THIS. THIS SO MANY TIMES OVER. We're grown up enough now to challenge Rowling on her racist and closeted writing. I love the story, but damnit we deserve better than caricatures and tokenism.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Thursday, April 18, 2013
To JK Rowling from Cho Chang
THIS. THIS SO MANY TIMES OVER. We're grown up enough now to challenge Rowling on her racist and closeted writing. I love the story, but damnit we deserve better than caricatures and tokenism.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Rough Guide to Community Energy
Rough Guides, a world travel guidebook company, and M&S has recently come out with a free book on community energy. This book, Rough Guide to Community Energy, brings together resources and advice about creating sustainability in local communities through citizen action.
It's often been said that individual action is too small to make a difference and government action is too slow to change anything, but communities are the right scale to get the movement going. For anyone who's interested in starting a community group to tackle climate change or solar energy, but doesn't know where to start, this book provides a lot of cool case studies from the UK and many a practical advice on getting a project off the ground. The guide only covers energy issues and only draws from successful models from one geographic region, so there's a lot more out there that's possible, but it's a good starting point.
The book is available for download free on the website here.
It's often been said that individual action is too small to make a difference and government action is too slow to change anything, but communities are the right scale to get the movement going. For anyone who's interested in starting a community group to tackle climate change or solar energy, but doesn't know where to start, this book provides a lot of cool case studies from the UK and many a practical advice on getting a project off the ground. The guide only covers energy issues and only draws from successful models from one geographic region, so there's a lot more out there that's possible, but it's a good starting point.
The book is available for download free on the website here.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Book Review: Tomatoland
Book review of Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit by Barry Estabrook
Estabrook presents a critical look at the US tomato industry, particularly the agribusiness in Florida, where most of the US winter grown tomato crop comes from. Tomatos are among the bottom of fruit and veg for taste. The book offers a few possible reasons - tomatos bred for shelf life over taste, the diminishing genetic diversity among varieties out on the market. Most of that is fairly common among agriculture - bananas around the world, for example, are all the same clone species. It was interesting to read of field expeditions to find wild tomato plants in South America and to read of the history of the tomato species. To think that we'd never eat the fruit if one or two key people didn't persist in growing them from the rather inedible ancestors!
There's a lot to be said about the big agriculture industry and overuse of pesticide and fertilizer, but many other organic-local-sustainable ag advocates have already covered this issue. What makes this book different from the rest is its coverage of the huge labor abuses occurring in the industry. If you think that slavery is dead and gone in the US, think again, only this time replace Africans with Latinos. Many agricultural workers are treated like slaves - trucked out from south of the border, tricked into job contracts they can't read, and then told they have to stay to work off their "debt" for the ride up and the crappy housing. If they try to leave their establishments, they get beaten, threatened, chained to posts, and on and on. What's even more chilling is that the few legal cases against these labor abuses happened within the last 2 years and they've barely made a dent in how agribusiness operates. Workers still use the most dangerous and carcinogenetic pesticides and herbicides on these plants without any basic protection. Many still have no healthcare, no minimum hourly wage (paid by the amount picked instead, which hugely depends on how close you are to the truck), no compensation for waiting times, no decent housing. I find it frustrating and aggravating that the state government would turn a blind eye to this and offer lackluster enforcement of existing laws against such abuses. Not only do we not treat the people who pick our food right, but we also suffer from eating tasteless food.
The only criticism I have of the book is that a good few portions were repeated several times, almost phrase for phrase. But other than that, I think the book offered a fresh look at agriculture, tomatos, and labor. Definitely worth the read!
Estabrook presents a critical look at the US tomato industry, particularly the agribusiness in Florida, where most of the US winter grown tomato crop comes from. Tomatos are among the bottom of fruit and veg for taste. The book offers a few possible reasons - tomatos bred for shelf life over taste, the diminishing genetic diversity among varieties out on the market. Most of that is fairly common among agriculture - bananas around the world, for example, are all the same clone species. It was interesting to read of field expeditions to find wild tomato plants in South America and to read of the history of the tomato species. To think that we'd never eat the fruit if one or two key people didn't persist in growing them from the rather inedible ancestors!
