Food/Nutrition

The True Sharing Economy: Inaugurating an Age of the Heart

Now let us turn our attention towards the inner meaning of a sharing economy, bearing in mind that we cannot propose a glossary definition from a spiritual or psychological perspective, for the meaning of sharing stems from the heart and not from intellectual activity alone. Even at the lowermost understanding of sharing on a personal and local level as briefly discussed heretofore, we are unlikely to comprehend the real significance of its potential until our thoughts are directed by the heart at all times.

The True Sharing Economy: Inaugurating an Age of the Heart

Any act that tries to contribute towards ending the prevalent suffering caused by absolute poverty is, in itself, the purest expression of a sharing economy via the heart, via our maturity and via common sense, especially if that act is focused on trying to persuade our political representatives to commit to sharing the resources of the world.
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Not Markets Alone but Creativity and Innovation for Development

As human beings, we are naturally social and creative. The inherent curiosity that drives us to innovate is ultimately a testament to the creative impetus that resides within all of us. And the richness and flexibility of human behavior, including our capacity for cooperation and adaptation, further allow us to envisage and create a world that far outstrips the current economic and political models many regard as immutable and take for granted.

Agriculture: Trade Wars and Food Wars

The concentration and centralization of the agro-business multi-nationals advances with gigantic strides:  Potash Corp and Agrium have combined into a $30 billion monopoly over the world fertilizer market.  Dow Chemical and DuPont combine in a $130 billion dollar deal in the seed and agricultural chemicals sector.  ChemChina prepares to take over Syngenta in a $44 billion acquisition.  Bayer is preparing to buy out Monsanto for $56 billion and further concentrate control over worldwide seed and chemical markets.  A quarter of a trillion dollars worth of mergers and acquisitions is poised to

The New Homestead Act

The practices we now call conservation are, to a large extent, local alleviations of biotic pain. They are necessary, but they must not be confused with cures. The art of land doctoring is being practiced with vigor, but the science of land health is yet to be born.
— Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
The malls are the soon-to-be ghost towns
So long, farewell, goodbye
— Modest Mouse, “Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine”

Burn Down the Plantation

In this sedition we bring you an exclusive interview with prison inmate Melvin Ray, secretly filmed inside Holman Prison in Alabama. Melvin is a member of the Free Alabama Movement, a national organization against mass Incarceration and prison slavery. They have teamed up with the IWW’s Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, to organize the largest prison strike in history, set to kick off on September 9th.

Calling ALL Venezuelans to the Table

For 32 years I have called Venezuela home. Its mountains have given me beauty, its barrios have given me music, its struggles have given me purpose, and its people have given me love.
Its Bolivarian Revolution gave me hope. How could I not feel hope when most of my neighbors, ages 2 to 70, were studying, right in our little potato-growing town in the mountains of western Venezuela. How could I not be hopeful when 18 neighbor families received new homes to replace their unhealthy, crowded living spaces?