Why Does Farm Income Keep Disappearing?
by Hal Hamilton and Elizabeth Sawin
— January 1, 2002 —
Year after year we invest billions trying to support farmers without ever creating the conditions for farms to thrive without subsidies.
Here at Sustainability Institute, we develop computer simulation models to investigate such issues. Over the past couple of years we’ve worked with economists and farm leaders to model the corn economy. [...]
The Trouble with Attractiveness – Raising Quality of Life Amidst Complex Urban Systems
by Andrew Jones
— December 5, 2001 —
Over the past year, hundreds of citizens in my home town of Asheville, North Carolina, have come together to create a list of goals for our region. Higher wages, more affordable housing, cleaner environment, better schools – the vision for our small mountain city is appropriately ambitious.
I applaud this important effort. But the experiences [...]
I’m Dreaming of A Solar Powered Christmas
by Elizabeth Sawin
— November 30, 2001 —
This Christmas season, we’re bombing Afghanistan, and perhaps contributing to mass starvation there. We stand apart from the rest of the world on climate change, ignoring the melting ice at the North Pole and the rising global temperature. The killing and bombing and starving are bad enough, but we’re not just at war with [...]
Homeplanet Security
by Elizabeth Sawin
— October 31, 2001 —
“Sobs racked the body of a middle-aged man as he cradled the head of his baby, its dust-covered body dressed only in a blue diaper, lying beside the bodies of three other children, their colorful clothes layered with debris from their shattered homes.”
I held this sentence, from a Reuters report on the civilian casualties [...]
Living Up To My Beliefs — For My Children And The Children of Afghanistan
by Elizabeth Sawin
— October 15 , 2001 —
Here in Vermont it is daytime.
Here my baby mashes banana in her hair and talks about the moon. Moonnna. Mooonnnnaah.
Here my daughter, just home from preschool, holding a purple painting of a tree, pirouettes around the living room in a sunbeam.
Here my husband serves lunch — warm potatoes with butter, parsley and basil. [...]
