Robert Paterson's Weblog

The Dacha: Russia's Retreat, Soul Saver and Key Food Supplier - Model for us?

In the 1990's, the Russian dacha remained a major food supplier: in 1997, at least 38 percent of Russians supplied themselves with food grown on their dacha plots. The relative prosperity of the Putin-inspired hydrocarbon decade lulled many Russians into a false sense of security. They started viewing their dachas as a real country place of rest, and took to growing flowers for enjoyment. In the current economic crisis this trend has witnessed a sudden reversal. Yuri Alekseyev, the director of Semko-Junior, a major Russian seed trader, said that currently some 90 percent of Russian potatoes and 75 percent of its vegetables are produced on dacha plots (www.news.ru, March 20).

Tumanov expects seed sales to grow further, as "not everyone has woken up yet." He estimates Russia's annual seed and plant market at no less than $1 billion. "Unfortunately," he lamented, "the land that is legally privately owned does not amount to more than a fraction of one percent. It is these fractions that help feed the country" (www.news.ru, March 20).

American workers have also recently rediscovered the option of growing their own food. On June 16, First Lady Michelle Obama, aided by local schoolchildren harvested a crop of shell peas and spinach from her vegetable garden on the south lawn, which she had planted on March 20. It is the first White House vegetable garden since World War II. The first lady is growing 55 types of vegetable in the 1,100-square-foot garden, to set an example to the nation. That hardly seems to compare with Russia's crisis homegrown food market -perhaps the only Russian industry that is second to none in the world.

Americans do not have to supply their country's food market from tiny plots that account for only a small fraction of privately owned land: nor do they face the prospect of this self-supply in extremis developing into a perennial and chronic national phenomenon.

via jamestown.org

I wonder - are we safe? Is owning a small plot and learning how to grow food a good investment?

Posted via web from Rob's posterous

Them vs Us - Are you pissed off now

How about this. Currently, according to news reports, just 23 top investment banks, hedge funds and other Wall Street firms will get $140 billion in bonuses this year, a sum almost exactly equal to the estimated $142 billion in budget shortfalls for all 50 states in fiscal 2010. Or to put this another way, approximately 300,000 lucky rascals who fiddle with other people’s money on Wall Street are getting bonuses roughly equal to what 300 million Americans will lose for countless needed state services, or pay in the form of higher state taxes to cover state shortfalls. And these bonuses, please remember, are above regular salaries at these 23 Wall Street firms.

via themoderatevoice.com

Read the rest if you dare

Posted via web from Rob's posterous

How to grow a local food system - John Robb

INCREDIBLE EDIBLE

The journey to resilient communities won't be a top down effort (in fact, there will likely be top down resistance), nor will there be only one approach.  One simple and straightforward approach is being used in Todmorden, UK.  It's called Incredible Edible.  The goal with this program is to simply gain food independence for the town by 2018.  So far, it appears to be working.  The most salient signs of this include a:

• Big increase in local food production including community "help yourself" food gardens in central plots (fruit to herbs).
• Thriving local food market.  7 in 10 buy local food regularly.  The market "groans" with local meat and vegetables. 
• Switch at the 8 local schools to serving only local produce at lunch.

Process

The incredible edible process appears to be relatively simple (17 tips):

• Start small.  Self-financed plantings with a small group is all that's needed.
• Expand organically, using a very practical approach.  Only do what can be done now (forget the rest).  Ask people to do what they can, not what you wish them to do.
• Leave big issues/philosophy out of it.  Be reasonable in your requests and terse in your explanation of why.
• Attach your efforts to community building activities at the town/neighborhood level.  Harness institutions. Always propose things that lighten the workload/costs of the town/neighborhood governing council.
• Be patient and nice.  Things move slowly.

Platforms and Engines

To accelerate efforts, here are some things that the Todmorden team has done or has in the works:

 A surplus egg map (Google mash-up -- click pic at left).  

 Daily blogs, twitter, and flickr

An effort to build/fund an aquaponics facility (fish/vegetables) at the local school.  The byproduct being training for students in food production that will yield awareness for all and lots of meaningful jobs/careers for some (given that conceptual or academic eduction = preparing for jobs that increasingly don't exist).  The school already has a polytunnel.

Workshops on honest food like preparing a chicken from scratch.

via globalguerrillas.typepad.com

John is one of the most thoughtful thinkers about Resilience today - This is great advice for those of us wondering how to start this ourselves

Posted via web from Rob's posterous

The journey to resilient communities won't be a top down effort (in fact, there will likely be top down resistance), nor will there be only one approach.  One simple and straightforward approach is being used in Todmorden, UK.  It's called Incredible Edible.  The goal with this program is to simply gain food independence for the town by 2018.  So far, it appears to be working.  The most salient signs of this include a:

• Big increase in local food production including community "help yourself" food gardens in central plots (fruit to herbs).
• Thriving local food market.  7 in 10 buy local food regularly.  The market "groans" with local meat and vegetables. 
• Switch at the 8 local schools to serving only local produce at lunch.

