A Crack in the Asphalt

Upcoming Event: EARTH DIALOGUES BRISBANE 2006

posted by Gemma Grace @ 1:07 p.m. 0 comments

Upcoming Event: SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLES SYMPOSIUM

• Morning: personal exercise, spiritual practices and workshops
• Afternoon: work projects, hands-on demonstrations, field trips and networking
• Evening: speaker, films, celebration arts, and theory sessions

Choose from one of three parallel workshop tracks to suit the level of seriousness or urgency you feel about the impacts of energy scarcity and climate change on personal lifestyles.

• Sensible Downshifting: an emphasis on public policy and influencing government to reduce energy usage and produce more goods and services, like food, locally.
• Technology to the Rescue: the technological ‘levees’ that could protect many Canadians from hardships imposed by the high cost of energy and social disruptions.
• Building Lifeboats: the local actions we could take to live low energy lifestyles, independent of government and corporate action.

The event fee is approximately $400 ($300 tenting/trailer) with a sliding scale based on capacity to pay.

Register online at the Sustainable Lifestyles webpage, or call 1-705-538-2390. Come with someone from your locality, go home with a friend and a plan for your personal future.

NeeKauNis is sponsoring this event with The Quaker Ecology Action Network, The Sustainable Scale Project, Hamilton Ontario, and supported by Relocalize, a program of the Postcarbon Institute.

posted by Gemma Grace @ 1:12 p.m. 0 comments

Shelf Life - Selected Books and Journals

• Ronald Wright, one of this country's [Canada's] intellectual treasures... takes his readers on a sweeping educational tour of history and every continent's previous civilizations... This excellent book should be required reading at the White House. Bronwyn Drainie, Quill & Quire
• I don't care if you have never read and will never read any kind of book at all, but you must read this one. [Wright] achieves in a mere 132 pages what another author couldn't manage in 1,300... Wise, timely, and brilliant. Paul William Roberts, Globe and Mail
• An elegant and learned discussion of what the rise and fall of past civilizations predict about our own: nothing good. Maclean's
• Ronald Wright draws less-than-comforting lessons about our future from our past... his arguments are compelling and necessary. Saturday Night
• Concise, urgent, and at times darkly prophetic... A Short History of Progress [is] timely, razor-sharp, grimly accurate. Dennis Choquette, The Varsity
• If you read one book about impending doom this year, make it this one. Christine Sismondo, Ottawa Citizen
• Rarely have I read a book that is so gripping, so immediate and so important to our times. Jared Diamond will be jealous! Robyn Williams, ABC
• Provocative... Already a bestseller in Canada, Wright is now making his biggest mark since his debut novel (A Scientific Romance, 1997) attracted wide attention... Illuminating and disturbing, and expansively documented. Kirkus Reviews

posted by Gemma Grace @ 10:52 p.m. 0 comments

Upcoming TV Documentary: ARCTIC MISSION

posted by Gemma Grace @ 8:03 p.m. 0 comments

Upcoming Event: PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE

posted by Gemma Grace @ 9:20 a.m. 0 comments

E-Newsletter: THE CUTTING EDGE

• Gardening tips and info
• Research Farm reports
• Favorite varieties
• Book reviews
• Field Reports for Market Growers
• News and events
• Interviews with leading voices

Subscribe to The Cutting Edge, or click here to read the current issue.

