55 uses of biochar

  55 uses of biochar [Updated to 60] Acknowledgement of the original work The 55 uses of biochar work was originally created by: Schmidt HP, Wilson K: The 55 uses of biochar, the Biochar Journal 2014, Arbaz, Switzerland. ISSN 2297-1114 www.biochar-journal.org/en/ct/2 Version of 12th May 2014 Some of the uses detailed already use activated carbon as …

How E-Bike Rebates Will Make Cycling Safer

Copied from Bloomberg UK How E-Bike Rebates Will Make Cycling Safer in Denver In April 2022, the city began offering residents $400 off a new electric bike or $900 off an e-cargo bike, with low-income residents eligible for an additional $800 discount. The program was a sensation: Over 4,700 Denverites snapped up a voucher in …

The Great Simplification – Humanity’s Soul: Life or Growth?

This post from Nate Hagens’ website is a remarkable conversation between Nate and Gaya Herrinmgton Nate’s introduction: The Limits to Growth (LTG) report is one of the most well known assessments of source and sink constraints to human economic aspirations. LTG has been reviewed and updated numerous times over the last 50 years, most recently …

The economy is shrinking.  And everything that depends on it.  Including the population.

Lately, I have been listening to Nate Hagen’s weekly podcast, The Great Simplification.  He explains that his podcast explores the systems science underpinning the human predicament. Conversation topics span human behaviour, monetary/economic systems, energy, ecology, geopolitics and the environment.  The goal of the show is to inform more humans about the path ahead and inspire …

Going back to firewood

Our heat pump reached the end of its life last year.  25 years old, which is better than expected.  It will cost £15,000 to replace.  At our age, in our 80s, not worth doing. So, we are using electric radiators in the kitchen and bedroom and an open fire (Baxi) in the lounge, at weekends. …

The silent threat lurking in British homes

Increasing energy bills have created the perfect conditions for mould Blistering energy prices have created the perfect conditions for the rise of a particular blight across the country. Surveyors have reported a tenfold increase in calls from worried landlords and homeowners who have discovered damp and mould hiding in their ­properties – and threatening to …

Heading towards the end of our industrial economy

To put it in terms that even an economist might grasp, all energetic systems – including industrial economies – eventually burn themselves out.  Ours is no different. That is how Tim Watkin’s latest post finishes.  Which set me thinking afresh about the future. Maybe we should think about the end of our industrial economy.  Rather …

We must use less energy

Beware the vampires. Energy vampires are sneaky power-suckers that utilize energy even when you think they’re not. … The future must be less complicated.  Nate Hagens’s excellent podcast The Great Simplicatiion says it all.   It is: …..a podcast that explores the systems science underpinning the human predicament. Conversation topics will span human behaviour, monetary/economic systems, …

The economic driver of the industrial era – the supply of low-cost energy from oil, natural gas and coal – is winding down, and there is no assured replacement at hand.

The title of this piece is taken from Tim Morgan’s latest blog. This is an important piece, which should be circulated widely.   Not necessarily to be believed that this is how things are, but rather to rise awareness that this view exists. Whether you agree or not with the information presented in the piece, depends …

Religion, Ecology, and the Future

Another interview by Nate Hagans in his wonderful series entitled “The Great Simplification”: Religious scholar Mary Evelyn Tucker unpacks the entanglement of religion and ecology from an academic perspective. She and Nate discuss what the roots of environmental ethics in religions all over the world look like and how they’ve been evolving in the face …