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Teetering on the edge of an ecological collapse

Is it irresponsible or ‘doomism’ to predict societal collapse?

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I was introduced to an interesting academic paper recently, in which Professor Jem Bendell explained that his predictions of societal collapse have been criticised by some in academia because they will engender fear, depression and apathy, which will harm our chances of solving environmental problems.

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Establishing urban orchards to benefit people, communities and nature

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The Orchard Project are a superb group establishing and maintaining urban community orchards. The are beneficial in so many ways, including biodiversity, community cohesion, local food, carbon storage and human well-being. Here, they explain an approach called ‘nature-based solutions’.

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Support small fishing boats over giant super-trawlers

Why we should support small fishing boats over super-trawlers, Part 3

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Here’s the third and final part of my interview with Caroline Bennett, founder of ‘Sole of Discretion’ (a community interest company that sells fish caught by a collective of small fishing boats in Devon) about why we should support small fishing boats over giant super-trawlers. We’re talking about how government quotas benefit super-trawlers and disadvantage

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Why we should support small fishing boats over super-trawlers, Part 1

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Here’s Part 1 of our interview with Caroline Bennett, founder of ‘Sole of Discretion’, a community interest company that sells fish caught by a collective of small fishing boats in Devon. Here we’re talking about the sustainability and community benefits of small fishing boats, the barriers that they face, and how her business can help

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the Big Solar Co-op

Jon Hallé: Introducing the Big Solar Co-op, and how you can help renewables and the co-op sector

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Today I’m speaking with Jon Hallé. We go back about 20 years. You ran courses on how to make biodiesel for Lowimpact, back in the early noughties, and you authored a book for us about making biodiesel, that sold about 15k copies in the first year. It caught the zeitgeist then, but of course diesel

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Help get solar onto more roofs in your community: Big Solar Co-op

How you can help get solar onto more roofs in your community: the Big Solar Co-op

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As it’s Community Energy Fortnight, I thought I’d have a word with my old mate Jon Hallé, who used to run Lowimpact’s ‘How to Make Biodiesel’ courses in the early noughties (and authored a book of the same title with us), and since then has gone on to found Sharenergy, who have helped over 100

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What kind of work do we want to do?

What kind of work do we want to do? Is working with our hands passé?

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There’s an approach to life that sees craft jobs, or smallholding and food production, including baking, brewing and beekeeping, as well as any kind of job that involves manual work and dexterity as somehow retrograde and passé, and that ‘work’ now means mainly putting on a suit and travelling to an office to do something-or-other

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