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Help set up eco-settlements by moving your money and getting a better return than from a bank savings account
If we want to: help set up organic smallholdings; allow people to build natural homes on their land; preserve rural skills and livelihoods; and develop a sustainable, non-corporate food supply, we have to do more than just talk about it.
Good luck to Greece, and why you won’t find the real reasons for their crisis in the mainstream media
It’s so ironic that the biggest lesson in how to destroy democracy is being delivered to the world in the birthplace of democracy.
How to get George Osborne to buy you shares in a wind turbine
No, this isn’t a scam – you can get tax relief on shares in community energy. But it’s not charity – you don’t have to part with your money. It’s an investment, and one that is projected to give you a 7% return – much more than a bank savings account.
Why I’d like to bring together radical academics and people building a sustainable, non-corporate system on the ground
I’m going to the Breaking the Frame gathering on Thursday, representing Lowimpact.org. The event has been organised by Corporate Watch, Scientists for Global Responsibility, Rising Tide and Luddites200. Dave King of Luddites200 contacted a couple of years ago and I’ve been going along to his ‘politics of technology’ reading group one evening a month since.
Goodbye to WWOOF and to Redfield Community: the dawn of a new era for Lowimpact.org
Today we part company with both WWOOF and Redfield Community. Here’s a bit of history, including why we’re splitting, plus an advert for both WWOOF and Redfield.
What I learnt about US Middle East policy and the international oil market in a kebab shop in Tooting
I learnt something about US foreign policy (or more accurately, corporate foreign policy – this has nothing to do with the American people) in a kebab shop in Tooting – or rather, I didn’t so much learn about the foreign policy as how events that are largely unknown to most British people are common currency for …
Why we need to stop TTIP if we care about the national health services of European countries
As negotiations continue between Europe and the US on the Transatlantic Trade and InvestmentPartnership (TTIP), concerns are mounting among civil society groups over the implications for public healthcare.
Low-impact & the city 1: introduction – how possible is it to live in a sustainable, non-corporate way in a city?
I lived at Redfield Community for 13 years – it’s where Lowimpact.org was born – but now I live in London, and so I’m assessing my options for living as low-impact a life as I can.
Fermi’s paradox: does the lack of contact from extraterrestrials have implications for human survival?
“Where is everybody?” Enrico Fermi is supposed to have asked in 1950 of his colleagues at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Working from first principles, Fermi calculated that extraterrestrials should have visited the Earth long ago, and many times over
I’ve joined the board of the Ecological Land Co-operative because I want to change the way land is owned and farmed
On Wednesday evening I attended the AGM of the Ecological Land Co-op at Freightliners City Farm in London. I was standing for election to the board after being invited to apply by Shaun Chamberlin of Dark Optimism
Support the art of blockprinting fabrics – watch this fantastic video of how it’s done and we’re sure you’ll want to
This hand block printed bed and table linen is made from organically grown cotton, certified by IMO, sourced by Hilary in India and printed at a small workshop in Rajasthan
Introducing Yorkley Court Community Farm – you can help them to secure their land with a land trust, and avoid eviction
Yorkley Court Community Farm is in the Forest of Dean. They contacted us as they’re involved in a legal battle to stay on the land that they’re currently occupying. The ownership of the land is contested, but a lot of damage has been done
Want to see land shared more equally, and managed ecologically? If so, here’s what to do
We used to get people on our straw-bale building courses who were amazed at how simple and quick a technique it is. They’d sometimes say ‘wow, I’m going to get a few acres and build my own home!’ and we’d have to inform them that they might have to do it in another country.
Why Panorama’s GM propaganda was false, there is no food shortage and we don’t need GM to feed the world
Did you see the BBC’s Panorama on monday, promoting the GM (genetic modification) industry? Here are four reasons their message is just pure propaganda on behalf of the corporate sector.
So do MPs deserve a 10% pay rise to £74,000 per annum?
There is an argument [see the Guardian, for example] currently going on about whether Westminster MPs deserve the 10% pay rise that they’ve been awarded, bringing a back-bencher’s salary up to £74,000.
Will nature deal with our crop and garden pests if we don’t intervene or use poisons?
It’s been cold, really cold. For a while I thought it was just that my new garden is on a very exposed site, and until the windbreaks really get going I’m going to have to put up with a late start to the season.
City bans fracking; legislators overturn it and receive $25k each from oil and gas industry. Is this democracy?
A city in Texas voted to ban fracking within its city limits. The ban in Denton passed with around 60% of the vote.
How would you rank these in order of importance: truth, happiness, justice, freedom?
It’s the next readers’ question in Philosophy Now magazine (much recommended, by the way), and when I saw it yesterday, I had a very strong reaction to it that has big implications for Lowimpact’s position on sustainability and democracy
3 million front gardens have been completely paved since 2005. Let’s try to reverse this trend.
The RHS 2015 Greening Grey Britain Report reveals that three times as many front gardens are paved over compared to ten years ago, a total increase of 15 square miles of ‘grey’, and that plant cover in front gardens has decreased by as much as 15%.
Materialism: so you think you’re not hooked?
‘Understanding ourselves, we come to understand all things, but if we seek to understand all things without knowing the nature of our own awareness, great will be our calamity.’ David Frawley