The decay of Canada illustrates two things. Corporate power is global, and resistance to it cannot be restricted by national boundaries.

Remember back in the good old days when Canada stood for something? Sure, we were always going to be a pipsqueak among the big nation-states in the political game, but we had [...]]]>

The decay of Canada illustrates two things. Corporate power is global, and resistance to it cannot be restricted by national boundaries.

Remember back in the good old days when Canada stood for something? Sure, we were always going to be a pipsqueak among the big nation-states in the political game, but we had a spine, and some grit, and we even gave freethinkers in other countries something to be inspired by. Remember when Bono himself declared “The world needs more Canada”?

Now? The world needs Canada like a hole in the ozone layer. We’re home to the biggest industrial pollution project on the planet. We have a government determined to re-draw the cultural lines we once smugly thought set us apart.

Journalist Chris Hedges writes in TruthDig about where we went wrong.

Chris Hedges: Corporations Have No Use for Borders – Chris Hedges’ Columns – Truthdig.

People will tell you Los Angeles is all about the car. That’s partly true, and much of the problem, although they have been trying lately by building new transit lines and bike lanes. But the city-wide no-walking-zone rumours are not true. It turns out that politicians, voters and plenty of volunteers have managed to preserve [...]]]>

People will tell you Los Angeles is all about the car. That’s partly true, and much of the problem, although they have been trying lately by building new transit lines and bike lanes. But the city-wide no-walking-zone rumours are not true. It turns out that politicians, voters and plenty of volunteers have managed to preserve a huge chunk of the city in the Santa Monica Mountains for future generations — and hikers today. Not all of the 8 million people living there know it, but there are more than 500 miles of hiking trails within the city.

I am always happy to receive email with a blog-link to the latest post from Ivan Doumenc because I admire his insightful and inspirational dispatches from the front lines of the salmon wars. Also because it’s a powerful story I don’t see/hear/read in the traditional media… maybe because there are some huge institutional [...]]]>

I am always happy to receive email with a blog-link to the latest post from Ivan Doumenc because I admire his insightful and inspirational dispatches from the front lines of the salmon wars. Also because it’s a powerful story I don’t see/hear/read in the traditional media… maybe because there are some huge institutional players and lots of money on the other side.

Oh you didn’t know there was a salmon war?

salmon warriors: Our finest hour.

The NY Times has an interesting debate going on about the use of technology to raise to raise crop yields in poor countries (in the Dot Earth blog run by Andrew Revkin which “which recently moved from the news side of The Times to the Opinion section”… a switch which used to mean something [...]]]>

The NY Times has an interesting debate going on about the use of technology to raise to raise crop yields in poor countries (in the Dot Earth blog run by Andrew Revkin which “which recently moved from the news side of The Times to the Opinion section”… a switch which used to mean something but now falls into the category of “whatever”).

Don’t stop at the posts, though. If you read there alone, you might conclude: what’s wrong with more food? Who would want to stop a poor farmer from planting better seeds? Don’t hippies have anything better to do? And why are people picking on that nice corporation Monsanto?

Continue to the comments section where more voices are heard, including some offering a bigger-picture, longer-term analysis with less impressive yields, more resource losses, less biodiversity, and the same corporation that gave us Agent Orange and Roundup dominating the future of farming.

Nepal and Others Mull Monsanto’s Role in Advancing Agriculture – NYTimes.com.

In Nepal, Farmers Struggle as City Dwellers Fight Monsanto

There’s more to holiday gift-giving than the maul.

Here’s a smart (as usual) take from The Nation on how to be nice this Christmas in ways that get progressively nicer.

Best of all, it leads off with a nod to my fave do-good group, Heifer International!

The second link takes you directly to a 30-second vid on why [...]]]>

There’s more to holiday gift-giving than the maul.

Here’s a smart (as usual) take from The Nation on how to be nice this Christmas in ways that get progressively nicer.

Best of all, it leads off with a nod to my fave do-good group, Heifer International!

The second link takes you directly to a 30-second vid on why the Heifer model works. Passing on the Gift (such as young heifers but also seeds, knowledge, training, etc.) turns recipients into donors.

Progressive Gift Guide

Heifer in 60 seconds.

If you’re a book lover (yes, they still exist) you’ve probably shared the experience of finding a bookstore, any bookstore, and walking in with a sigh of delight, nostalgia and sadness.

There’s so much going on in the modern bookstore that’s more about us as a society than it is [...]]]>

If you’re a book lover (yes, they still exist) you’ve probably shared the experience of finding a bookstore, any bookstore, and walking in with a sigh of delight, nostalgia and sadness.

There’s so much going on in the modern bookstore that’s more about us as a society than it is about just books. Here’s an excerpt from a fine piece by Curtis White in Lapham’s Quarterly about literature and how we get it.