There's a lot to be said about the big agriculture industry and overuse of pesticide and fertilizer, but many other organic-local-sustainable ag advocates have already covered this issue. What makes this book different from the rest is its coverage of the huge labor abuses occurring in the industry. If you think that slavery is dead and gone in the US, think again, only this time replace Africans with Latinos. Many agricultural workers are treated like slaves - trucked out from south of the border, tricked into job contracts they can't read, and then told they have to stay to work off their "debt" for the ride up and the crappy housing. If they try to leave their establishments, they get beaten, threatened, chained to posts, and on and on. What's even more chilling is that the few legal cases against these labor abuses happened within the last 2 years and they've barely made a dent in how agribusiness operates. Workers still use the most dangerous and carcinogenetic pesticides and herbicides on these plants without any basic protection. Many still have no healthcare, no minimum hourly wage (paid by the amount picked instead, which hugely depends on how close you are to the truck), no compensation for waiting times, no decent housing. I find it frustrating and aggravating that the state government would turn a blind eye to this and offer lackluster enforcement of existing laws against such abuses. Not only do we not treat the people who pick our food right, but we also suffer from eating tasteless food.
The only criticism I have of the book is that a good few portions were repeated several times, almost phrase for phrase. But other than that, I think the book offered a fresh look at agriculture, tomatos, and labor. Definitely worth the read!
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Planning for Permablitz
My housemates and I are finally going to permablitz our garden in April! This is my first time designing a garden and seeing the design through. I first heard about permaculture through Wellesley's Edible Forest Garden Project in 2010, where I got to help design a fruit tree 'guild' including supporting plants for the fruit tree. But I graduated before the actual planting got started. So I'm really excited to see our design made real this time!
The first step in doing a permaculture design is to incorporate the permaculture principles. The basic premise is to model natural ecological systems in the backyard/garden so that the humans can sustainably use the space for growing edibles or enjoyment. Deep Green Permaculture has a good description of the design principles and there are many books on permaculture, notably by Bill Mollison, Dave Jacke, and David Holmgren. Here's a short summary of the principles:
Design Principles
Our garden design incorporates most of these principles. If we had oodles and oodles of time (and money), we'd do everything here and use all the space in the backyard and front yard. Imagine passionfruit growing up the fences, herbs by the kitchen window, grape vines out front! But baby steps first, especially since this is our first year living at this house and we haven't gone through all the seasons yet. It's important to get a feel for how the sun/shade hits the space and where the different microclimates are (like how the corner by the rainwater tanks might be warmer because the sun hits the tanks and bounces off).
Our backyard dimensions
Our plan for this upcoming permablitz is to build or put in the following:
More details to come later when we do the permablitz!
The first step in doing a permaculture design is to incorporate the permaculture principles. The basic premise is to model natural ecological systems in the backyard/garden so that the humans can sustainably use the space for growing edibles or enjoyment. Deep Green Permaculture has a good description of the design principles and there are many books on permaculture, notably by Bill Mollison, Dave Jacke, and David Holmgren. Here's a short summary of the principles:
Design Principles
- Relative Location – every element is placed in relationship to another so that they assist each other
- Each element performs many functions
- Each important function is supported by many elements
- Efficient energy planning – for house and settlement (zones and sectors)
-Zone Planning
-Sector Planning
-Slope
- Using Biological Resources – Emphasis on the use of biological resources over fossil fuel resources
- Energy Cycling – energy recycling on site (both fuel and human energy)
- Small Scale Intensive Systems
-Plant Stacking
-Time Stacking
- Accelerating Succession and Evolution – Using and accelerating natural plant succession to establish favourable sites and soils
- Diversity – Polyculture and diversity of beneficial species for a productive, interactive system
-Guilds
- Edge Effect – Use of edge and natural patterns for best effect
- Attitudinal Principles
-Everything works both ways
-Permaculture is information and imagination intensive
Our garden design incorporates most of these principles. If we had oodles and oodles of time (and money), we'd do everything here and use all the space in the backyard and front yard. Imagine passionfruit growing up the fences, herbs by the kitchen window, grape vines out front! But baby steps first, especially since this is our first year living at this house and we haven't gone through all the seasons yet. It's important to get a feel for how the sun/shade hits the space and where the different microclimates are (like how the corner by the rainwater tanks might be warmer because the sun hits the tanks and bounces off).
