Category: Environment
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Hype, Hope, and Hard Truths: What Smil Teaches Us About Innovation
I am a fan of Bill Gates. His solutions to some of the world’s greatest problems are thoughtful and interesting and on a grand scale. Not solutions available at a personal level. One of his favorite authors is Vaclav Smil, which prompted me to read this book. In Invention and Innovation, Vaclav Smil slices through…
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Exploring Chaos Theory: From Niagara Falls to Science
My wife and I recently took a trip to Niagara Falls, staying on the Canadian side. I also just finished reading Chaos: Making a New Science, by James Gleick. As I looked at the falls and the rushing Niagara River, thinking about all of that turbulence enhanced the experience. James Gleick’s Chaos: Making a New…
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Observing Dryad’s Saddle: The Forest’s Spotted Surprise
You can see my observation on the iNaturalist site here. A Welcome Sight in Spring Today’s woodland walk brought a delightful surprise: a beautiful cluster of Dryad’s Saddle mushrooms, also known as Polyporus squamosus. This impressive bracket fungus often appears on dead or dying hardwood trees—particularly elm, maple, or box elder—and is a welcome herald…
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Masanobu Fukuoka’s Guide to Sustainable Gardening
Yesterday spent time in the annual garden putting in plants purchased from a local garden center. It is the time of year to think about the garden, and nature. That brings to mind the One-Straw Revolution.
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Gaia’s Garden
With the start of gardening season, I thought it appropriate to summarize what I believe to be the best introductory book on permaculture. Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture. Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway is widely regarded as the most accessible and inspiring introduction to permaculture available today. Designed for gardeners, homeowners, and sustainability…
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Volunteering for Lake Champlain: Cyanobacteria Monitoring Insights
I recently volunteered to be a cyanobacteria monitor for Lake Champlain. This program is run by the Lake Champlain Committee. www.lakechamplaincommittee.org. The Committee has been working for a healthy, accessible lake since 1963. Earlier this week I attended the Zoom orientation meeting. The meeting lasted a little less than three hours and was very informative.…
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Blue Mars
I recently read Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. From the highlights I made, gardening and terraforming, including ecopoiesis, dominated. According to NASA, “Ecopoiesis is the concept of initiating life in a new place; more precisely, the creation of an ecosystem capable of supporting life. It is the concept of initiating “terraforming” using physical, chemical…
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Wendell Berry
I had heard the name Wendell Berry before, but really did not know much about him. I then read a Study Hacks Blog post by Cal Newport, “On Wendell Berry’s Move from NYU to a Riverside Cabin“. This led me to The New Yorker article “Wendell Berry’s Advice for a Cataclysmic Age“, by Dorothy Wickenden.…
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