What to sow, plant and harvest in your polytunnel or greenhouse in October
October is the month for clearing and tidying. Your cucumbers and courgettes are likely to be finished and many other plants are getting exhausted and diseased, but hopefully you have a batch of new salad crops ready to plant out now. Read more
Fruit & vegetable growing guide for October
October is really the last of the hectic months on the vegetable plot. There’s little to sow and plant but still a fair amount to harvest and store away to eat through winter. This is the month when the first frosts usually arrive so killing off all but the hardy plants. Read more
Reimagining progress: what we can learn about ‘lean thinking’ from indigenous communities
Here’s a living example of a ‘lean’ economy (outlined by David Fleming in our last blog post), and how you can help to preserve it. The ‘unlean’ economy is encroaching onto the territory of the Kichwa and Sapara communities in the Ecuadorean Amazon, in the form of large oil corporations, and will destroy their communities, as… Continue reading Reimagining progress: what we can learn about ‘lean thinking’ from indigenous communities Read more
David Fleming’s ‘Lean Logic’ and ‘Surviving the Future’, and why they’re important
I attended the launch of two books at Daunt Bookshop in Chelsea on Wednesday evening. David Fleming died in 2010, and now his friend Shaun Chamberlin has edited his magnum opus, Lean Logic, and Chelsea Green have published it. Read more
Should the NHS be allowed to sack doctors who work for the private sector ‘on the side’?
There was a story on Radio 4 this morning about NHS doctors who work in private healthcare ‘on the side’ now having to declare their income from private work under plans from NHS England to ensure that they’re not short-changing taxpayers. Read more
Incentives for heat pumps, and how they can help reduce carbon emissions
The Government and many of the rest of us interested in green issues know that we have to meet certain obligations when it comes to reducing the country’s carbon footprint. While those in the solar and wind industry might be complaining about loss of subsidies, Read more
Low-impact & the city 4: front gardens – concrete or plants?
My partner’s mother lives in Hounslow, under the Heathrow flight path and next to a dual carriageway. But she has filled her front and back garden with flowers, trees, bushes and vegetables. When she visits, she often brings pears, plums, spinach, tomatoes or flowers from her garden. Read more
Progress? Is modern food production efficient (using poultry as an example)?
We often hear it said that modern farming is efficient and results in low cost food on our table but how true is that? I would contend that there is an awful lot wrong with our food production and distribution systems in the west and the much vaunted efficiency is far from being the true… Continue reading Progress? Is modern food production efficient (using poultry as an example)? Read more
Imprint dyeing – a beautiful new way of dyeing textiles using plants
This is a beautiful and interesting way of dyeing cloth by imprinting plant material. Getting a precise imprint on cloth or paper is not new – take for instance the Turin Shroud. Read more
Jumble Trail: stroll around your neighbourhood, meet local people, grab a bargain, grab some food and sell unwanted stuff
I’d like to bring to people’s attention a community event I’m championing in my neck of the woods called a Jumble Trail. I’m in Wandsworth, London, but Jumble Trails are happening all over the country, and you can join in. Read more
Revisiting my old university economics textbook – how did I ever fall for this nonsense?
I haven’t opened my old university economics textbook (Economics, by David Begg, Stanley Fischer and Rudiger Dornbusch) since the 1980s, so I was curious to see how I would respond to what I was taught 30 years ago. Read more
Brexit or no Brexit – so-called ‘trade’ deals still threaten our NHS
If UK campaigners don’t set the terms of our trading relationships, insisting they protect public services and standards, it will be left to Theresa May’s expensive army of corporate lawyers. Read more
We’re heading for environmental meltdown – how the planning system could help
As a professional planner (of the town and country planning variety) and fan of Low-impact Living I always expect to see demands or requests being made of the planning system to assist in attempts by individuals or groups to experiment or set examples where impact on the environment would be minimised. Read more
Ecological Land Co-op are looking for an operations manager – might it be you or someone you know?
I am privileged to be a director of the wonderful Ecological Land Co-op, and we are currently advertising for an operations manager. Read more
Nature in September – what to look out for
When it comes to nature in September, this month is a melancholy time of year for anyone who loves swallows. Through the summer I enjoy seeing them and the local house martins, swooping and diving around my house and garden, drinking from the pond or sitting on our electricity wires, twittering and preening. Read more
Why do Americans have a different attitude to Brits when it comes to using trees as a renewable resource?
We’ve noticed from comments on our blogs and on social media that environmentally-conscious Americans have a slightly different attitude to using trees as a renewable resource – whether for firewood or for timber – than that prevalent in the UK. Read more
Why are clay pots better for sprouts and microgreens than plastic or glass?
So why sprout seeds in clay sprouters? Surely if seeds grow happily into sprouts or microgreens, they will be healthy and be good for us? Do they really care if they’re grown in plastic? Well, there are some other things to take into consideration. Read more
A brief history of philosophy, part 15: what next?
This is the final article in this series. Over the past 15 weeks I’ve tried to highlight the times in history where philosophy has helped, along with technology and events, to change the direction in which we’re moving. Read more
What we’d like to see happen with UK trade deals after the Brexit vote
Here is a list, agreed by anti-TTIP activists, of what we want / don’t want in any UK trade deals, whether EU or new UK deals. Read more
How I came to write the third edition of ‘Wind & Solar Electricity’
So after much effort edition three is now published. Renewable energy technology is changing quickly and so a couple of years ago I contacted Dave Darby with a view to updating edition two. Read more