Posts from — May 2009

Today I made another batch of laundry soap. I had ran out about a month ago, I was using the leftover powdered store bought soap, wow is there a difference! When I use the commercial soap, I often need to run a second rinse cycle, especially if I look at the rinse water, it’s nearly as soapy as the wash cycle, I know that is just being dried into my clothes, that can’t be good for my skin. When I use my homemade laundry soap, I use so much less, and it gets my clothes just as clean if not cleaner, and I don’t see that residue of suds in the rinse water. (more…)

Von Pfetten: Head for the heels Is the reported growth in survivalism for real or just a media invention?

Frequent news stories claim a spike in sales of emergency rations, guns and backup generators amongst anxious suburban men (and they are all men).  So is survivalism growing or is it just the number of stories about it that has gone through the roof?

The answer seems to be a bit of both, but, boy, those same few survivalists that give all the media interviews must be getting awful sore throats.

The stories, like a recent one in the Huffington Post by fashion editor Verena von Pfetten, all feed off and lift information from each other. And its always self interested parties who are quoted – an emergency rations company saying their sales have rocketed, or a survivalist web site claiming audiences are doubling.

Coverage of books like Neil Strauss’s Emergency play their part, as does data about the rising sales of guns.  But gun sales are rising in response to President Obama’s plans to tighten gun laws, especially on semi-automatics. And rising sales of canned food does not really add up to a major social trend. (more…)

Everybody’s doing it The New York Times reports that many more students this year are looking for rural internships – gardening and organic farming are top of their list. (Some links to farm work apprenticeships are on the next page)

Erin Axelrod will be living in a tent, using an outdoor composting toilet and harvesting vegetables on a farm near Petaluma, Calif.

Gina Runfola, an English and creative writing student, was selected from over 20 applicants to intern at 3-Corner Field Farm in Shushan, N.Y.

Ms. Runfola, who grew up on the Jersey Shore and has never even gone camping, will plot her next move from a small trailer parked a half a city block away from the Internet connection in the main farmhouse.

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Save 90% of the energy Page Three girl Keeley Hazell has been campaigning for houses to switch to energy-saving Chest freezers. We thought it was just an urban legend, but Keely is right. For years there has been a persistent rumour that chest freezers can be used as fridges at just one tenth of the power consumption.  A stream of stories on Australian web sites seems to confirm it.

The theory is that a chest freezer will use less power because the horizontal lid doesn’t let cold air fall out when it’s opened, and it has very thick insulation compared to a fridge. (more…)

We can learn from them The mobile phone industry is big in off-grid power usage.  But not for any ecological reasons.  In fact a close look at the cell companies’ power consumption proves their talk of green is just that – talk.

The wireless network, due to the distribution of its infrastructure, is an ideal candidate to test out new ideas in decentralized power. But for the most part, cellular services  turn to alternative energy solutions where there is no access, or unreliable access, to grid power.   And they avoid building towers in isolated areas because its not cost-effective, although that is precisely where their consumers most need them. (more…)

In the process of becoming more and more independent, we grow much of our own foods. But there is still one thing that is still expensive and is becoming more expensive to purchase. Tobacco. The government is taxing tobacco to death (no pun intended). With the high cost of buying cigarettes, it has occurred to me that we can be growing our own tobacco. I have decided that now is the time to give it a try. I took the plunge and ordered a set of 4 different types of tobacco seeds from eBay. If smoking or the use of tobacco offends you in any way, then you probably should not read this.

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Anything could happen The Nowhere Festival in Los Monegros, Zaragoza, Spain is the annual get together of the European wing of the ‘Burners’ – as regulars at the amazing US Burning Man event refer to themselves.

It takes place from 8-12 July 2009. Like its US counterpart, its a festival of self-reliance, gifting and improbable sculpture.

Its slightly more tilted towards art installations than its US parent, and there are even grants to help towards the cost of installation and getting there. But hurry. Round 2 grant proposals are due by this Friday, May 22. (more…)

The story of how the panic over climate change was pushed to the top of the international agenda falls into five main stages, says Telegraph writer Christopher Booker (pictured). He blames Al Gore for lying to create a climate scare.   Gore is clearly a practised liar and Booker’s case deserves an airing. (more…)

Addicted to money

It was just a few short months ago that bankers were everybody’s favorite hate figure. Now the media circus has moved on. In the UK, Members of Parliament are being pilloried for stealing sums which total 1% of Goldman Sachs annual bonus pot. Many have already repaid the money.

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