Wendell Berry on Innovation

I read Berry’s article on why he is not buying a computer last year. It provoked a lot of thought, as it did debate when it was first published. Jeff Shinabarger recently summed up Berry’s proposed rules for technological innovation.

1. The new tool should be cheaper than the one it replaces.

2. It should be at least as small in scale as the one it replaces.

3. It should do work that is clearly and demonstrably better than the one it replaces.

4. It should use less energy than the one it replaces.

5. If possible, it should use some form of solar energy, such as that of the body.

6. It should be repairable by a person of ordinary intelligence, provided that he or she has the necessary tools.

7. It should be purchasable and repairable as near to home as possible.

8. It should come from a small, privately owned shop or store that will take it back for maintenance and repair.

9. It should not replace or disrupt anything good that already exists, and this includes family and community relationships.

What do you think about these rules? Are they even possible? Are they too idealistic? How do they differ from the way we do things now?

Define Sustainability

Civil Eats recent list of recommendations for moving green forward this year listed “define sustainability” second. This reminded me of a recent twitter experience (twi-xperience?). I use a service called Tweet Later that lets me define keywords or phrases that I want to know when people use on twitter. One of these is sustainable agriculture.

Over the holidays I noticed one day some skeptical twits about sustainable agriculture. The twitter-ers though sustainable agriculture assuredly would benefit only the wealth and do nothing about poverty or improving the world.

To be honest I was kind of shocked. I replied to the conversation with a question about where they were coming from. The two twits (as in twitter-ers) were silicon valley tech guys from what I could glean in their profile. We went back and forth a bit and I linked to an article from Food First for them (). They checked out the blog and were interested saying they really didn’t know much about it.

The thing that amazed me is how words lose their meaning. How is it even possible that someone could think that “sustainable” agriculture would only benefit the wealthy and not help the poor. What part of “sustainable” do we not understand?

Waste Not: Technolust Edition

Repurposing stuff that’s outdated, not needed or wanted anymore is not only great for reducing your waste, but it can also be stylish and unique. I know this isn’t exactly food related, but I thought this was a sweet idea from Boing Boing. I’ve seen a lot of creative new uses for old techno-garbage there and elsewhere. Use your imagination.

HOWTO make earrings out of old floppy discs

Darfur Stoves Project

In case you forgot the crisis in Darfur continues. One of the major risks for women in refugee camps is cooking. That’s right cooking!! They are exposed to rape and violence when they are out collecting firewood for their traditional three stone stoves. They have to collect firewood often because the stoves are so inefficient. Enter good ol’ fashioned American ingenuity.

KQED’s Quest has a video of the incredible story of the Darfur Stoves Project. You can download or watch the video online through the Quest site. It’s less than ten minutes long. It’s stories like these that continue to give me hope for the future of our world. I’m amazed when the best minds we have put their skills, creativity and imagination into projects that can have such a huge impact.

Gourmet Herbs: Planting Day

I finally cleaned out the salad greens from our AeroGarden yesterday. I blogged about that on my four walls. The AeroGarden is certainly no solution for all of our food woes. What I like is how easy it is to set up and use. It would be great for people in urban areas with limited gardening space.

I wish we had been more regular about eating the salad greens. It was always so nice to make a salad from fresh cut greens. Unfortunately like most of life my ideals don’t ever quite match up with my life. We keep plowing along though… this time with spices for flavor.