domenica 15 dicembre 2013

Le piante moderne


Una pianta colleziona le sostanze nutritive di cui ha bisogno attraverso il complicato intrico di radici che sprofonda nel sottosuolo.

Guardando la mappa della nutella nel mondo, si ha l'impressione che il singolo prodotto collezioni le sue componenti tramite un lungo e complesso sistema che viene alimentato dall'energia contenuta nei combustibili fossili.

Una volta creato, "l’insieme dei processi e delle attività che un’azienda segue per produrre e vendere un prodotto" si apre in una nuova fitta serie di rami, che portano il prodotto nei singoli scaffali, fino a casa nostra.

mercoledì 11 dicembre 2013

Easter Island

Another interpretation of the story of Easter Island. "What if the planet's ecosystem, (...) is reduced to a ruin, yet its people endure, worshipping their gods and coveting status objects while surviving on some futuristic equivalent of the Easter Islanders' rat meat and rock gardens?"

martedì 10 dicembre 2013

An abundant world


An abundant world  is the hope that many peoples do have in order to keep going on with the current needs of energy without deep changes in roots on the way we do things.

How would you create all the solar panel you need to create such an amount of energy to cover everybody needs? You need expensive materials and a lot of energy to install them, and still you do not have electricity at night.
Furthermore, the energy density with solar is much less, to power highly intensive activities, like for industry. To store electricity you would need lot of short living polluting batteries.

How much land you have to drill to extract enough geothermal power? Do we have a better use for it? Even having a lot of electricity, it cannot be eaten: to transform solar energy into food, no one can do better than the efficiency of what nature does with photosynthesis in plants.

To just mention the problem of the transportation system, almost totally based on oil, that it would require a widespread effort, resources and time for a complete conversion to electricity.

I agree with the point that we need to change the market rules in a more sustainable form. Today the energy from fossil fuels is still relatively cheap, with respect to other sources, still the inequalities in having food and housing are quite large. The inequalities will not be smaller with cheaper energy clean without changing the distribution of wealth.

I think we need to better design the way we produce food and warm up houses, while looking at the energy problem.

lunedì 9 dicembre 2013

Wicked problems





Sustainability: this is the problem I would like to contribute in solving.

I start thinking the scientific method alone needs some external help. Of course we can only do our part, that it is what we are able to do.

However, knowing where to connect to the other pieces would make our task more accessible to non scientific peoples, since the problem we are thinking of is a wicked problem.

 Why peoples realize and do not act, or do not even try to realize while accepting all their miserable lives. But those that act, are not always successful, and that is another point I want to understand. I am thinking about cognitive dissonance, negation, power of authority, etc. But looks like there is much more to know to motivate sustainable behavior.

I like to interact with peoples, and I would like to have constructive conversations, it looks like that using good questions might help a lot, and it is something that we can do almost everyday with different peoples.

giovedì 5 dicembre 2013

Skills needed in the future

Here you will find a nice list with links of skills that will be needed in the future.
It is quite large and allow to satisfy tastes of many peoples. If you have time, learn some of this!

domenica 1 dicembre 2013

Science and the future


Questa sembra una conferenza interessante, un'occhiata alle presentazioni va data...

Ad esempio in queste slides di Ginatempo si spiega come la produzione di rifiuti sia inevitabile in un'economia lineare come quella in cui viviamo.

Conseguenze sono visibili in studi che mostrano dove si muore di inquinamento.

venerdì 29 novembre 2013

Russians Proving That Small-Scale, Organic Gardening Can Feed the World


Sembra che i russi ci riescano abbastanza bene: producono una notevole frazione del loro cibo in terreni a piccola scala. Hanno indubbiamente molto spazio, ma anche una stagione favorevole piuttosto breve. Quanto si potrebbe fare meglio in Italia con un clima molto più soleggiato?

I vantaggi di una transizione non sarebbero male, sempre che si riesca a compierla prima di essere in una condizione da cui diventa troppo difficile
fare questo passo (senza lavoro e senza nulla da cui partire)...

giovedì 28 novembre 2013

The hunger games


There are peoples that start to be really worried about the future hunger games.

