The Green Issue

[errantember]

This is a brief but excellent article by Michael Polan, author of The Botany of Desire, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and, most recently, In Defense of Food. It's about the whole global warming/climate change/peak oil/expensive gas dilemma that most Americans are finally being forced to face when they refuel their SUVs. Polan's work, particularly The Omnivore's Dilemma, has led to a fundamental shift in the way I eat, live, and garden. You don't have to read his work, but if you do, you will be changed forever.

Comments

[spottedvasa.livejournal.com]

This makes me wish even more strongly that there weren't so many wonderful people living South-side.

A two-hour bus ride? Seriously? *sigh*

[errantember.livejournal.com]

The problem is all the great people living on the *north* side. :)

[terriblelynne.livejournal.com]

The problem is the inherent suckiness of Cap Metro. Worst public transit anywhere I've lived, and anywhere with this size population I've ever even visited.

[errantember.livejournal.com]

Evidently Cap Metro, while better than nothing, doesn't win any awards for being a good general transportation solution. Maybe with rising oil prices public transportation will get more funding in Austin.

[terriblelynne.livejournal.com]

The thing is, funding isn't so much the problem as what appears to me as a nearly complete lack of understanding of what people need public transit to do. I'm not sure about now but I know that when I moved here, the hugeness of Cap Metro's budget was made quite the point of, and it's just not good enough. It's not just that service needs expanding, it's stuff like how running buses 15-20 minutes apart during rush hour is simply unacceptable, and the fact that the schedules are laid out with no respect whatsoever to riders needing to transfer in a timely fashion. That sort of thing. So, it's like, there are already people getting paid to do sort of what needs to be done, and the issue is much more, IMO, that they don't know what to do or why it needs doing. I've not seen where they've ever consulted with a public transit official or commissioner from a larger city where, um, people actually take public transit and it actually works, either, and I think that'd be the best thing they could do, just to start with. My feeling about the train, considering the inherent problems with Cap Metro as it is, is "oh great! So we'll have yet another mode of transportation that doesn't actually solve anything!" Cynical, I know, but as someone who's used the transit here for as long as I have, I can't help but be.

[kiki39.livejournal.com]

http://100milediet.org/

'Nother one for you!

[errantember.livejournal.com]

It was great to see you.

Thanks for the reference. I will check it out when I'm done with Becoming Attached (and probably Stiffed, since I started it but ran out of time before I finished.)

[kiki39.livejournal.com]

Yes, I really enjoyed seeing you, too. :) It was fun to hear about all your wacky ideas! I think I have a hankering to try out an electric bike...

[errantember.livejournal.com]

Electric transportation is really making progress. They have a bike at Alien Scooters that has a 20-some mile range, and folds up to go on a bus. I seriously considered getting one instead of a scooter, but in the end, the scooter is better for driving directly in Austin traffic without generating excessive hate.

[kiki39.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm lucky we have lots of bike lanes here, even downtown as cycle-commuting has become more popular. This is the local shop I need to go test scooters at:

http://www.scooterunderground.ca/

[austingoddess.livejournal.com]

This has been on my mind for years, but I'm now in a place where I really can start doing something about it. I am putting in vegetables in the next few weeks now that the vines are planted. I just bought a bike and will soon be equipping it with an electric assist so I can use it to reasonably get back and forth to work, given the shape I'm in. (Once the train starts running, getting back and forth to work with the bike will be a complete breeze. In the meantime it's free exercise, though it will mean my transit time will triple.) And since most everyone I know has been thinking intentional community thoughts for a while now, I think I will go ahead and start an LJ community for it once I have some info to post.

[errantember.livejournal.com]

That's great to hear. One of things he talks about on his website is how over the past few years he's really seen local food take off a a movement, and that he's surprised that politicians are still so oblivious to it.

[austingoddess.livejournal.com]

I do need to find some time to read those books - I've heard a lot of good things about them.
In the meantime I've got at least the structure for atxintentional set up, and I'm spending work hours today devouring http://wiki.ic.org . :) And am considering going to Boston in June for the big co-housing conference.

[gailmom.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this. I bought Omnivore's Dilemma a while back (it is sitting on a friend's bookshelf now-busy making the rounds of all my friends) and really found it amazing. This was a great article! Makes me want to pick up the planning for the yard where I left off...now if only I could find a book to tell me how to do that within my limitations I wouldn't be so frustrated...

[errantember.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it can be done. Setting up a garden where everything can be reached with very little movement is probably a good idea. I bet if you searched for links on gardening for people with mobility impairment you could find lots of links.