Economic Crisis Creates Sustainable Opportunities

Economic Crisis Creates Sustainable Opportunities

Economic crisis creates sustainable opportunities as rising grocery prices drive shoppers to local growers. Farmers markets have been growing steadily over the last few years but with the current economic crisis and a deficit train wreck on the horizon, business is booming. Local growers are cashing in on the increased demand for produce and some are even finding it difficult to keep stock on hand.

Patsy Hicks, of Patsy’s Herb Farm has been a vendor at the farmers market located at the Agri-Center in Memphis, TN for 16 years. Patsy told me, “We wanted to stay a small mom and pop business but this has proved difficult the last couple years as our business has grown beyond what we can supply.”

Patsy’s Herb Farms grows a mind boggling array of herbs and spices that set one’s mind spinning and the mouth to watering. I asked Patsy if she has seen an increase in demand for organic produce. “In talking with customers we found that most do not understand what exactly certified organic produce is. They just want to be convinced that the product that they are buying has been produced in a clean natural, chemical free manner. They realize that in order to accomplish this they need to get to know their grower. Certified organic production is a very complicated, time consuming and costly process but that does not mean that we are any less particular in our sustainable organic production. We do not use lead based chemicals on any of our plants and practice all natural methods for controlling pests.”

via Economic Crisis Creates Sustainable Opportunities.

A patriot’s guide to still hating Obama for killing Osama – War Room – Salon.com

A patriot’s guide to still hating Obama for killing Osama

How dare this president take credit for the tireless work of George Bush and the power of torture

By Alex Pareene

President Barack Obama and former president George W. Bush

Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaida and the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was recently killed by American commandos, which is, for Real American Patriots, a Good Thing. But Barack Obama is getting all the credit, which is, for said residents of the authentic portion of this glorious nation, decidedly a Bad Thing. How is a typically bloodthirsty right-winger supposed to revel in America’s victory over an enemy while still detesting the socialist usurper in the White House who made this victory possible? It’s easier than you might think. All you need — as with most right-wing thought — is a bit of cognitive dissonance. Here are your talking points:

This was all thanks to George W. Bush

Osama bin Laden was killed thanks to the resolve and fortitude of President George W. Bush. Pointing out that the Bush administration tried, failed, and then largely gave up on capturing bin Laden, is “politicizing the bin Laden kill.” (“Politicizing” is when Democrats take credit for something good and popular.)

via A patriot’s guide to still hating Obama for killing Osama – War Room – Salon.com.

Growing farmers market scene offers shoppers fresh, local products every day at variety of locations » The Commercial Appeal

Farmers markets are blossoming in the Memphis area this year, with more places and shopping days than ever before for those crazy for the locally grown and the handmade.With the number of new markets,

shopping for fresh and local produce face-to-face with the grower is now possible seven days a week, rain or shine.The new markets, as well as the established ones, are a response to recent growth in both consumer demand and the number of growers and producers. From just a handful areawide only a few years ago, Memphis-area shoppers now can enjoy at least 14 markets, plus a few more just outside of our metro area.

via Growing farmers market scene offers shoppers fresh, local products every day at variety of locations » The Commercial Appeal.

Dutch To Build Solar Panels Into Their Roads, Starting With Bike Lanes : TreeHugger

by Alex Davies, Paris, France on 04.22.11

The Dutch are well known for their ubiquitous bike lanes, to the point where Amsterdam is neck and neck with Copenhagen for the title of most bike-loving capital in Europe. Now, Denmark will have to come up with something big to match the latest plan from the Netherlands – the installation of solar panels in roads, starting with bike lanes.

Talk about the efficient use of space: if you’re going to have roads (and hopefully you’ll have bike lanes), why not put that space to work producing energy? Called the Solaroad, the project is the brainchild of Dutch research firm TNO. The idea is pretty straightforward: a layer of concrete forms the road itself. A centimeter thick layer of crystalline silicon solar cells is laid on top, and covered by a layer of toughened glass. The energy potential: 50kWh per square meter per year, which can then be used to power street lighting, traffic systems and households.