posted by Gemma Grace @ 5:24 p.m. 0 comments

Community Supported Agriculture Projects

1. Glen Valley Organic Farm Co-op: The Glen Valley Organic Farm Co-operative (GVOFC) is a community of individuals who have come together with the shared goal of sharing, owning and operating the Glen Valley Organic Farm. The GVOFC's members come from a variety of backgrounds, including conventional and organic farming, education, law, project management, marketing and group facilitation. The GVOFC uses the consensus model of decision-making, ensuring that all members have a voice. (Canada) (BC)
2. Share Organics: Share Organics is committed to providing our community with a convenient way of receiving reasonably priced,high quality, organic products; and to support andpromote local growers in sustainable organic agriculture. (Canada) (BC)
3. Community Shared Agriculture: Community Shared Agriculture is a system of growing and distributing organic produce which restores the link between farmers and consumers. There are now approximately 1000 CSA farms in North America. (North America)
4. Plan B Organic Farm: Plan B Organic Farm was established in 1997 by Rodrigo Venturelli, Alvaro Venturelli & Melanie Golba. This will be our 8th season growing organically here at our farm and we are Certified Organic by OCPP. We are committed to: (1) Growing delicious, high quality vegetables, herbs and fruits using organic farming methods that are in harmony with our surrounding environments. (2) Providing accessible, affordable, and freshly harvested organic produce to households in our region. (3) Working in partnership with other local organic farmers to dependably provide our shareholders with the variety of crops that our region offers. (4) Creating a place where our community can come to learn about organic farming, the source of their food, and the natural cycles of our bioregion. (Canada) (Ontario)
5. Equiterre: In 2005, the CSA network in Quebec boasts 97 participating farms, 77 of which sell the vegetables and meats they produce, while the remaining 20 supply these farms with products they can sell separately (honey, apple products, cheeses, etc.). Équiterre estimates that some 7,500 contracts for weekly food baskets will be drawn up this year, providing at least 20,000 people with delicious, fresh organic foods throughout the season. There are more than 300 drop-off points in the province where consumers can pick up their baskets directly from their "family farmer." (Canada) (Quebec)
6. Women and the Economy - Building Sustainability: Our Stories - Charlene is the co-ordinator of the Organic Farm Mentorship Program in Manitoba. She has studied various forms of alternative agriculture including Permaculture, organic gardening, heritage seed saving, and biodynamics. Charlene lives, works and farms near the town of Clearwater. (Canada) (Manitoba)
7. Cook Student Organic Farm: Our CSA runs from about the beginning of June to the middle of October. Produce is harvested and divided into shares, which are distributed weekly to both individual families and non-profit groups. (Canada) (New Brunswick)
8. WWOOF - Willing Workers On Organic Farms: Vacationing in Canada and volunteering on Organic Farms is a great way to broaden your education and practical experience. It also serves as a great way to inexpensively travel. Over 600 farm hosts - a great variety of choices - will introduce you to the many interesting aspects of Canadian farms and gardens. WWOOFing is a cultural exchange and a helping exchange. See also, the International WWOOF website. (Canada) (International)

posted by Gemma Grace @ 11:58 p.m. 0 comments

Synergistic Approach to Sustainable Design

1. The Self-Sustaining Research Station Design Project: [A grade 9 Horizon's summer project explores aspects of sustainability including: alternative housing, ecological footprint, energy systems and health. - ed.] Throughout this three-week curriculum unit several general principles will be emphasized and employed to maximize the benefits of an integrated unit. The systems approach, whole systems thinking and the underlying principle of synergy will be the central, core concepts that all of the curricular areas will revolve around. The idea that not only are all the parts of a system connected and interrelated but more importantly that the discovery of these interrelationships leads to further discovery since, as synergy explains, the behaviour of the whole system is unpredictable simply by knowing the behaviour of the parts taken separately.

posted by Gemma Grace @ 11:49 a.m. 0 comments

Strategies for Change

1. Go For Green - Gardening For Life: Gardening for Life is a national Go for Green program that supports the idea of natural gardening including careful use of water, tree planting for home energy efficiency, and avoiding the use of chemical pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers. Read the March 2002 Report: Forum for Public Education Strategies to Encourage Gardening for Life (in pdf format). (Canada)
2. Tools of Change - Proven Methods for Promoting Health, Safety and Environmental Citizenship: Welcome to Tools of Change! This Web site, founded on the principles of community-based social marketing, offers specific tools, case studies, and a planning guide for helping people take actions and adopt habits that promote health and/or are more environmentally-friendly. This Web site will help you include in your programs the best practices of many other programs - practices that have already been successful in changing people's behaviour. (Canada)

posted by Gemma Grace @ 4:29 p.m. 1 comments