Status

I am working on converting my web site over so that the blog works under WordPress.  In the meantime, all of my blogs are still being installed as static pages.  You can visit them by going here.  When fully converted, existing current and older blogs will be moved over to the WordPress blog.  I have no solid time estimate for completion but I am hoping that the new look will be in place by March 1.  See you then.

UPDATE Jan. 26: Much too pessimistic!  Full conversion is more like February 1!  Past blogs are all there, although some links probably still don’t work.

Posted on January 23, 2012 by

The Commoditization of Paula Deen

Posted on January 17, 2012 by

Photo: Bev Sykes

Doubtless you have already heard the latest news story, so thick with irony that it is its own satire. Paula Deen, the “queen of butter,” not only announces that she has Type 2 Diabetes, but — wait! there’s more! — announces that she has become a paid spokeswoman for pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. She’s even got a web site to promote her bad habits.

Since the irony will likely be lost on a lot of people, I’ll spell it out. This is a perfect example of the commoditization of food, medical care, and information. Continue reading →

Posted in Nutrition, Vegetarianism / Veganism | 1 Comment

The Abolition of Slavery and Veganism

Posted on January 8, 2012 by

The Battle of Gettysburg (Currier and Ives)

The Battle of Gettysburg (Currier and Ives)

Can we compare the abolitionists in the animal rights movement, who will settle for nothing less than the abolition of all animal exploitation, with the abolitionists in the anti-slavery movement of the 18th and 19th centuries?  Absolutely!  But I would draw a very different set of lessons from history than most other vegans of either the “abolitionist” or any other type. Continue reading →

Posted in Animals and ethics, History, Vegetarianism / Veganism | Leave a comment

EcoMind Thought Trap #3

Posted on January 6, 2012 by

EcoMind: changing the way we think, to create the world we want. Frances Moore Lappé. New York: Nation Books, 2011.

In EcoMind, Frances Moore Lappé sets out seven “thought traps” which she seeks to defeat and replace with better ways of thinking.  Earlier, I dealt with Thought Trap #1.

Lappé is an engaging, chatty writer with some considerable influence.  I agree with a lot of what she says in this book.  That’s why I’m giving her a hard time about the few points on which we do not agree.  Thought Trap #3 is a case in point. Continue reading →

Posted in Ecological Economics, Limits to Growth, Peak oil | Leave a comment

EcoMind Thought Trap #1

Posted on January 4, 2012 by

EcoMind: changing the way we think, to create the world we want. Frances Moore Lappé. New York: Nation Books, 2011.

In EcoMind, Frances Moore Lappé (most notably of Diet for a Small Planet fame, written in 1971) sets out seven “thought traps” which she seeks to defeat and replace with better ways of thinking. In this essay I am going to deal just with the first of these thought traps, and probably the most important, concerning the “growth” issue.

She expresses the first thought trap as follows:

“Endless growth is destroying our beautiful planet, so we must shift to no-growth economies.” Continue reading →

Posted in Ecological Economics, Limits to Growth, Peak oil | Leave a comment

The Economy and the Environment — Can We Have Both?

Posted on December 14, 2011 by

Colorado mountains

Can we have both economic progress and save the environment?Yes, we can have a sustainable economy and keep people employed, feed the hungry, and keep everyone warm during the winter. But the country as a whole will be poorer — a lot poorer — and it is a mistake to underestimate the costs. This may sound like some Republican argument, but it is the truth, and the country needs to face it, and the equally important truth that we have to make these painful changes anyway. Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Ecological Economics, Limits to Growth | Leave a comment

On Raising Rabbits (review)

Posted on December 6, 2011 by

Comments by Nancy LaRoche on Chapter 13 “Raising Rabbits”
From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Urban Homesteading
By Sundari Elizabeth Kraft

Nancy LaRoche is the co-Manager of the Colorado House Rabbit Society

First I must state that I adore rabbits for their personalities, intelligence, compassion for other rabbits and smaller creatures, their affection for those to whom they bond, and the pleasure they have given me over the years, living in my home as house-rabbits.  Obviously, then, I cannot condone exploiting them by taking their lives to provide a meal of flesh.  But both they and we benefit when we use their wonderful fertilizer or their wool. Continue reading →

Posted in Animals and ethics, Backyard livestock | Leave a comment

Will we see change in our lifetime?

Posted on November 30, 2011 by

Change [in the direction of veganism] will come. This I believe. But (for those who live in sophisticated urban centers with large populations of enlightened vegans this will be harder to accept): we shouldn’t plan to see much of it in our lifetimes. — James McWilliams, East Texas Blues

Most vegans, while dedicated and determined to advance the principles of compassion and dietary reform, are pessimistic about the future of vegetarianism and veganism. They see change coming in small increments: one change piled on top of another, until some day in the far distant future, our great-grandchildren may see the stirring of awareness. Continue reading →

Posted in Ecological Economics, Politics, or the lack thereof, Vegetarianism / Veganism | Leave a comment

Plenty of Something (review)

Posted on November 26, 2011 by

Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth, by Juliet Schor (New York: Penguin Press, 2010). (Also published in paperback as True Wealth.)

Plenitude argues for an “ecological economics” which turns a lot of what we think about wealth upside down.  I agree with many of her basic ideas, but a number of details left me uncomfortable. Continue reading →

Posted in Ecological Economics, Limits to Growth, Vegetarianism / Veganism | Leave a comment

Is Economic Growth Over?

Posted on November 18, 2011 by

Review of The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Reality by Richard Heinberg

My rating: 4 of 5 stars (as a Goodreads review)

This is a tough book to review because basically, it depends on the audience. Generally, though, I like the book and agree with the thesis. Heinberg’s book is right in all major respects, well-written, and important.

Please consider this a five-star review if you are asking yourself, “what’s all this talk about ‘peak oil’?” or if your last encounter with the idea of limits to the economy is dim memories of reading “The Limits to Growth” in the 1970′s. Continue reading →

Posted in Ecological Economics, Limits to Growth, Vegetarianism / Veganism | Leave a comment