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July 2009 Blog Posts (24)

Van Duzer and his Cruiser off to D.C. to Raise Awareness about the Vast Benefits of Bicycling

One month, 2,000 miles and countless friends later, Ryan Van Duzer is nearing Washington, D.C. on his two-wheeled, cross-country expedition. On June 20, Van Duzer departed from San Diego on a three-speed cruiser bike and is scheduled to arrive in the nation’s capital by August 10 for a celebration of his journey with the League of American Bicyclists and the National Geographic Society. While the trip is ending soon, you can still experience… Continue

Added by Erik Keith on July 31, 2009 at 2:58pm — No Comments

Dome Homes at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation

Greetings and a warm handshake to each and every one whose eyes see this page. I have not written on here before. I am not particularly computer literate, and these social network sites are a continued mystery to me. I hope that once I get this typed up, that it does not disappear into the ethers. So I have been up at Wounded Knee for approximately eight weeks now.

A young man whose name is Jason, has been here equally as long. He is from the Cal-Earth Institute in Hesperia,… Continue

Added by Christinia Eala on July 30, 2009 at 10:20am — No Comments

Living in Place - Part 3

In my place most of the people are relatively well off. Most people are not aware of all the forces playing out around and through them. Most people are focused on their part in the set of transactions that create this ecosystem and this economy.

And I suppose that is how it has been since the beginning. We each start out completely dependent and learn what our community learned about how to fit – what it takes to survive. And then we focus on finding a place for ourselves and our… Continue

Added by David Braden on July 30, 2009 at 8:59am — No Comments

The Atriplex Project: A Permaculture Database for the Front Range

From the Wild Green Yonder

One of permaculture's hallmarks is polyculture: the mixed cultivation of a wide variety of bioregionally-appropriate species. In a process called "guild building", permaculture designers select plants that will mutually enhance each others' growth while providing their human stewards with a yield. In the classic Native American polyculture of maize, beans, and… Continue

Added by Adam Brock on July 29, 2009 at 11:07pm — 1 Comment

Living in Place - Part 2

A large part of my acre is in grass – all kinds of grass – whatever grass decides to grow there. If I were to use this place to produce for the market the incentive would be to plow fence line to fence line and then plant a few high value crops. I might be able to make a profit but I would be diminishing the life process of this place. This place would no longer be able to provide nutrients, and beneficial insects, and native pollinators – all that would need to be imported.

Instead,… Continue

Added by David Braden on July 29, 2009 at 8:07am — No Comments

Denver Urban Homesteading - A Local Market and Reskilling Center

Check it out! It's a center set to open later this month at 200 Santa Fe Drive that will feature farming classes, a super-local farmers market, an agricultural swap meet and other urban farming-focused activities

How cool is this? Transition Denver's Kenzie Davison (among others) is helping getting it off the ground.. or should I say ON the ground?…

Continue

Added by Dana Miller on July 28, 2009 at 6:07pm — 1 Comment

Living in Place - Part 1

The place that I live is short grass prairie. A place is the sum of the sun, and wind, and rain, and rock, and the plants and creatures that live there. Each part interacts with the other parts to make each place unique – but we classify them – and my place is classified short grass prairie. It is a place with too little water and too much fire to grow trees on its own. On its own this place climaxes with grass – disturb it and then leave it alone and it will return to grass.

I have… Continue

Added by David Braden on July 28, 2009 at 10:48am — 2 Comments

REAL PEOPLE, REAL PREPARATION, Part Three: Working Class Wealth

To access all links in this story, please visit SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER

We started out just bringing muffins or extra eggs to neighbors. This has mushroomed into so much back and forth bartering, gifting and trading that it is just mind-boggling! It seems the closer we get to collapse, the more food, supplies, tools, and tips are shared. The more we give away, the more shows up, despite the fact that we… Continue

Added by Carolyn Baker on July 27, 2009 at 7:23am — No Comments

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CHANGE: CULTIVATING RESILIENCE AT THE POINT OF NO RETURN, By Carolyn Baker

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.

I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?

I hear my being dance from ear to ear.

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?

God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,

And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?

The lowly… Continue

Added by Carolyn Baker on July 26, 2009 at 11:14am — No Comments

Quality of Life

There is an obvious tradeoff between the quality of human lives and quantity of humans.

A small population can live sustainably off the fat of the land. In a lightly populated world undisturbed land is abundant. Forests and wetlands store and purify water. Wildlife habitat and biodiversity are protected. Thoreau said, “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to leave alone”.

All the advantages of a small human footprint on the earth are sacrificed as… Continue

Added by robert easton on July 22, 2009 at 5:00pm — No Comments

REAL PEOPLE, REAL PREPARATION, Part Two, From Speaking Truth to Power Website

Not all people preparing for collapse by relocating, choose to do so in the U.S. Some, like Dr. John and Nancy Andre, have relocated in other countries. The Andres have retired in Chile and spend a great deal of time working on their organic farm

John practiced at the cutting edge of Chiropractic and Naturopathy for 35 years. Nancy was a state of the art DDS with a focus on toxin free dental care. In their clinic in Kansas City they shared… Continue

Added by Carolyn Baker on July 21, 2009 at 3:00pm — No Comments

How the Ruckus Refinery waters its forest garden

cross-posted from The Wild Green Yonder. To see the system in action and more, come to this month's Transition Denver potluck at the Ruckus Refinery on July 26.