But it’s still an idea in development, which is why TNO, working with the Province of North Holland, the consulting firm Ooms Averhorn Group and the tech firm Intech, is starting with a small-scale pilot program in the town of Krommenie, outside of Amsterdam. Scheduled for installation next year, the first Solaroad will hopefully allow its developers better implement many more throughout the country.

Maybe it’ll even make it to the US one day- though in today’s political climate, this probably costly project is unlikely to get much support in Congress. Well, we can dream.

For more stories like this, follow me on Twitter.

via Dutch To Build Solar Panels Into Their Roads, Starting With Bike Lanes : TreeHugger.

2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid

2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid.

One Year After the BP Oil Spill, Do We Have Alternative Energy?

By Megan Hagist, Media Consortium blogger

One year after the worst oil spill in U.S. history began, key questions about its environmental impact remain unanswered. The 4.9 million barrels of BP oil that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico continue to threaten marine wildlife and other vile surprises have surfaced along the way.

Mother Jones’ Kate Sheppard lists 10 reasons why we should not let the BP spill fade into the background. Perhaps the most important is the spill’s effect on locals’ health, about which Sheppard reports:

Of the 954 residents in seven coastal communities, almost half said they had experienced health problems like coughing, skin and eye irritation, or headaches that are consistent with common symptoms of chemical exposure. While the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is conducting health monitoring for spill cleanup workers, residents in the areas closest to the spill are concerned that their own health problems have gone unattended.

Unfortunately, protests from these communities are unheard. Low-income and minority communities are typically targeted for oil production due to inadequate political power, but indigenous women in the United States and Canada are ready to change that.

Read more via One Year After the BP Oil Spill, Do We Have Alternative Energy?.

Pay Your Taxes? These 10 Companies Didn’t. | MoveOn.Org

Come April 15, everybody ponies up their fair share, right? Not so much. Thanks to corporate tax cuts and loopholes, these big companies will be rollin’ in the green instead of paying Uncle Sam. Read Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) corporate freeloaders list now:

via Pay Your Taxes? These 10 Companies Didn’t. | MoveOn.Org.

My Fabulous Handy Husband!

Here’s a pic of my fantastic husband Ben Wheeler teaching and working on the set of “Three Penny Opera” at NSULA.

Love the Earth? Embrace Plastic | Care2 Healthy & Green Living

 

 

The final destination for most cars—after they’ve served their time in a scrapyard, that is—is a 10,000-horsepower shredding machine that, in about 60 seconds, rips them into fist-size chunks of stuff. This material is then whisked away on a conveyer belt and sorted for recycling. Steel, copper, brass, and aluminum are all separated and re-used.

But petroleum-based plastic—and there’s a lot of it in cars—presents a problem. Plastics range greatly in type and grade and therefore can’t be recycled together. That’s why they’re typically bundled together with other tough-to-recycle material (rubber, wood, fabrics, foam) and shuttled off to landfills or burned in incinerators.

Mike Biddle, president and co-founder of MBA Polymers, thinks that’s unacceptable.

via Love the Earth? Embrace Plastic | Care2 Healthy & Green Living.

Deadheads Zombie Flick Sells Out World Premiere at Newport Beach Film Festival – Orange County News – Navel Gazing

 

Check out this article about my friend Ross Kidder’s new film. It looks so cool!

It takes a village to raise a child, but it took a flick about a pair of zombies taking a road trip to find love to remind local cinephiles that they’d better buy tickets now to the April 28-May 5 Newport Beach Film Festival.

That’s because Deadheads, aided by fan buzz and a glowing Fangora preview, sold out its Friday night, April 29, world premiere screening four days after it was announced.

via Deadheads Zombie Flick Sells Out World Premiere at Newport Beach Film Festival – Orange County News – Navel Gazing.