I have found the proposed parallel among Ukraine and USA quite interesting.

Not sure about the spiritual preparation, may be knowing the past experiences described, we should start thinking to some new solution, that can work better.

Below an extract from The backyard provider.



Consider the EVIDENCE that what is going on in America is eerily similar to what went on in the Ukraine during the Holodomor.
1) Government granted authority over all food production components
Ukraine – 1928 Stalin introduces a program of agricultural collectivization that forces farmers to give up their private land, equipment and livestock, and join state owned, factory-like collective farms.
USA – In 2012, Obama signed an executive order called the National Defense Resources Preparedness Act which grants the secretary of agriculture (section 201) authority over farms, farm equipment, food, and even farmers.
2) Government uses laws and brutal enforcement as a means to eliminate those refuse assimilation
Ukraine – 1929 Many Ukrainian farmers, known for their independence, refuse to join the collective farms. Stalin introduces a policy of “class warfare” in the countryside in order to break down resistance to collectivization. The successful farmers are branded as the class enemy, and brutal enforcement by regular troops and secret police is used to “liquidate them as a class.” Eventually anyone who resists collectivization is considered a kurkul (an enemy).
USA – 2011 Peaceful farmers are enduring armed raids by regulatory bodies for crimes such as selling locally produced natural milk and cheese or raising hearty heritage breed pigs (which the regulatory agency forced the farmer to shoot).  The Amish, who refuse to be collectivized are under fire both from armed raids of their farms and from reality TV shows such as Amish Mafia and Breaking Amish which appear tailor-made to undermine public opinion of the Amish (thus reducing public outcry regarding their persecution).
3) Government assumes authority to seize land and to harass and even relocate targeted people groups
Ukraine – 1930  1.5 million Ukrainians fall victim to Stalin’s “dekulakization” policies, Over the extended period of collectivization, armed dekulakization brigades forcibly confiscate land, livestock and other property, and evict entire families.
USA – Eight years ago, the supreme court ruled that the government can seize property if doing so will result in economic development.  Today in many towns across America (like Maryville, TNDaytona Beach, FL)   independent boards of unelected officials are being granted the authority to exercise eminent domain (the power to seize land and allocate it for other uses).  The Federal government has admitted to collecting data on all Americans and particularly on those who oppose its policies. The digital age enables them to build quite a color coded list of dissidents and they have been hiring Internment / Resettlement Specialists since at least 2009.  When will the round up begin?
4) Government militarizes local law enforcement and implements travel restrictions
Ukraine – 1933 “military blockades are erected around many Ukrainian villages preventing the transport of food into the villages and the hungry from leaving in search of food.”
USA – 2013- Cities across the US are being armed with TANKS and heavy equipment in what even the mainstream press is reporting as the militarization of local law enforcement. TSA is setting up on roadways across the US.
5) Government asserts that speech critical of government is criminal / terrorist activity.
Ukraine – 1933 “Anyone claiming that there was a famine was accused of spreading anti-Soviet propaganda.”
USA – 2013 “Whistleblowers are being treated as criminals. Free Speech is under fire and even reporters are being censored by the US government, prompting an investigation by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Refusal to give verbal agreement to (insane) government policies is now grounds for employment termination and the military is being purged of dissent.”
Let this sink in. The millions that died in the Holodomor were successful farmers. They were not city dwellers intent on learning farming. They were not suburban dwellers with a 2 month supply of dry goods and a camp stove. They had land, they had community, they had skills.

sabato 23 novembre 2013

Walmart’s Climate Impact

A model that it is intrinsically unsustainable:

http://www.ilsr.org/walmart-climate/

In fact I do not think that even being 100% on renewable energies they would become sustainable. It could be a reason for which Walmart does not even try.

But an advantage could be that being the largest company, if it starts to act, it could quickly make a difference with the past. There is only one way to convince them: touch their pockets, boycotting their stores!

venerdì 22 novembre 2013

Policy: Twenty tips for interpreting scientific claims


A critical set of knowledge to improve policy-makers' understanding of the imperfect nature of science.

http://www.nature.com/news/policy-twenty-tips-for-interpreting-scientific-claims-1.14183

La pêche de l'Intermarché


Avez-vous jamais acheté du poisson à l'Intermarché?

