Info, news & debate
Year: 2015
I’ve joined the board of the Ecological Land Co-operative because I want to change the way land is owned and farmed
On Wednesday evening I attended the AGM of the Ecological Land Co-op at Freightliners City Farm in London. I was standing for election to the board after being invited to apply by Shaun Chamberlin of Dark Optimism
Support the art of blockprinting fabrics – watch this fantastic video of how it’s done and we’re sure you’ll want to
This hand block printed bed and table linen is made from organically grown cotton, certified by IMO, sourced by Hilary in India and printed at a small workshop in Rajasthan
Introducing Yorkley Court Community Farm – you can help them to secure their land with a land trust, and avoid eviction
Yorkley Court Community Farm is in the Forest of Dean. They contacted us as they’re involved in a legal battle to stay on the land that they’re currently occupying. The ownership of the land is contested, but a lot of damage has been done
Want to see land shared more equally, and managed ecologically? If so, here’s what to do
We used to get people on our straw-bale building courses who were amazed at how simple and quick a technique it is. They’d sometimes say ‘wow, I’m going to get a few acres and build my own home!’ and we’d have to inform them that they might have to do it in another country.
Why Panorama’s GM propaganda was false, there is no food shortage and we don’t need GM to feed the world
Did you see the BBC’s Panorama on monday, promoting the GM (genetic modification) industry? Here are four reasons their message is just pure propaganda on behalf of the corporate sector.
So do MPs deserve a 10% pay rise to £74,000 per annum?
There is an argument [see the Guardian, for example] currently going on about whether Westminster MPs deserve the 10% pay rise that they’ve been awarded, bringing a back-bencher’s salary up to £74,000.
Will nature deal with our crop and garden pests if we don’t intervene or use poisons?
It’s been cold, really cold. For a while I thought it was just that my new garden is on a very exposed site, and until the windbreaks really get going I’m going to have to put up with a late start to the season.
City bans fracking; legislators overturn it and receive $25k each from oil and gas industry. Is this democracy?
A city in Texas voted to ban fracking within its city limits. The ban in Denton passed with around 60% of the vote.
How would you rank these in order of importance: truth, happiness, justice, freedom?
It’s the next readers’ question in Philosophy Now magazine (much recommended, by the way), and when I saw it yesterday, I had a very strong reaction to it that has big implications for Lowimpact’s position on sustainability and democracy
3 million front gardens have been completely paved since 2005. Let’s try to reverse this trend.
The RHS 2015 Greening Grey Britain Report reveals that three times as many front gardens are paved over compared to ten years ago, a total increase of 15 square miles of ‘grey’, and that plant cover in front gardens has decreased by as much as 15%.
Materialism: so you think you’re not hooked?
‘Understanding ourselves, we come to understand all things, but if we seek to understand all things without knowing the nature of our own awareness, great will be our calamity.’ David Frawley
Do you understand the term ‘exponential function’ and how dangerous it is? We think everyone should
The exponential function is a very surprising (and potentially dangerous) thing. An exponential growth curve looks like this:
Community vetoes for wind farms, but not for fracking? What’s that about?
On the one hand the new Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Amber Rudd, appears committed to stopping the spread of onshore wind farms; this despite the fact that they are already the most important and cost effective source of renewable energy in the UK, and enjoy the support of two thirds of the population; and …
Invitation to join us at Breaking the Frame gathering in Derbyshire in July
NB: Dave from Lowimpact.org will be giving a talk about the Ujamaa2 idea on the Saturday afternoon, and the whole event will bring together people from various parts of the ‘alternative technology’ field
Is there a correlation between opinions on ecology and opinions on ethnicity?
The reason you’re on this website, I guess, is that you believe that there’s something wrong in terms of ecology, or nature. You may not know the details, but you have a strong feeling (or even quite a precise understanding) that we’re not living in harmony with nature, and that’s going to cause us more …
Should we be planning to ‘drought-proof’ our food production for a warmer climate?
The weather is not the climate. Nonetheless, over the last few years I have noticed that I have developed a slightly panicky fear of the weather; I can’t notice the weather I suppose, without it triggering all sorts of associations in my mind to the myriad articles I’ve read, and conversations I’ve had, about Anthropogenic Climate …
Help save Apple Island from development by becoming a part-owner and maybe even building yourself a sustainable home
We are asking for your help to support a great example of a sustainable enterprise, not by merely donating to it, but by becoming an investor in a unique piece of nature. See here.
The future will be handmade? The prospects for craft skills in ‘developing’ countries
The Future will be handmade? In the information age, the question has an absurd ring. But I ask after listening to Ashoke Chatterjee at the Artisans House in Mumbai. As a long time President of the Crafts Council of India, Chatterjee tells us that ‘The Future will be handmade’. The question mark is mine.
How Julius Nyerere’s Ujamaa idea could form the basis of a new global political system
In 1991, I spent a couple of months in two Ujamaa villages in Tanzania. The Ujamaa system was introduced by Julius Nyerere in the early 1960s, and the World Bank effectively killed it as a system in the late 80s, although a few independent Ujamaa villages survived into the 90s. I’m going to briefly describe …
Visit to the Gransfors Burks forge in Sweden – makers of the world’s best axes
Standing outside Huddiksval train station, it’s pouring with rain and I am beginning to wonder what the hell I am doing here. Having been travelling for 12 hours I’m tired and hungry, there is no one here to collect me, a taxi is more expensive than my flight from the UK and not a bus …