As far as I’m concerned, the book business deserves to die if for no other reason than that its business model is something out of the 1930s: send a bunch of loser Willy Lomans out as “reps,” people who don’t read and don’t understand the books they sell, and have them place the books on consignment, just as if they were old chairs that you were trying to unload at the local consignment store. As far as the bookstores were concerned, they were mostly purchasing decoration for their stores, so that it at least looked like a place to buy books. The few books that actually made money—celebrity memoirs, confessions of failed politicians, moronic self-help tomes, and jokey piss-jobs about not running with scissors—were profitably located on a few tables at the front of the store. Everything else was just ambience.

The Late Word by Curtis White – Roundtable | Lapham’s Quarterly.

The magazine’s non-ideological, data-based study lists 147 leading corporations based on their inter-connections. Whether that’s the best yardstick of power we’ll leave to another discussion. Meanwhile, it’s probably enough to [...]]]> The New Scientist is confirming what Occupy Everywhere crowds are saying: capitalism’s unchecked growth has resulted in a few corporations wielding massive influence over the world.

The magazine’s non-ideological, data-based study lists 147 leading corporations based on their inter-connections. Whether that’s the best yardstick of power we’ll leave to another discussion. Meanwhile, it’s probably enough to accept that these companies are huge. The story includes a spiffy visual and a list of the earth’s 50 most interconnected corporations. But just what are they? And what do they do? You might be surprised (as I was) to see how few of them you know anything about. Even as they have arguably more power over our lives than our own governments.

I know more about the world’s top 50 celebrities than I do about the top 50 corporations. Why is that?

AS PROTESTS against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have confirmed the protesters’ worst fears. An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy.

Revealed – the capitalist network that runs the world – physics-math – 19 October 2011 – New Scientist.

Those accusing the Japanese government of failure in its basic duty to tell the truth about the potential health consequences from the nuclear plant disaster at Fukushima will not be surprised to read this from today’s NY Times.

Although Tokyo is a long way from Fukushima, and most people have been comforted by official announcements that [...]]]>

Those accusing the Japanese government of failure in its basic duty to tell the truth about the potential health consequences from the nuclear plant disaster at Fukushima will not be surprised to read this from today’s NY Times.

Although Tokyo is a long way from Fukushima, and most people have been comforted by official announcements that additional tests for radioactivity are unnecessary, some citizens groups in the capital got their hands on monitoring gear for themselves:

Then came the test result: the level of radioactive cesium in a patch of dirt just meters from where his 11-year-old son, Koshiro, played baseball was equal to those in some contaminated areas around Chernobyl.

Radioactive Hot Spots in Tokyo Point to Wider Problems – NYTimes.com.

Uber urban farmer Chris Thoreau is putting his urine to good use “closing the cycle” on the food system.

All these new city farms are going to need nutrients from somewhere, so which would you prefer, a factory chemical shipped from thousands of miles away or something you make yourself?

VIDEO: [...]]]> We call it human “waste” but why?

Uber urban farmer Chris Thoreau is putting his urine to good use “closing the cycle” on the food system.

All these new city farms are going to need nutrients from somewhere, so which would you prefer, a factory chemical shipped from thousands of miles away or something you make yourself?

VIDEO: Human waste fertilizes indoor garden – British Columbia – CBC News.

As if it wasn’t hard enough growing food out of the concrete jungle, consider the plague of the two-legged pest.

Most of us have lost food at some point to the urban ingrates. Thieves may not not be our most destructive pest  — slugs take more from me every year — but for mental [...]]]>

As if it wasn’t hard enough growing food out of the concrete jungle, consider the plague of the two-legged pest.

Most of us have lost food at some point to the urban ingrates. Thieves may not not be our most destructive pest  — slugs take more from me every year — but for mental aggravation they’re public enemy number one.

Criminals hate exposure, so try to bring more community into your community garden or farm. Get the neighbours on side so they know the difference between the real growers and the freeloaders. During harvest season schedule work times so there’s always someone on site who can approach intruders with a friendly, “Hi! Are you here to help? What’s your name?”

The more people know about and watch for veggie robbbers the better off we’ll be, which is why it’s encouraging to see the New York Times cover the issue. It’s also gratifying to see who they quoted:

Garden theft is by no means unique to New York. In 2007, David Tracey, a Vancouver journalist and environmental designer, published “Guerrilla Gardening, a Manualfesto.” Tips from the book appear on Ecolife, a Web site devoted to green living. He says yellow tomatoes are less enticing than red ones; protective fencing and belligerent signs are acceptable; and hiding desirable fruits like raspberries behind beets or parsnips is smart strategy. He also has a Zen-like attitude to dealing with stealing. “Invent some better scenario,” he wrote, “where the stolen food somehow ends up in the stomachs of people who need it.”

Community Gardens Find Theft Is a Fact of Life – NYTimes.com.