These are a few stories we found this week that may be of interest to institute regulars. If you have a news tip, please send it to lowtechinstitute@gmail.com.
Low Tech News
Free eBook Download – Bee Friendly: A planting guide for European honeybees and Australian native pollinators – Deep Green Permaculture
What Makes Mira Rai Run? – NPR
This Man Cooks His Lunch on a Satellite Dish – Vice
I’m 13, from Sri Lanka, and I grew an ancient perennial rice in my garden – Permaculture Forum
Spread The Word: Butter Has An Epic Backstory – NPR
How Irish cattle farmers preserve a strange, ancient landscape – TreeHugger
Infographic explains why coffee and tea are so good for us – TreeHugger
Could an ancient education model save our kids from robots and redundancy? – TreeHugger
1708 – Place Based Education and IPEC (Part II) – Permaculture Podcast
Why high-tech architecture died – TreeHugger
Brick Domes for Mexico – Natural Building Blog
What kind of bike rider are you? Conformist, Momentumist or Recklist? – TreeHugger
Taking back the streets: the role of design in “bicycle urbanism” – An Outside Chance
Environmental News
Coal Industry Casts Itself as a Clean Energy Player – New York Times
Why It’s Been So Warm On The East Coast – NPR
Mardi Gras beads make a much bigger mess than you’d imagine – Grist
Exxon just decided to keep a big chunk of its tar sands in the ground – Grist
An Aquatic Paradise in Mexico, Pushed to the Edge of Extinction – New York Times
Why farmers and ranchers think the EPA Clean Water Rule goes too far – The Conversation
Our Oceans Are Garbage – Vice
The UN has declared war on ocean plastic pollution – TreeHugger
Sorry, Salad Lovers: We May Have No Mesclun Mix (For Two Weeks) – NPR
Sierra Snowpack Smacks California’s Drought – NPR
Small, Simple, Slow and Steady – Natural Building Blog
What Would Happen if All the Bees Die – Vice: Tonic
London parents will get fined for dropping their kids at school by car – TreeHugger
In Siberia there is a huge crater and it is getting bigger – BBC
Research News
This system can purify 2000 liters of water per day with solar thermal energy – TreeHugger
Amazon Deforestation, Once Tamed, Comes Roaring Back – New York Times
This Guy Is Building a Sustainable Martian Habitat in His Backyard – Vice: Motherboard
What’s The Environmental Footprint Of A Loaf Of Bread? Now We Know – NPR
What’s The Leading Cause Of Wildfires In The U.S.? Humans – NPR
Is using recycled aluminum sustainable and green? A new book raises questions – TreeHugger
Explainer: How much did climate change ‘cost’ in the 20th century? – Carbon Brief
Sydney’s Swelter Has a Climate Change Link, Scientists Say – New York Times
Op-Ed¹
Eric Haseltine: Can The Past Guide Us To Future Scientific Breakthroughs? – NPR/TED
The Music of Narcissus – Feasta
How clean energy optimism can harm the climate fight – TreeHugger
To Diversify The Farming Landscape, Diversify Who Works It – NPR
Watch This Woke Documentary Shell Made About Climate Change in 1991 – Vice: Motherboard
Disclaimer: The news stories and posts linked above are not meant as an endorsement of the information presented. They are provided as they may be of interest to our readers and further our aims of solutions for a post-fossil-fuel world. We strive to provide fact-based information. If you feel that political views are being presented in a partisan fashion, we are happy to provide equal time to opposing view points as long as they are derived from verifiable data and facts.
¹Opinion pieces represent the independent thought of their authors and may or may not represent the position of the Low Technology Institute.