Here on Iceland, the Balaton Group Meeting is entering its third day. With models of Food Futures still spinning in our heads from yesterday, we are now listening to Joan Davis. Personal reasons kept her home in Switzerland this year, but this meeting's theme touches her "heart-question" as we say in Swedish: organic agriculture. Joan … Continue reading Live from Iceland: Joan Davis on “Food for Life”
Food Futures: Sirens, Warning Lights, and All That
So I'm sitting on a rather large lump of volcanic rock in the North Atlantic ocean - Iceland - at the annual meeting of the Balaton Group. We've already had several days of (truly) mind-boggling presentations on topics related both to the global financial system, and the global food system, and more on that later. … Continue reading Food Futures: Sirens, Warning Lights, and All That
International Buy-a-Qur’an Day
I bought a copy of the Qur'an today. It seemed the best way to register my support to all my Muslim friends in the face of the media circus around this low-minded Florida "pastor," whose behavior is so antithetical from the Christianity I learned as a child (a child in Florida, as it happens). Buying … Continue reading International Buy-a-Qur’an Day
Can a Glass of Orange Juice in Sweden be “Climate Smart”?
Sometimes you just wince. I’m complicit, of course. I bought the juice. I like the juice. And of course, I routinely wonder at the general sustainability of shipping orange juice (and a lot of other stuff) around the planet, using fossil fuels. It doesn’t seem quite right. There are a lot of things that “don’t … Continue reading Can a Glass of Orange Juice in Sweden be “Climate Smart”?
Launching “The Life Thief”
Today I took a dive into the Twitterverse -- the "Twitter Universe," the new online parallel reality of 140-character phrases with their followers, @s, cross-links to Facebook, and a vast number of other particles with strange names and functions that I barely understand. Or actually, don't really understand. The Twitterverse reminds of the science book … Continue reading Launching “The Life Thief”
Recommended: “A Voyage Long and Strange”
As an American living permanently in another country (and having taken dual citizenship here in Sweden), the United States of America looks increasingly strange and wondrous as the years go by. My neighbors talk of a Swedish envy of Americans: "We all want to be Americans, don't we?" said my daughter's playmate's papa the other … Continue reading Recommended: “A Voyage Long and Strange”
Eco-House, Normal House
A Little Weblog Essay about Our New House, and its Various Environmental and Sustainable Features and Benefits This week my family moves into a new house that we have just finished building -- or rather, that the builders have just finished building, financed by the proceeds on the sale of our previous apartment (we sold … Continue reading Eco-House, Normal House
The Earthquake in Copenhagen: Reflections on CoP-15 and its Aftermath
After attending CoP-15 (as a UN Observer, on temporary assignment to the Division for Sustainable Development, though of course I write entirely in my individual capacity), talking to numerous delegates and observers and NGO activists during the event, and reading over a hundred articles on the process and the outcome, I have come to an … Continue reading The Earthquake in Copenhagen: Reflections on CoP-15 and its Aftermath
Whatever Works: Of Green New Deals, Marshall Plans, and Energy Revolutions in Copenhagen at CoP-15
A few months ago I received a telephone call from Tariq Banuri, head of the UN's Division for Sustainable Development. At the time, I was wandering around the building site where my wife and I are constructing an eco- and climate-friendly house, outside of Stockholm. "Can you talk now?" said Tariq. I sat myself down … Continue reading Whatever Works: Of Green New Deals, Marshall Plans, and Energy Revolutions in Copenhagen at CoP-15
“Changer pour Durer”: Change to Endure
"The French think differently," said nearly every one of us who was not actually French. Of course, we said this to each other in French, so perhaps we were thinking differently too. Last week (19-24 Sept 2009) I attended an inter-disciplinary colloquium at a castle in Normandy called Cerisy-la-Salle. The central massive stone structure (see … Continue reading “Changer pour Durer”: Change to Endure
Alan AtKisson 