A Year after The Age of Limits: 5 Responses to the End Times

...end-timer shorthand for the beliefs that people in denial hold, such as, “Technology will solve all our problems.” Hope is a drug, like opium, because, the thinking goes, there is no hope for us. Despairoin is a critique of that hopelessness, an observation that despair and melodrama can be as addictive as heroin. I don’t think we have use for either drug, though a nice glass of wine, whether that be elderberry wine or a nice California red, coul...

Read…

How to Search for Science-Based Gardening Advice

...d a variety of disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology. Topics covered include global climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling and more.” All of these databases overlap to some extent and you’ll probably need to check more than one to be thorough. They will also deliver results from trade and popular sources (not a bad thing, of course, but these sources are not...

Read…

The Energy Environment Simulator

...extreme, your own personal zombie apocalypse. One of the energy sources is labeled “new technology.” This could either be solar or that UFO doughnut from the Thrive movie. The only info we have on it is that it was manufactured by Tenntronics, a defunct company that was in business from the late 1960s through the late 1980s. It came with a handsome storage cabinet that also serves as a pedestal. Photo: Niklas Vollmer I’m guessing that the Energy-E...

Read…

Kintsugi: Creating Art out of Loss

...od as new, as if it had never broken, but acknowledging that breakage, and making something new and beautiful out of disaster, via the practice of mindfulness. Perhaps we can learn something from this. Please do check out the video–it’s short and beautiful. In it, a young craftsman explains the rising popularity of this 400 year-old art form in Japan, says, ” …people are realizing that chasing after money and new stuff and new technology will not...

Read…

Made in the shade- Passive cooling

...s in the Winter can allow sunlight to enter your house in the cool season, making them ideally suited to passive heating and cooling. You can also shade your windows. Solar shades project out over a window, thus blocking the highest angle of the sun. When the angle of the sun is lower and the heat and sun less extreme, in Winter and during sunset and sunrise in summer, sunlight can still get in the windows. A roof that projects past the walls of t...

Read…