Briarpatch articles from June 2006

Briarpatch archives from June 2006

Letter from the editor.(Editorial)
June 1, 2006... IF YOU MOVE BEYOND the ADD-afflicted 24-hour news cycle, you will find there is no shortage of in, formation about the environmental problems we face. Global warming. Peak oil. Declining global foodstocks. Ongoing destruction of the rain...

Reviving environmentalism *: power, profit, and the Canadian dream.
June 1, 2006... To put sustainability on the national agenda, Canadian environmentalists need to try something new. IF ADVERSITY IS THE mother of invention, a Harper government could prove to be the mother of ,a renaissance for the Canadian environmental...

How sustainable is city living? For the first time in history, more than half of humanity now lives in cities. But just how sustainable are the world's cities--both rich and poor?(The Myth of the Livable City)
June 1, 2006... LONDON. ROME. Sydney. Tokyo. Even for people who have never visited them, the mere mention of the world's great cities leaves many of us itching to pull up roots and go there to experience what they have to offer. Even my hometown of...

Adventures in urban beekeeping: the sweet feats of the Toronto Beekeepers Cooperative: a unique partnership with a few hundred thousand honeybees is creating numerous educational and micro-enterprise opportunities in Toronto.
June 1, 2006... FOR MOST PEOPLE IN THE CITY, THE word insect has a negative connotation. Insects are generally associated with all things unpleasant: the annoying mosquitoes that steal blood and occasionally transmit West Nile Virus, the disgusting flies...

Rural roads to social change: home grown resistance at Heritage Line Herbs.
June 1, 2006... 'Twas two days before Christmas and we were up to our elbows in dirt. The rhythmic movements of planting had worked their way into our bodies: take the pot, fill it to the brim with soil, level it off, create a small hole with the index...

Station 20 West is set to bloom in a (food) desert: where there is no food store, core neighborhoods start their own.
June 1, 2006... "... and the kids can't get ice cream 'cos the market burned down." TOM WAITS, "IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD" "PROSPERITY DOTH BEST DISCOVER vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue." So said Francis Bacon. If his maxim holds true,...

Skipping a step: the environmental case for passing the meat: instead of eating the animals that eat the plants, why not just eat the plants?
June 1, 2006... OUR FOOD CHOICES have a big impact--not just on our bodies, but also on the environment and our local economies. Choosing to eat lower on the food chain by eating less meat is a significant way to lower your impact on the environment. Strict...

25 ways to tread more lightly on the Earth.
June 1, 2006... NORTH AMERICA IS HOME TO only five percent of the world's population, but is responsible for consuming one third of all the Earth's resources--and seventy-five percent of those resources end up wasted. In a perfect world, our economy and...

Diary of a Compost Hotline Operator Edible essays on city farming.
June 1, 2006... Diary of a Compost Hotline Operator Edible essays on city farming Spring Gillard New Society, 2003 ONE OF THE EASIEST ways to work towards a sustainable world is actually through our stomachs. By growing our own food and eating locally...

Superbia! 31 Ways to Create Sustainable Neighbourhoods.
June 1, 2006... Superbia! 31 Ways to Create Sustainable Neighbourhoods. Dan Chiras and Dave Wann New Society, 2003 SUPERBIA! IS A GREAT resource for anyone who is interested in making their neighbourhoods more friendly, livable, sustainable, and...

Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World.
June 1, 2006... Powerdown Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World Richard Heinberg New Society, 2004 RICHARD HEINBERG first tackled the topic of peak oil with his 2003 book The Party's Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies, which...

Memo from a media mogul.(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)
June 1, 2006... "Quarantine or ticker-tape parade? Neither one will be pretty, dear, so cover up your eyes, there are wicked, wicked truths and we are happier in our delightful lies." NATHAN, "JIMSON WEED"

No tool more effective.(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)
June 1, 2006... "Anyone can organize. Anyone can learn the basic principles of organizing. There is no tool more effective. You can 'learn how to win friends and influence people" you can 'discover your human potential; you can 'modify your behaviour" you...

The problem with a perpetual-growth machine in a finite world.(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)
June 1, 2006... "When the monster stops growing, it dies. It can't stay one size." JOHN STEINBECK, THE GRAPES OF WRATH

The limits of "collapse-think".(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)(Rogers Christy)(Quotation)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... "Collectively, humans are motivated to overcome the forces of social inertia only by hope for a dramatic improvement in their situation, or a personified enemy (or both). The collapse threat presents us with neither of these factors. Aging,...

Irony, thy name is Leah.(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)
June 1, 2006... "I carried on with the interview and didn't mention my discomfort with this woman's astonishing sense of privilege." LEAH MCLAREN, GLOBE & MALL, MAY 13, 2006