Appearances

Richard Heinberg has a nice piece about drawing conclusions from present trends. Among his observations: If current economic trends continue . . . China's economy will be 8 times as big as it is today by 2040. China's economy will surpass the size of the present global economy before 2050. The US federal debt will double--from $14 trillion to $28 trillion--by 2022. In 2072, the federal debt will amount to $896 trillion, or $1,629,091 for each American (assuming a US population then of 550 million). By the end of the century, each American will "owe" over a billion dollars. Thanks to the…

From The Onion: Admitting they had "absolutely no idea what the fuck [they were] doing," millions of Americans immediately ceased trying to manage the country's large-scale, ongoing disasters and pleaded with U.S. scientists, economists, educators, philosophers, and inventors to intervene and make things better again. "You are good at doing things, and we are bad, okay? We admit it," said Cincinnati-area executive Robert Everhart, who belongs to the growing consortium of citizens desperately asking America's qualified people to take it from here. "So we're begging you, please grab hold of the…

Lots of stuff to update you all on. First, the family expansion project - still nothing new. After three months of waiting, we've decided to expand our looking in a few different ways - our county just doesn't have a placement, and after all the work of getting ready, we're anxious to get one. Meanwhile, I'm powering through the Adapting-In-Place Manual, and it will be out next spring. Here's a preview of the Cover: Making Home Cover.pdf I'm also getting ready for the ASPO-USA conference - where I'm going to be sharing a hotel room with Nicole Foss. We're going to have a late night…

I'm going to be here. I'm kind of hoping some of you will be too! I'm going to be giving the first of several talks I'm doing in the next few months about bioregional food security - what it is, how regional issues connect to the larger world, and how to build it. This weekend I'll take on my own area, the Capital Region of NY and on June 2 (more info coming soon) I'm going to talk in Newburyport about the North Shore of Massachusetts, where I grew up. Meanwhile, the reskilling festival is going to be awesome! I'll be there in the afternoon with my husband and kids for a while, and I…

I'm doing a bunch of stuff right now (I'm always doing a bunch of stuff, actually) that I thought I'd mention here. First, on Monday March 21, at 5:30 I'll be at the first Unitarian Universalist Society in Albany talking to Congressman Paul Tonko about peak oil, climate change and regional preparedness in an event put on by Capital District Transition. It ought to be interesting! Drop me an email if you have suggestions for questions you'd like me to put to Congressman Tonko. Second, on April 9 at 7pm, I'll be at the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, NY, talking about food, energy…

I'll be there this weekend for the first ever Urban Adapting-In-Place event - I'll be speaking on Friday night about urban adaptation and on Saturday a whole host of local resources will come together to talk about New Haven's future. I think it will be absolutely wonderful, and I hope you will be there! http://www.sare.org/mysare/Events.aspx?do=showevent&event=2734 Sharon

Various Updates: First of all, Aaron Newton and I will be offering the Adapting-in-Place class again for the very last time for at least six months, and maybe longer. So if you've ever thought of taking the class, now is the time! Adapting in Place is my favorite class - it covers everything from what's inside the walls of your home to appropriate technologies to family issues to money to security. It is the whole picture of how we are going to go forward into a lower-energy, warmer, less wealthy future. The idea is for you to come out with a plan that is uniquely suited to your realities…

Well, we've finally got a mostly-complete ASPO Conference schedule. The problem is exactly the sort of problem you'd really like to have when running one of these - that there are just too many serious thinkers who need a spot. It is really tough to finalize the conference schedule when every day you are receiving calls that say things like "This is Bianca Jagger, Chair of the Human Rights Foundation, calling to say that I'd like to speak at your conference on the connection between Climate, Energy Depletion and Human Rights...here are the texts of my UN speeches if you'd like to see them…

I've got to leave you with something fun to read. I'll be in Virginia for several days - if you are anywhere near Monticello's Heritage Harvest Festival this Saturday you should come by - it is going to be fabulous.. I'm going to be talking about how Jefferson's idea of "A Nation of Farmers" can be lived today, and I'm giving a workshop on low-energy food preservation, complete with tastings. C'mon by and say hello! I'll be the one following Patti Moreno around admiringly ;-). The family and I are making this an extended holiday (Rosh Hashana) trip with visits to family and friends on the…

