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When It Hurts So Good: How WNC Could Benefit Economically From Tackling Air Quality
by Andrew Jones
— January 6, 2002 —
A monument to the boll weevil stands in Enterprise, Alabama’s town square. It is a robed, Statue of Liberty look-alike holding an enormous black bug over its head. The statue’s head is bowed in somber respect.
The boll weevil ravaged 60 percent of the region’s cotton crop in 1915, and even more the next year, [...]
Imagine A Human Species Intent On Enriching The Earth
by Elizabeth Sawin
— 1 January, 2002 —
The energy of the sun, captured by plants and passed on to animals, makes everything possible – dolphins arcing out of the ocean, geese moving across the sky, and also people, stirring their morning oatmeal, falling in love, or painting a barn.
In this truth lies beautiful poetry – the realization that in our children’s [...]
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 [...]
