Now on ScienceBlogs: HeartlandGate: Anti-Science Institute's Insider Reveals Secrets
It is a really simple idea - things that can't go on the way they have been, usually don't. Sooner or later things that have no future just stop. We all know intellectually that we can't all live and consume like middle class Americans, that our kids are going to have a harder time because of our way of life, that Empires end and ecological disasters cause things to come to hard stops. We know it, but we don't KNOW it. This blog is about coming to KNOW, and figuring out where we go from here. I'm a science writer, teacher, environmental activist and small farmer who is trying to put her lifestyle where her mouth is, and live in a way with a future. When not writing books, serving on the board of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, I run my farm with my husband, where we raise dairy goats, herbs, pastured poultry, heirloom vegetable plants, children and havoc.
Category: poverty
A while back there was a study that suggested that it is more expensive to be poor in the US in some ways, than it is to be rich. And to anyone who has actually been poor, this probably made perfect sense.
Posted by Sharon Astyk at 8:58 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: foster parenting
It costs a lot, equipping children with the basics when they have nothing. Toothbrushes and used jackets and warm socks and clean underwear and stuffed animals aren't individually that expensive - but every kid needs a toothbrush and a jacket and many pairs of socks and something soft to snuggle with, and it adds up.
Posted by Sharon Astyk at 8:53 AM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Economy
I suspect as much as we underrate the informal economy, its size, importance and persistence, we also underrate the persistence of the formal economy.
Posted by Sharon Astyk at 9:52 AM • 49 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: foster parenting
M.'s case is something I can't talk much about, but in order for him to meet the larger goal of going home to his family, things will have to change in deep ways - services that simply aren't available and don't exist would have to be provided to his parents.
Posted by Sharon Astyk at 12:09 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Economy
I argue that in the Developed world, the informal economy is hidden or "housewifized" out of existance - we think of it as a small portion of our life, and not significant, but in fact, the informal economy is enormous and critical.
Posted by Sharon Astyk at 11:51 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: jubilee
think continuing in the American Idol vein, we should definitely have a musician appear as a guest judge, because having a portion of our economic future determined by Iggy Pop. Lady Gaga and Tom Waits just seems like a great idea and wholly in keeping with our culture.
Posted by Sharon Astyk at 9:51 AM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Economy
The reality is that the growth we've lived with is going away whether we like it or not - I'm hoping that this new emergent consensus that we've been screwed comes with a collective response to the end of growth - or the solidarity won't last as the system pits people against one another.
Posted by Sharon Astyk at 9:48 AM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: peak oil
Legal protections for women and children should be fundamental, but we live in a society that regards them as optional luxuries to be abandoned in hard times. Without a shift in the way we regard women's issues, we are likely to see more of this horror.
Posted by Sharon Astyk at 9:18 AM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Economy
In a speech on Friday, Bernanke blamed consumers for not buying enough stuff. Speaking as someone who just threw a whole $47.87 into the local economy at Goodwill, I know he wasn't speaking to me - I'm stimulating my butt off. But he was speaking to you - you are definitely to blame.
Posted by Sharon Astyk at 8:48 AM • 26 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Economy
If you have to accustom yourself to the end of growth, the Onion reassures us that it won't be too hard:
Posted by Sharon Astyk at 1:52 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Home Front
A Nation of Farmers: Defeating the Food Crisis on American Soil
Independence Days: A Guide to Sustainable Food Storage and Preservation
