Info, news & debate

03/2017 posts

Nature in April – what to look out for

As we move through April towards May, woodlands and waysides start to burst with late spring flowers. One of the most notable of these is the Bluebell which is opening its glorious blue nodding bells this month. We are famed the world over for our bluebell woods Read more

What to sow, plant and harvest in your polytunnel or greenhouse in April

April is one of the busiest months and one filled with immense responsibility. All your crops are now sown and you care for them as if they are your little babies. Read more

Fruit & vegetable growing guide for April

By April spring should be well and truly underway, the soil warming up nicely and everything growing away. Don’t be complacent though, it’s been known for a cold snap with snow to strike even in the sunny south of England. Read more

Very worthwhile and interesting job available with the Open Food Network

Are you interested in helping create food sovereignty in the UK? Would you like to help create food systems in which everyone has access to affordable, nutritious, culturally-appropriate food? Read more

University meets WWOOF: An interview with student and WWOOFer Iona Desouza

Hours spent in the library? Check. Essay and assignment deadlines flooding in? Check. Tractor driving, wool spinning and weeding at weekends? Check! Read more

Why does Donald Trump scorn renewable energy when it’s so good for business?

Steve Last of IPPTS Associates | 23-Mar-2017 | 3

US President Donald Trump seems to be locked into a crusade to deny that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the cause of climate change. While it is always possible that 97% of the scientific community have got it completely wrong, it would seem unlikely that they have. Read more

Would you like to be a chef on an organic farm / cafe, with a small cottage available too?

Sinking into a bit of a depression about both the British and American situation this winter a wise friend kindly reminded me that these issues are merely a distraction from more important things in our everyday lives. Read more

Will we reach ‘peak car’, after which we can begin to reduce the number of cars on the roads?

Daniel Scharf of Dan the Plan | 19-Mar-2017 | 3

As a baby-boomer I have lived through a 50 year period where life has become dominated by and dependent on the use of the private car. I wonder whether other people are sharing my expectation that there will be a very much shorter period, equivalent  to a revolution, where the car moves into the background? Read more

Is democracy obsolete, and can we ever achieve it as long as we have to keep feeding ‘the beast’?

Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 16-Mar-2017 | 3

In the West, there’s a word that usually accompanies ‘democracy’, and that word is ‘liberal’. Liberal democracies – that’s what we have in the West. That’s liberal, as in liberty / freedom; and that’s certainly what classical liberalism stood for in its infancy. Read more

Career change? Interview with Amanda James about becoming a dry stone waller

In a society increasingly out of touch with the joy of crafting and building by hand, making a transition to gain new skills and work within a traditional rural craft can seem at once appealing and daunting. Read more

What we’re losing: the joy and satisfaction of crafting things by hand

Jan Zalud of janzalud.co.uk | 12-Mar-2017 | 3

The video below shows various stages of the production and finish of a 1-metre tall puppet by Jan Zalud. Jan makes all sorts of things – crafted by hand from wood. Read more

How the corporate goldrush for incineration, gasification and pyrolysis of waste generates more consumption, more waste and more pollution

‘When waste to energy companies propose to build incineration/gasification plants they stipulate that contracts be in place which lock-in local authorities to providing them with a fixed tonnage of waste over the lifetime of the plant (often about 25 years). Read more

Low-impact & the city 11: buying a laptop without Windows – with Linux or with no operating system at all

Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 08-Mar-2017 | 2

This is the last in a series of articles to help you to jettison Windows and corporate software generally. Read more

Low-impact & the city 10: how to install Linux on your hard drive (alongside Windows)

Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 06-Mar-2017 | 4

This is the latest in a series of articles intended to help you become Windows- and corporate-software-free. Read more

Why self-reliance is so important as part of a secure, low-impact life

Andy Reynolds of the Ecolodge | 04-Mar-2017 | 0

I am Andy Reynolds, a long-term practitioner of low-impact living, smallholder, author, forester, teacher, carpenter, builder. I’ve been working with Lowimpact.org since the early noughties, and I’d like to share my philosophy on self-reliance with you. Read more

Come and join us on our organic, off-grid smallholding in 2017

We are James and Sukamala, tenants at Wild Geese Acres, Greenham Reach, which is an off-grid, low-impact farming project established in north Devon by the Ecological Land Coop  (ELC) – see website. http://ecologicalland.coop. Read more

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