I am in agreement with Robbie Burns, who once told his father that he felt at odds with the world and was ‘not formed for the bustle of the busy.’ There was a time when I filled my waking hours with far too much useless distraction, but I couldn’t keep it up. It was driving [...]
When I first came across the word ‘transition’ as applied to a new way of thinking about the challenges of peak oil and climate change, I was excited. Sally and I both wanted to know more. There was no nascent group in Ross at the time, so we became itinerant Transition groupies. We went to [...]
We live in a culture that labels, defines, categorises, qualifies and pigeonholes everything. If you are not one thing, then you must be another. From the cradle to the proverbial grave, we are all processed by the system in this way. If, for whatever reason, someone or something cannot be contained within the usual definitions, [...]
On the day when three shops, including one with a magnificent 15th Century frontage, were destroyed by fire in Hereford High Town, Sally and I sat in the Hereford Deli sipping double espresso and scanning this morning’s paper and its reports of George Osborne’s attempts to cut the UK budget deficit. The paper (The Times, [...]
Going into the office this morning to switch on the computer, I found it was already on. I know what you’re thinking – I had turned it on earlier and simply forgotten that I had done so. Well, no. The same thing happened yesterday. Okay, so the obvious conclusion is that this is the second [...]
At a Farmers’ Market last month, we came upon a stall selling ‘cold-pressed extra virgin rapeseed oil.’ The stallholder was keenly praising this deeply golden liquid for its beneficial properties, emphasising in particular the healthy nature of polyunsaturated oils and the presence of Omega-3, Omega-6 and Omega-9. Omega-9? Not one we hear much about, but [...]
Continue reading about Oiling the Myths: all that glisters . . .
Well, here we are – the tenth of the tenth of the tenth. An important date for the 10:10 movement, it would seem. Wasn’t it by this date that they wanted us all to reduce our energy consumption by 10%? Or was it just to aim for a 10% reduction through the course of 2010? [...]
The other day, we were introduced to a dog called Frida, who is a cross between a Jack Russell and a Cairn terrier. Reminiscent in general looks, not to either of her parents, but to the salt-and-pepper appearance of a middle-aged Scottish terrier, Frida nonetheless displays distinct attributes of both her forebears. With a pointy [...]
I would be the first to admit that my vision of our future world might look a little rosy. Certain elements of it might even have a naive tinge, and could be criticised for being idealistic – possibly even unattainable. But, if I hear one more person attempting to justify intensive, mechanised agriculture by saying, [...]
Continue reading about Feeding the world, or simply feeding the myth?