Peak Moment Conversations

175: Time’s Up! An Uncivilized Solution

robyn — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:13:47 +0000

What kind of life do you want, and what are you willing to do to get it? Keith Farnish, author of Time’s Up! An Uncivilized Solution to a Global Crisis, sees industrial civilization as the most destructive way of living yet devised by humans. And it’s over: environmental degradation and depletion tell us it can’t continue. The system has myriad ways to make us believe we can’t live without it. But Keith believes we can - there are countless ways to move forward into contented, happy, and full lives. We can “disengage” and reconnect with the natural world, ourselves, and others. (www.unsuitablog.com, www.theearthblog.org). Listen to Audio. Read Janaia’s blog about taping this conversation.

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Thirty-Seven Views from Lone Bobcat Woods

robyn — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 04:00:04 +0000

An artistic prologue to “How We Live at Lone Bobcat Woods” (Episode 176).

Ever wonder how an artist sees the world? In 1998 Janaia created an image from each window in her Sierra Nevada home. Her paintings in many styles emerge from a photographic backdrop in a music video panorama created by Robyn in 2004. Sharing what attracted her eye as the artworks pass by, Janaia reveals her own imaginative response to the natural world. An official selection of the 2004 Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival.

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176: How We Live at Lone Bobcat Woods

robyn — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 03:43:25 +0000

Peek behind the scenes at Peak Moment TV’s home base. Janaia Donaldson shows guest host Ivey Cone the solar power system, woodstove for heat (and winter waffles), and super efficient refrigerator. Choosing to reduce their footprint, she and Robyn Mallgren, Peak Moment videographer, don’t feel deprived at all. Janaia discusses what led them to leave the Bay Area, what it’s like to live on 160 acres of forestland, which they’ve preserved “in perpetuity” as a wildlife sanctuary, and shows us some of the members of the natural community they live in. (www.peakmoment.tv). Listen to Audio.

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174: The Power of Neighbors

robyn — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 04:20:13 +0000

Jan Spencer didn’t stop with a permaculture makeover* of his suburban home in Eugene, Oregon. Now he’s taking on the neighborhood! As a result, his neighborhood association is teaming up with city programs like Neighborhood Watch and Emergency Response to empower neighbors to work together. They’re transforming lawns and abandoned lots into edible gardens, and sharing knowledge about energy efficiency, permaculture, and preparedness. These grass roots endeavors help people feel more secure in their homes, because they’re connected with neighbors they can rely on. (suburbanpermaculture.org). Listen to Audio.

*“Suburban Renewal - One Backyard at a Time” (episode 37).

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173: Transitioning to the Elm Street Economy

robyn — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 04:50:22 +0000

How can you contribute your skills towards meeting real needs now and in the future? Paul and Sarah Edwards, the authors of Home-Based Business for Dummies, focus on the “Elm Street Economy” of locally-owned businesses rather than “Main Street”, which we hear so much about, but is comprised mainly of franchises. In the Elm Street Economy, local businesses meet local needs — for food, shelter, clothing, heating, electricity, healthcare, and other products. Sarah and Paul suggest: Keep your job and pay off your debts, while gaining enduring skills for the future. A large number of today’s professions won’t be around in five years. (www.elmstreeteconomy.com, www.letslivelocal.org). Listen to Audio. Read Janaia’s blog about taping this show.

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172: The Pee and Poo Show

robyn — Mon, 31 May 2010 03:54:39 +0000

Laura Allen gives an intimate tour of a home-built composting toilet in her Bay Area urban home. The nutrient-rich composted “humanure” is used to enrich the lush, edible landscape, and doesn’t waste precious drinking water like flush toilets. The co-founder of Greywater Action shows the throne-like toilet compartment whose distinctive feature is a urine diverter. Pee and poop are collected in separate containers beneath the toilet, and are accessed outside the house. Sterile pee is watered in at the base of plants, while poop is collected in barrels and aged for a year or more until it has composted fully. What a way to go! (www.greywateraction.org). Listen to Audio. Read Janaia’s blog about taping this show.

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171: A Permaculture Course for Busy People

robyn — Fri, 21 May 2010 21:05:09 +0000

Bill Wilson and Wayne Weiseman pour their hearts into their permaculture design courses, changing lives as well as landscapes. In a unique format, students do initial course work online and then attend a one week hands-on course.

In this chat along with Sivananda Yoga Farm sponsor Vidya Chaitanya, Wayne discusses principles starting with with observing elements like wind, water, sun and topography in a specific property.

Bill provides alarming information on “peak soil.” Together they note that permaculture’s goal is to create small, intensive ecologies, a foodweb where everything is exchanging with everything else.

“Eat and Be Eaten, and Share the Bounty.” Listen to Audio. Watch Bill Wilson in “The Heart of Permaculture”(Peak Moment episode 157).

Vidya Chaitanya: www.sivanandayogafarm.org

Bill Wilson: midwestpermaculture.com

Wayne Weiseman: permacultureproject.com

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170: Preparing for Disasters and Hard Times

robyn — Mon, 17 May 2010 04:35:42 +0000

In this animated dialogue, natural resource analyst Sean Brodrick provides a sharp-eyed perspective on what may be coming in this precarious economy and how to prepare for it. The author of The Ultimate Suburban Survivalist Guide, Sean is hip to peak oil and other resource declines as well as the Katrina hurricane lesson - don’t rely on government to save you during disasters. Urging us to prepare for hard times while we’re in good times, he covers smart money moves, food and water storage, basic preparations in case you have to evacuate, and creating bonds with your neighbors to increase home security. [UltimateSuburbanSurvivalist.com and UncommonWisdomDaily.com].

Sean’s Financial Crisis Survival Kit (pdf) goes into far more detail than our conversation, and covers personal financial preparedness and investment advice.

Listen to Audio. Read Janaia’s journal about taping this conversation.

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169: The Sacred Demise of Industrial Civilization

robyn — Sun, 09 May 2010 04:42:16 +0000

As a historian, Carolyn Baker has a keen eye for current events that are indicators of the collapse we’re seeing all around us. But she’s also a psychologist concerned about how we personally navigate the turbulence and find meaning within it. The author of Sacred Demise: Walking the Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization’s Collapse, she describes the old story that isn’t working anymore (humans are separate from nature), and the new story we must live by for real sustainability. Her Speaking Truth to Power website is a rich collection of articles reflecting both collapse and preparedness action. [www.carolynbaker.net].

Listen to audio. Read transcript. Read Janaia’s journal about this conversation.

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168: Four Acres and Independence — A Self-Sufficient Farmstead

robyn — Sat, 01 May 2010 20:27:06 +0000

Take a tour, accompanied by curious sheep and geese, of Mark Cooper’s self-sufficient small farm. Over several years, he transformed a rundown house and hillsides of berry brambles into pasture and gardens where he produces and preserves most of his family’s food. Visit the Goose Grotto in a constructed pond, a heritage fruit tree orchard, logs producing shiitake mushrooms, and a cheap-and-easy container kitchen garden. Mark gives us a close-up view of the solar dehydrator he constructed from salvaged materials — and his tips on food drying. He has husbanded up to fifty animals at a time, including two Tibetan yaks! This farmstead in Rough and Ready (CA) lives up to the town’s name — and is a testament to hard work, wide-ranging construction skills, and love.

Listen to Audio. Read “Handy Guy Transforms an Edible Landscape” in Janaia’s blog about taping this show.

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