Process

The incredible edible process appears to be relatively simple (17 tips):

• Start small.  Self-financed plantings with a small group is all that's needed.
• Expand organically, using a very practical approach.  Only do what can be done now (forget the rest).  Ask people to do what they can, not what you wish them to do.
• Leave big issues/philosophy out of it.  Be reasonable in your requests and terse in your explanation of why.
• Attach your efforts to community building activities at the town/neighborhood level.  Harness institutions. Always propose things that lighten the workload/costs of the town/neighborhood governing council.
• Be patient and nice.  Things move slowly.

Platforms and Engines

To accelerate efforts, here are some things that the Todmorden team has done or has in the works:

 A surplus egg map (Google mash-up -- click pic at left).  

 Daily blogs, twitter, and flickr

An effort to build/fund an aquaponics facility (fish/vegetables) at the local school.  The byproduct being training for students in food production that will yield awareness for all and lots of meaningful jobs/careers for some (given that conceptual or academic eduction = preparing for jobs that increasingly don't exist).  The school already has a polytunnel.

Workshops on honest food like preparing a chicken from scratch.

Don't F**k the Customer anymore - Volvo's Gotterdamerung

Watch

Freya Svensson is not the kind of customer you want on your bad side. The Pasadena, Calif. soccer mom bought a car from a local Volvo dealership in 2006. Her transmission failed, she had it replaced, but then it started to act up again. After multiple complaints to the dealership, they finally agreed to replace it -- but that offer only came after her warranty had expired. And so she chose an unusual course of action: she donned a horned Viking helmet (to get in touch with her Swedish roots, of course) and created a series of good-humored videos on YouTube documenting her quest for justice -- which seems to have been served this past week. What likely sealed the deal was one of her videos in particular, in which Ms. Svensson strums a guitar and sings in Swedish (with English subtitles) about her saga.

via theglobeandmail.com

Power has shifted to the customer - all the more reason for companies to listen and watch out for trouble on the web

Posted via web from Rob's posterous

Social Media Prospectus for Charlottetown, PEI - Course Start Jan 2010

Until now small businesses could not have the same tools and big business – they could not afford to market or to do market research – they could not afford to advertise, use TV or Radio – they could not afford to communicate all over the world – they could not afford the office tools – they could not afford to have office space – they could not afford to find new staff – the list goes on.

But this has all changed. Not only can small and ultra small organizations do all these things for free now or close to free, but they can do a better job than most large established organizations who dare not change their expensive tools for the new ones.

But if you are not a Geek, how will you learn how to use these new 2.0 or Social Tools such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google Office Tools, Blogging etc?

The Queen Street Commons, is putting a learning series together to help you do just that.

The Series will begin on January 13th, 2010 and will take place every Wednesday every week for 8 weeks. The price will be $10 a head per session. There will be a limit of 10 Learners. Please book here - Bonus for those that subscribe to 5 sessions or more will be a free 1 month membership to the Commons.

Full details of the sessions will be announced in mid December as the key mentors will then have chosen their dates. The Provisional Series will look like this:

• Free Office Tools – How to support your enterprise with high quality tools for very little cost – From Email – to Office Suites – Phone/Video Chat Conferencing

• Marketing and Research Overview – An overview of the use and power of tools like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blogging etc to enable you to find out what is going on in your field and to attract communities of support for what you do or stand for

• Setting up your own website – How to use free and simple to use Blogging tools to create your own websites

• Video – How to make your own videos, elementary editing and how to use tools such as YouTube and Vimeo to have your own TV station

• Community Tools – Tools such as Ning, that we will also use to support the course are proving very useful in helping groups of people stay connected – what are they and how best can they be used

• Using a smart  Phone such as an iPhone – The basics of making the most of your smart phone in the mobile world

• Running your own Wireless Network – How to use the main elements of WiFi to network all your gear – basic problem solving as well

• Risk Management – What are some of the things you need to avoid and what will keep you safe in this new hyper-connected world

Each session will be lead by an experienced person in the field. The small size of the “class” is designed to promote interaction. We will also make available an online support community as well so that you can extend the class outside the room.

Some of our coaches include:

• Patrick Ledwell – Lead Sustain Creative Consultants, Former IT instructor at Holland College
• Rob Paterson – Long Term Blogger, Twitter user and adviser to NPR and Public TV on the use of social media
• Jason White – aka Tech Guru – all around problem solver of all things IT
• Karen Mair – Journalist – Island Morning – Newbie and brave user of 2.0 tools
• Eireann Rigby – Co Founder of UFIT and long term user of Facebook and 2.0 tools to support her business
• Kelly Burke – CFO silverorange
• Vicki Bryanton – long term CEO of NGO’s

via queenstreetcommons.org

Posted via web from Rob's posterous

The "Recovery"

via 2.bp.blogspot.com

Posted via web from Rob's posterous

A Whole New World for Video | Rosenblum TV

via rosenblumtv.com

A must see video

Posted via web from Rob's posterous

Recovery? Then why so many on food stamps?

From the ailing resorts of the Florida Keys to Alaskan villages along the Bering Sea, the program is now expanding at a pace of about 20,000 people a day.

There are 239 counties in the United States where at least a quarter of the population receives food stamps, according to an analysis of local data collected by The New York Times.