I'm about to go out of town for three days to a conference on dealing with poverty issues, energy depletion and climate change, and I'm a little nervous. We've had no babies born since Meadowsweet's appearance two weeks ago, and I have three does due in the next week - not only am I a little nervous about abandoning Eric and Phil-the-Housemate to delivering baby goats (which has historically been a she who did the birthin' of the boys job), but I'm also a little sad at the thought of missing all the fun! Still it is a good and important thing, and it reminds me to let y'all know about…

Just a reminder that if you are in the relevant parts of New England, I'm going to be doing a couple of presentations there. First, a week from Saturday, on March 6, I'll be at the NOFA NH annual Winter Conference in Concord New Hampshire all day. I'm both giving the keynote talk about food security and making a place at the table, and also giving a workshop for teens, older kids and their parents about making sustainable living a family affair. There are more than 40 workshops, including some amazing ones. Dave Jacke, Michael Phillips, David Yarrow and a host of other wonderful people…

I've got a couple of speaking engagements and another class coming up, and I thought I'd let you know where I'm going to be and when. First, on Saturday, March 6, I'll be in Concord, NH at the NOFA-NH Winter Conference. The Northeast Organic Farming Association has been so powerful in creating conditions for small scale organic agriculture in our region that I'm thrilled to be doing the keynote for this conference. I'll be speaking mid-day on "Making a Place at the Table" and doing a workshop in the afternoon on low energy living with kids and teens. And I can't wait to attend other…

A quick post as I run out the door for the teeveey studio: Set your TiVos and your DVRs, mark your calendars: Tonight I'll be on ABC World News talking about my new book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  The segment will also feature members of Henrietta's family, and Vincent Racaniello with lots, and lots of HeLa cells. ALSO:  The first reviews of The Immortal Life are starting to hit newspapers.  There's a terrific review on the front page of the Washington Post Outlook section today, and another great one in the St. Petersburg Times.  Update:  This great review just in from the…

After ten long years, the serious countdown has begun for the publication of my book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which will be on sale nationwide exactly SEVEN DAYS from today.  I've been posting about my impending book tour, and all the great coverage the book has been getting, on Twitter and Facebook, but thought I'd also post a bit of a press round up here, and an update, for those who (gasp) don't spend all of their time in those places.  If you don't know what my book is about: it tells the story of a poor black tobacco farmer whose cancer cells -- taken without her knowledge…

Lots of excitement and news about my book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (aka HeLa), which hits stores February 2nd (after ten years in the works). It just got a starred review in Publishers Weekly and in Booklist, and was chosen as a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers title for Spring 2010. Culture Dish is very excited about all of this. But the big news for this post is that I'm organizing a three-month-long book tour that will have me speaking nationwide at universities, scientific organizations, bookstores, book groups, high schools, and more. If you'd like me to speak…

Yes folks, it's that time again:  Registration is now open for the great ScienceOnline2010 meeting that will take place (as always) in Durham, NC in January.  The program features many great scientists, science bloggers, and science journalists, and promises to be lots of fun. I'll be running a session with Tom Levenson and Brian Switek called "From Blog to Book: Using Blogs and Social Networks to Develop Your Professional Writing," and I'll also be doing a hands-on, nuts-and-bolts workshop helping folks develop proposals for books and articles.  See the program for details, and sign up!  

Yesterday was the first day I was able to post since the ScienceBlogs upgrade because of glitches in the system.  Now I'm headed off to Durham, NC, until Sunday.  More below the jump: I'll be visiting a Duke science journalism class and speaking about my book at a Women in Science and Engineering event on Friday.  Then Saturday I'll be at the ScienceOnline09 conference talking about blogging and breaking into print publication.  I'll post from the road if there are any breaking developments related to the assistance creature story I wrote for the New York Times Magazine, which I've been…