Blogs

One area that will need a complete re-think is the Food Bank as it is currently currently operated by Budget Services, Church Groups, and charities. Sufficient food supplies should not be left to the charity of individuals, but should be built into the system.

Our whole set up, making the provision of extra food a charity and not part of the recirculating of resources is fundamentally dysfunctionally. Like the circuation of the body; if the exhale became jealous of the inhale or vice versa and kept it from circulating in the system, it would die.

What is the difference between soil and dirt?

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My heart sang last night, to see members of my community look at the challenges of the future, square in the eye, and then with energy and creativity name some creative, and do-able solutions. Here's a six minute video I put together summarizing the evenings activities.

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In my first year of teaching I had a second grade class, year 2, made up of 7 and 8 year olds. Christa arrived, along with everyone else in the class, with the school materials listed in the registration packet given out before the start of school. She also arrived ready to do whatever it took to be good at school. She was intelligent, quiet but not shy, physically active and a little competitive. Her mother worked and took good care of she and her brother in a solo parent household.

Posted Jul 15, 2010 02:25pm EDT by Michael Snyder The 22 statistics detailed here prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.

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The timing was ironic – just as the BP Mexico gulf oil spill was breaking news, our government announced it had awarded a contract to explore for oil in a region off our East Coast that stretches from Te Kaha and out beyond the East Cape.

Around the same time, National MP Gerry Brownlee’s plan to allow mining for gold and coal in our precious spaces met with fervent nation-wide protest, which led to the Government backing down and even extending the protected status of more conservation land. 

We can have a similar effect on the planned exploration for oil. 

At some point in the collapse, it will become necessary to nationalise all unproductive land and distribute it to those willing to produce food for local consumption (this is already happening in Venezuela and Brazil - and some other countries).

One piece at a time.

I never liked that old chestnut, the idea of eating an elephant is repugnant, but it is instructive. Tackling a large task successfully inevitably means chopping it up into bite-sized pieces. No matter how large the goal, it can always be achieved through a succession of smaller actions

After viewing the Crash Course last year, and reading the SANZ document Strong Sustainability for New Zealand, I was motivated to focus my energy on promoting strong sustainability on Waiheke Island where I live. But where to start?

Is it just recent times or have humans always devoted themselves to dichotomies? Raising 2 opposing camps and then choosing sides- VHS or Beta, Conservative or Liberal, Sea Shepherd or Greenpeace.
My favorite example of this is in the movie Life of Brian. Lecturing to a large group, the speaker says "YOU'RE ALL INDIVIDUALS!" and a lone voice pipes up, "I'M NOT"