course of this eight-part British documentary series, engineer Dick Strawbridge, wife Brigit, son James and daughter Charlotte plan to harness a nearby stream to generate electricity, grow their own vegetables and raise a pig or two.

Here (MN) it is on Tuesday evenings from 8 to 8:35 pm EST among other times
It is about a family that is working to get off the grid. Last week, they built a greenhouse w/heat sink, prepared ground for gardens, and using a water mill that they had erected, connected it to a gear box for electrical power.
Last week, they had two pigs they had raised slaughtered (the slaughter man-our 'butcher?") came to the farm when they were ready. It showed nearly every aspect of slaughter (except the bullet actually killing the pigs, and the cutting the throat part), including having it cut up into the different cuts, and building a solar panel to heat the water from the water tank.
I thought this was a good program because you actually get a real time 'experience' at the things we will all probably have to learn.
On tonight’s program, they will be building a composting toilet.
This and other 'green' topics can be found at:

http://www.sundancechannel.com/thegreen/#/homePage

[Ebyss]

I have the book that goes along with the series, it's quite good.

Recommend also River Cottage w. Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall for more programmes and books on self sufficiency, incl getting food from the wild. They have a forum and website too, with downloads on preparing your "pig-in-a-day" when it gets back from the slaughterhouse (only available to members). Or it's available on dvd.


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '(')the slaughter man-our 'butcher?")

[Madpaddy]

Ebyss,

It is easy being green with the Sunoven. I'll do you a special price on one if you want. The killer is the shipping cost from the states.

PM me.

[Ferretlover]

I like this program. Seeing that family actually doing things I want to learn to do makes the projects more real and understandable-a vicarious experience...

[Madpaddy]

This programme was on last year. it is excellent. They made a heat sump for their glass house using polystyrene foam, crushed glass and some pipe. Ingenious.

[morph]

yep was on TV here in the UK last year. Good show! As said above Escape to river cottage/return to river cottage is another good programme all about self sufficiency/owning a small holding