The counties are as big as the Bronx and Philadelphia and as small as Owsley County in Kentucky, a patch of Appalachian distress where half of the 4,600 residents receive food stamps.

In more than 750 counties, the program helps feed one in three blacks. In more than 800 counties, it helps feed one in three children. In the Mississippi River cities of St. Louis, Memphis and New Orleans, half of the children or more receive food stamps. Even in Peoria, Ill. — Everytown, U.S.A. — nearly 40 percent of children receive aid.

While use is greatest where poverty runs deep, the growth has been especially swift in once-prosperous places hit by the housing bust. There are about 50 small counties and a dozen sizable ones where the rolls have doubled in the last two years. In another 205 counties, they have risen by at least two-thirds. These places with soaring rolls include populous Riverside County, Calif., most of greater Phoenix and Las Vegas, a ring of affluent Atlanta suburbs, and a 150-mile stretch of southwest Florida from Bradenton to the Everglades.

Although the program is growing at a record rate, the federal official who oversees it would like it to grow even faster.

“I think the response of the program has been tremendous,” said Kevin Concannon, an under secretary of agriculture, “but we’re mindful that there are another 15, 16 million who could benefit.”

Nationwide, food stamps reach about two-thirds of those eligible, with rates ranging from an estimated 50 percent in California to 98 percent in Missouri. Mr. Concannon urged lagging states to do more to enroll the needy, citing a recent government report that found a sharp rise in Americans with inconsistent access to adequate food.

“This is the most urgent time for our feeding programs in our lifetime, with the exception of the Depression,” he said. “It’s time for us to face up to the fact that in this country of plenty, there are hungry people.”

via nytimes.com

Each time I hear these numbers, I am stunned. Half the kids in St Louis! 20,000 more people a day.

There is a great flaw in how everything works.

I think that there is a link between the structural unemployment and food. With less than 5% of the nation employed in growing food, we have ended up with a food system that produces the wrong food (mainly corn and corn fed animals) in the wrong way (hyper industrial) that ruins the land makes people ill and offers only slavery as employment.

Of course this system is worth a lot to a few - and so they can and do protect it.

We can change this. Change this by growing our own food locally.

By having a food revolution.

I had thought that such a revolution would grow out of the Early Adopter types like me and my kids. But the situation that confronts millions has changed my view.

Is not feeding and employing millions the opportunity?

Posted via web from Rob's posterous

Science 2.0 The birth of the Citizen Scientist

Many of the great discoveries in science have involved “seeing” patterns when no one else can.

This map is one of the most important of these “seeing” moments. The time is 1854 and the place is London. There is a cholera outbreak. At the time Germ Theory did not exist. No one knew how Cholera was transmitted. We don’t actually know today how Flu is transmitted either.

Dr John Snow took an extraordinary step – he mapped the deaths. He had no idea what would appear.

If you look at the map, you will see that the dots representing the deaths have a pattern. They concentrate around one well.

When the well was dug up, it was found that a sewer had contaminated the water. No one knew about germs yet. But the link between fecal matter and water had been made. The result – a massive public health response – the building of the London Sewers.

I bring this up in the context of a new way of “seeing” that is now THE coming thing in Science. Data Intensive Science. Until now, this field was restricted to those with access to huge and expensive data bases.

For much of DIS today is based on the power of computers to take on vast amounts of data and then offer back patterns.

But just as blogging and the 2.0 Tool set is changing media, this approach is being applied to DIS. The new easy to use and inexpensive tools that will allow this type of inquiry to take place in the hands of you and I are being built right now (I am involved in such a project) These tools use Open Source and a 2.0 interface but with exceptionally robust data collection, storage and presentation engines.

What this is going to do is to open up research on complex issues that can only be explored by the use of patterns

For traditional science can only deal with the simple and the complicated. We can only make our way through the complex and chaotic by the use of pattern. Just as Dr Snow did back in the day. He and no one else knew what caused cholera. Only a pattern could show the way.

Dr Snow was not a Scientist either. Of course neither were Galileo or Newton. Even Einstein was a lowly patent clerk. You can now see where I am going.

This process is in turn driving the same kind of revolution in science that we are seeing in Media – the rebirth of Citizen Science.

The tools that can be used for Data Intensive Science are the same that are used in media. The same empowerment of the individual is beginning in science as we have seen in media.

All the same questions about who is a real scientist/journalist are on the table.

At the heart of the revolution is a tool set that enables the small to do the work that only the large could have done before. So issues of credentials, trust, value etc will all come to the surface in science as they are in media today.

As I get my feet wet in the new field for me, I will be able to tell you more about the new 2.0 world of Science.

via fastforwardblog.com

Posted via web from Rob's posterous

Getting Control Back - Barbara Kingsolver Discusses Eating Locally

Happy Thanksgiving! As many of us sit down today for a meal with friends and family, we thought you might enjoy the short clip below. In it Jeffrey Brown talks to writer Barbara Kingsolver about the sustainable food movement.

For Jeffrey Brown's earlier conversation with Kinsgsolver, in which they talk about her latest novel, click here.

via pbs.org

It's coming!

Posted via web from Rob's posterous