AlternativesMagazine

ReGen village, in the Netherlands, will collect and store its own water and energy, grow its own food, and process much of its own waste. Also: no cars. A half-hour commute from Amsterdam, a piece of farmland is slated to become a new kind of neighborhood. Vertical farms, along with traditional fields and orchards surrounding homes, will supply food to people living there.  Food waste will turn into fish feed for on-site aquaculture. Houses will filter rainwater, but won’t have driveways. A “village OS” tech platform will use AI to simultaneously manage systems for renewable energy, food production, water supply, and waste. READ entire article >>

06.20.18 WORLD CHANGING IDEAS A sustainable economy won’t mean much if we are still driven by a desire for unceasing consumption and mired in unhappiness and alienation. The average American house size has more than doubled since the 1950s, while the average family size shrunk by half during that same period.  Moving to a new house that is 3D-printed with wood-based materials and is solar-powered might be good for the environment (as long as it does not further increase resource consumption per capita). But it won’t combat widespread loneliness and social isolation in America, where nearly half of all adults feel lonely today, a rate that has more than doubled since the 1980s. Continue >>

INSANITY Why more cities need to embrace bike lanes, bike parking and other bicycle infrastructure in their urban cores. The Value of Bicycle Lanes and Thoroughfares There is a growing connection in the relationship between amenity- or service-oriented businesses and the proximity to bicycle thoroughfares. These kinds of businesses would include restaurants, coffee shops, pubs, boutiques, and the like.  Michael Andersen, who writes for BikePortland and People for Bikes, has written numerous articles that detail this trend. “Bikes, it turns out, seem to be a perfect way to get people to the few retail categories that are thriving in the age of mail-order everything: bars, restaurants and personal services. And in Portland, where an early investment in basic bikeways has made bikes a popular way to run errands, retailers are responding by snapping up storefronts with good bike exposure.” READ >>

Small home leaks waste more than 1 trillion gallons of water annually nationwide, which is enough to provide water all year to 11 million homes. The average single household alone wastes more than 10 thousand gallons of water a year just from leaks that go unseen or unfixed. This amount of annual water waste is why ten years ago, the EPA introduced Fix a Leak Week to help educate Americans on finding and fixing leaks in their home. Go >>

Every dumb thing you own required some ghastly combination of fossil fuels, water, and marketing misanthropy to find its way into your home. Sure, you’re not about to fashion  an iPhone out of foraged twigs, but you  can  put an end to impulse shopping. Impulse purchases rarely have to do with actual needs — they’re often just an emotional coping mechanism. Who among us has not tried to push away thoughts of inevitable demise with a pair of wedge moccasins that you’ve never worn in five years, not once? Quitting that nonsense is better for your emotional health, credit card bill, the KonMari balance of your closet,  and  the war against the capitalist machine. Fun habits die hard, even expensive ones! But, like us, they do have to die, so I got on the phone with a psychologist — not my own! — to get some advice.  April Lane Benson  specializes in the treatment of shopping addiction. Understand  why  most impulse purchases happen:  Avoidi

Sreven Nguyen, PH.D. Within the past several decades, an alarming trend has developed, one that goes far beyond just “keeping up with the Joneses.” You see, no longer is it enough to simply “keep up.” It seems that in today’s microwave mentality, we have to have things, and we have to have them right now. Everything becomes a necessity. We no longer eat to live. We live to eat. We no longer shop to survive. We survive to shop. Or as I heard it on the radio – shop til you drop, then crawl! We have, in fact, become a society of conspicuous consumption [spending lavishly on goods and services for the sole purpose of showing off] and consumerism [equating happiness with buying and consuming goods]. There is a name/description/label to this madness. It’s called  AFFLUENZA , formed from the words  affluence  (wealth) and  influenza  (also known as the flu). Affluenza  is defined as (1) The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with t

John and Halee Wepking have come a long way from their lives in New York City. They draw their excitement now from the 60 acres of land they work in western Wisconsin. The livestock, the grain and the beauty of the place are elements that fuel a youthful trend on the farm these days. The Department of Agriculture has found that for only the second time in the last century, the number of farmers under 35 years of age is increasing. The Wepkings live and work on Paul Bickford's 700-acre spread, blending entrepreneurship with environmental awareness in a deal to one day take over the Bickford Farm. Read CBS NEWS January 23, 2018

Living in cities designed for cars rather than pedestrians or cyclists is one of the reasons given for the drop in life expectancy. "We are seeing an alarming increase in deaths from substance abuse and despair," said Steven Woolf at Virginia Commonwealth University, a co-author of the latest report. The idea of the "American Dream" is increasingly out of reach as social mobility declines and fewer children face a better future than their parents, he said. The report found Americans have poorer health than other nations in many areas, including birth outcomes, injuries, homicides, adolescent pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Americans also engage in unhealthy or risky behaviors — such as high calorie intake, drug abuse and firearm ownership — live in cities designed for cars rather than pedestrians or cyclists, have weaker social welfare supports and lack universal health insurance.  Read complete article HERE USATODAY 2-08-1