As Michael and I were scheming together on the design of the new… Continue

Added by Adam Brock on July 20, 2009 at 5:00pm — 2 Comments

RECESSION LESSON: SWAP AND SHARE REPLACES GRAB AND BUY, By Nancy Trejos, Washington Post, July 17, 2009

The recession is reminding Americans of a lesson they first learned in childhood: Share and share alike. They are sharing or swapping tools and books, cars and handbags, time and talent.

The renewed desire to share shows up in a variety of statistics: A car-sharing service has had a 70 percent membership increase since the recession set in. Governments are putting bikes on the street for public use. How-to-swap Web sites are proliferating.

"I think what happens in a… Continue

Added by Carolyn Baker on July 20, 2009 at 4:37pm — No Comments

Technocracy Ethics USA censorship Chinese military intelligence genius clones.

The wheel of Buddhist terms poster tinyurl.com/5atfhh Velcro modular wall mural game. Doctoral dissertation for philosophy, title: The Interpenetration of Buddhist Practice and Classroom Teaching. Technocracy Ethics USA censorship Chinese military intelligence genius clones.

PARASITIC SPECIES INFESTATION alien robot telescope spaceship: audiobook getting things done (GTD is the tag), the first few tracks of PALE BLUE DOT are good, as we transition to a knowledge based global… Continue

Added by Matthew Tripp on July 19, 2009 at 11:07pm — No Comments

“CleanLaunch” Ignites Early-Stage Clean Tech Companies

A dynamic group of business and government leaders has formed the CleanLaunch Technology Incubator, designed to serve entrepreneurs developing new technologies and to develop and nurture start-up clean tech companies throughout the region.

The public-private partnership, founded by automotive giant Burt Technologies, www.burt.com, accounting firm Clifton Gunderson www.cliftoncpa.com, Fairfield and Woods, P.C. www.fwlaw.com, and the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce… Continue

Added by Jen Scherpenseel on July 18, 2009 at 12:01am — No Comments

SRI in the Rockies Conference Announces 2009 Sponsors

SRI in the Rockies, the largest and longest-running sustainable and responsible investing conference in the world, today announced that it has received strong response from sponsors for its 2009 conference—reflecting resilient support for SRI strategies in spite of the lingering global recession.

More than 50 organizations—from global concerns to local firms—have signed on to support the conference, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2009. More than 650 attendees from the U.S.… Continue

Added by Jen Scherpenseel on July 15, 2009 at 12:49pm — 3 Comments

Our Misguided Population Growth Paradigm: Accelerating Consequences

By Frosty Wooldridge

Denver, Colorado--Last night, in the Mercury Café on California Street, a meeting took place that will change the future of America. Dana Miller, head of www.transitioncolorado.ning.com, introduced documentary film director, Dave Gardner, to an eager audience. He strode to the stage with the confidence of a man filled with the knowledge of his years and the understanding of his mission.

On Gardner’s website, www.growthbusters.com, you may enjoy a film… Continue

Added by Frosty Wooldridge on July 15, 2009 at 12:16pm — No Comments

COLLAPSE STAGE ONE: MY RESPONSE TO A GUARDIAN REPORTER'S SCREAMS OF DESPAIR

[Here is my full response to Guardian reporter, Charlie Brooker's July 13 op ed piece "The Very Fabric of Society Is Breaking Down Around Us.--CB]

Hallelujah! One British reporter is waking up and smelling the coffee. That would be Charlie Brooker in his July 13 Guardian piece "The Very Fabric of Society Is Breaking Down Around Us. What The Hell Is There Left to Believe In"? This man, sounding as if his hair were on fire, rants:

It's all gone wrong. Our belief in… Continue

Added by Carolyn Baker on July 14, 2009 at 5:01pm — No Comments

REAL PEOPLE, REAL PREPARATION, From Speaking Truth to Power Website

[In the next few months, Truth to Power will be featuring interviews with individuals who are consciously transitioning to a post-carbon lifestyle. In spite of the volumes being written about preparation for collapse, we rarely have the opportunity to hear real people discuss at length the process they have gone through and continue to navigate in their unique journeys through the Long Emergency. Some articles in the series will be published free in… Continue

Added by Carolyn Baker on July 13, 2009 at 8:33am — No Comments

GRIEF MADE IN AMERICA IS NOT "GOOD GRIEF" By Carolyn Baker

This morning as I was gathering news for Truth to Power's Daily News Digest, I opened Sharon Astyk's blogspot, one of my very favorite, to find her caustic commentary on the death and funeral of Michael Jackson. As her comments distilled in my mind and body, I realized that I have even more to say about this cultural phenomenon-no desire to say it better than Sharon because who could (?), but hopefully to embellish her inimitable incisiveness.

Now before proceeding, I ask the reader… Continue

Added by Carolyn Baker on July 8, 2009 at 10:00am — 2 Comments