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December 2008
 

slashfairy
Date: 2008-10-13 06:10
Subject: As I was saying- or, another side to the health-care issue, one we can all relate to- FOOD!
Security: Public
Tags:economics, food, garden, health-care, politics

Michael Pollan in the NYT full text under cut )

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slashfairy
Date: 2008-08-03 05:52
Subject: more on globalization and the neighbourhood effect
Security: Public
Tags:citizen's rights and responsibilities, ecology, economy, food, garden, philosophy, psychology

This from the NYT- Shipping Costs Start to Crimp Globalization.

(prior links dump Here.)


What can you do about it?
City Farmer
Community Gardening and Kids
Community Greens
Moss in the City: Urban Gardening
Urban Gardening Magazine
ETA Pick Your Own gardens and farms in US, UK, Europe, Canada, Italy, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa</a>.


Perhaps you and some friends get together and lament not being in better shape. Can one of you donate land to a group project garden? Maybe all you have is a balcony in a climate with a short growing season. Can you grow herbs? sprout seeds?

Maybe you think it's inefficient to grow any of your own food. Well, maybe it is from a strictly commercial business point of view. But in terms of best use of the calories you take in / the calories you expend, which is more worthwhile? the giant pack from Costco or Tesco? or the oxygen-producing, carbon-dioxide reducing pot of chives or basil on your sill? The tomatoes you get from the pot on the balcony? the lettuce from the box on the verandah? Remember, even some flowers are edible. (I use nasturtiums in my salads. mmm, peppery!)

I dunno if the problems caused (to some extent, unwittingly) by globalizing trade and industrializing farming are all curably by home food farming. I do know that even if you have a 'black thumb', over time you can learn to listen to plants and come to recognize what it takes to have an honest relationship with sun-converting chlorophyll-using beings, and that in itself can be balm to a wounded soul, and help right some of the imbalance in the world.

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slashfairy
Date: 2008-07-30 03:48
Subject: A
Security: Public
Tags:citizen rights and responsibilities, economics, food, local economics, psychology, walking

World Trade Organization talks collapse amid farm stand-off.
Obesity linked to newer, less walkable neighborhoods
Walkability Score for your Neighborhood
Relocalization Network
Local Harvest (USA)
Local food is 'greener than organic'
Food Miles and Sustainability
Not on the Label: What Really Goes into the Food on Your Plate by Felicity Lawrence
A review of Shopped: the Shocking power of British Supermarkets (counterpoint- from Someone who loves supermarkets)
Hungry Planet: What the world eats


Cotati as a Transition Town

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