social issues Archives

food for thought thursday–the world according to monsanto

The World According to Monsanto, the full length documentary. Well worth the watch and a little bit scary. Food security always has been an important issue, and will continue to be, especially with the growing population.

food for thought thursday–everyone wants better, no-one wants change

An insightful article by Jonathan Fields.

Food for thought thursday–a future for our cities

The reality is that the global population is growing and growing quickly. We are all going to need a place to live, and for the vast majority of us, that place will be in cities and urban areas. This video comes from the Sydney TEDx convention held last month. Rob Adams presents a positive, constructive [...]

Food for thought thursday–one reason why we might be allergic to food

food for thought thursday–jevons paradox

Increased energy efficiency is often touted as a solution to our environmental problems. The more energy efficient our contraptions are (like cars and light bulbs), and the less non-renewable resources we use, the better off the environment, right? Jevons argues no. In 1865, the economist William Stanley Jevons observed that despite improvements in technology and [...]

food for thought thursday – status anxiety

I recently saw a very interesting documentary series on why, in the wealthiest period in human history, we are at our most unhappy. The Status Anxiety series is narrated by Allain De Botton, philosopher and author of The Architecture of Happiness. “The past 200 years in the West have seen staggering increases in wealth and [...]

food for thought Thursday – Australians volunteer

source Today’s thought is a quote by Rhonda from the Down to Earth blog. Her post was about being prepared for emergencies but it was this quote about Australians volunteering that really resonated with me: “They were reaching out to fellow Australians and it didn’t matter that they didn’t know them, it only mattered that [...]

carbon neutral: can we wash away our carbon sins?

I must be the last person on the planet to have seen it, but I finally watched Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. Now I am one of the pre-converted. I don’t need to hear a bunch of stats and studies to convince me that our modern lifestyle is affecting the environment in potentially catastrophic ways. [...]

what would you do if you were pm?

It is Wednesday afternoon. At the time of writing this, we still don’t have a government. Maybe by Friday when this post is published, politics will have sorted itself out. In the meantime, it seems that the top job is up for grabs. So any takers? What would you do if you were the Prime [...]

time shifter or thief? where frugal meets breaking the law

I’m not sure that I should be making this a public confession, but I have a history of criminal activity. It all began the year Roxette’s Joy Ride made it to number one on the charts. It was the first time I remember being allowed to stay up after my bed time and I painstakingly [...]