C'est rigolo de lire cette histoire:

La pêche de l'Intermarché

Après il ne reste que faire son choix!

Contre les subvention publiques vers la pêche au chalutage, voila la pétition.

Feeding the world

In the industrial agriculture of today lot of energy work is inserted in the system to produce food. About 10 calories per calorie of food of additional work on top of what is needed to the crops to grow (sun, land, water, etc) that would be needed anyway.

Most of the current improvements of this kind of agriculture are directed on technological development to increase the production and reduce the energy consumption. The use of fossil fuels provide most of this energy, and allow a single farmer to produce food for many peoples. In US, farmers account for about 1% of the population.

However, we have many reasons for not using fossil fuels at all. "How are we going to feed an extra two billion people without destroying what’s left of the natural world, especially under the stress of climate change"? I like this answer: regeneratively intensify food production on the same amount of acreage

It is not enough to change at a local scale, global trade alternatives are necessary to put humans first, then markets and profit.

giovedì 21 novembre 2013

Nos enfants nous accuseront

Un film che descrive due piani di storie:

http://www.nosenfantsnousaccuseront-lefilm.com/





da una parte chi utilizza pratiche inquinanti in agricoltura e ne vive le conseguenze sulla propria pelle.
Dall'altra la storia di una scuola e di come il giardino diventa un luogo per riconnettersi con la realtà.





Allo stesso tempo in Italia accade questo:

http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2013/10/13/distratta-dalla-crisi-italia-perde-terreni-agricoli/

e questo:

http://www.repubblica.it/economia/2013/11/21/news/parte_il_consiglio_dei_ministri_sull_imu_possibile_slittamento_per_seconda_rata-71522553/

Per coprire una parte dell'ammanco, si potrebbe tassare solo i terreni di chi utilizza pratiche agricole inquinanti, andando nella giusta direzione per il futuro e promuovendo allo stesso tempo un'agricoltura più sana per tutti.

mercoledì 20 novembre 2013

The Limits of growth 30 years graph

Club of Rome’s infamous report “The Limits to Growth” (Meadows et al., 1972)

Limits of growth graph

Nel frattempo, business as usual:
 

http://www.repubblica.it/ambiente/2013/11/21/news/summit_onu_varsavia-71554699/

Salento: gli ulivi risorgono, smascherando la bufala del “batterio killer”

Una buona notizia, ulivi del Salento salvi dalla "tabula rasa"!

http://www.salviamoilpaesaggio.it/blog/2013/11/salento-gli-ulivi-risorgono-smascherando-la-bufala-del-batterio-killer/

Mi sa non è finita qui:

http://www.nationalgeographic.it/ambiente/2013/11/17/news/la_moria_degli_ulivi_pugliesi_mito_mediatico_o_realt_-1893041/

Link utili

Buono per la condivisione (di terra, semi, consigli, idee):

http://www.terraxchange.it

Software per la protezione dei dati digitali da programmi di spionaggio

https://prism-break.org/it/all/

L'Agriculture Biologique pour nourrir l'Humanité - Démonstration

Suggestions d'Hervé:

Jacques Caplat, "L'Agriculture Biologique pour nourrir l'Humanité - Démonstration",
éditions Actes Sud (Domaine du Possible)

"Dette, 5000 ans d'histoire" de David Graeber

Il tempo delle api

This movie in preparation seems interesting:
http://www.produzionidalbasso.com/pdb_2826.html

Permapiculture, may be this will turn to be useful one day, when bees become difficult to care of:
http://www.biobees.com/library/hive_perone/Making-a-Perone-Hive.pdf

Open Source Beehives to help avoid colony collapse:
http://www.opensourcebeehives.net/

Introduction

This blog wants to start as a collection of links, that I have found interesting, and that I want to keep track. It is my filter of the events going on in the web and in the real world. Sharing of opinions and ideas is welcome.
Posts will be mostly in English, Italian, and French.