Our backyard dimensions
Our plan for this upcoming permablitz is to build or put in the following:
- a chicken coop. Chickens, as I've written about before, are really great for the garden for fertilizer and pest management.
- a propagation table/shed. The propagation shed is a handy protected space for growing seedlings. You can use a table or even just a tray that's undercover. We might be opting for the table rather than a whole shed for simplicity.
- a composting toilet. Speaks for itself, why not? We only have one bathroom in the house for 5 people, so it'd be handy to have a second bathroom. Biosolids, if treated correctly, can be really great fertilizer for the garden.
- a pond. This goes back to the idea of emulating natural ecosystems. With the pond, we can attract frogs, insects, and birds, all of which help with increasing the biodiversity of our garden. It's important to have support for the pollinators and pest managers that frequent the garden.
- a vegetable patch. Our main purpose! We'll be doing the no-dig technique and simply laying down newspaper, cardboard, manure/mushroom compost, and mulch to suppress the weeds before planting. The veggie patch will be in a bicycle spoke design, allowing us to rotate veggies between the 'spokes' and easily access each section.
More details to come later when we do the permablitz!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet
I just finished Jeffery Sachs' book Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet and wanted to recommend it to any person interested in the environment and how it might tie into global politics, economics, and social issues.
The book includes a bit of everything - science, politics, social concerns, population demographics, economics. For those who aren't as familiar with climate change, Sachs gives a nice and easy to understand summary of the scientific evidence for global climate change and the environmental consequences that will follow. There are also chapters on population growth, poverty, and global politics.
For me, the most enlightening chapters were on US foreign policy and how these policies help solve (or more correctly fail to solve) global problems. Having traveled outside of the US, it now makes sense to me WHY everyone dislikes the US so much - the US takes the attitude of "you're with us or against us" rather than one of cooperation and neighborly conduct. The problems the world faces today are ones that everyone has a hand in causing and in resolving, and one country acting like they can just let the other countries deal with their own problems will eventually be detrimental to the world.
Another interesting section in the book was the statistics on foreign aid. I never saw the statistics on it before, but there is definitely a correlation between amount of foreign aid given to developing countries and how successful they became later. Foreign aid can help stop the poverty trap and prevent civil wars and conflicts that engulf the world from happening. Countries that have a large percentage of its population in extreme poverty are more likely to have troubled communities desperate to survive. Add on the environmental stress of climate chance, such as water scarcity and food shortage, and uncontrolled population growth, and you have a potentially explosive situation on your hands. Places where civil wars and conflicts that have occurred in the last few years have all been places where there was a high percentage of young people and where there was high environmental stress.
In short, I found the book really enlightening and I highly recommend everyone to read it, especially fellow Americans!
The book includes a bit of everything - science, politics, social concerns, population demographics, economics. For those who aren't as familiar with climate change, Sachs gives a nice and easy to understand summary of the scientific evidence for global climate change and the environmental consequences that will follow. There are also chapters on population growth, poverty, and global politics.
For me, the most enlightening chapters were on US foreign policy and how these policies help solve (or more correctly fail to solve) global problems. Having traveled outside of the US, it now makes sense to me WHY everyone dislikes the US so much - the US takes the attitude of "you're with us or against us" rather than one of cooperation and neighborly conduct. The problems the world faces today are ones that everyone has a hand in causing and in resolving, and one country acting like they can just let the other countries deal with their own problems will eventually be detrimental to the world.
Another interesting section in the book was the statistics on foreign aid. I never saw the statistics on it before, but there is definitely a correlation between amount of foreign aid given to developing countries and how successful they became later. Foreign aid can help stop the poverty trap and prevent civil wars and conflicts that engulf the world from happening. Countries that have a large percentage of its population in extreme poverty are more likely to have troubled communities desperate to survive. Add on the environmental stress of climate chance, such as water scarcity and food shortage, and uncontrolled population growth, and you have a potentially explosive situation on your hands. Places where civil wars and conflicts that have occurred in the last few years have all been places where there was a high percentage of young people and where there was high environmental stress.
In short, I found the book really enlightening and I highly recommend everyone to read it, especially fellow Americans!
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