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
What would the earth look like if 50 percent was reserved for nature?
Is Nature Deficit Disorder A Thing? Try Forest Bathing To Find Out : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR
Hanging Out the Wash in the Fresh, Clean Air – The New York Times
This Interactive Tool Lets People See How Climate Change Will Screw Up Their Towns – Motherboard
This Dad Made His Kids Manually Generate Electricity to Power Their Wii – Motherboard
Essential Earthbag Construction | Natural Building Blog
Last Residents Hold On in Tunisian Underground Houses | Natural Building Blog
Natural Builder, Hassan: Designing from the Heart | Natural Building Blog
50 Years Ago, This Was a Wasteland. He Changed Everything | Natural Building Blog
Vikings cleared the forests, now Iceland is bringing them back | TreeHugger
5 reasons to spring clean like a Swede | TreeHugger
Scavenger Cabin is made from recycled, freecycled and upcycled materials | TreeHugger
What’s the most walkable city in the world? (Survey) | TreeHugger
Plastic bag taxes really work | TreeHugger
Indigenous economics | Feasta
Worm bin pro tips
FDR’s forest army: How the New Deal helped seed the modern environmental movement 85 years ago
Resisting technology, Appalachian style
[Episode #66] – Transition’s Disruptors Part 1 | The Energy Transition Show
1809 – Pushing Back: A Precautionary Tale with Philip Ackerman-Leist | The Permaculture Podcast
Solar Power in Africa – Resilience
Seed Raising Mix – Does It Work? | Deep Green Permaculture
3 cheers for A2Bism: a review of ‘Copenhagenize’ – An Outside Chance
The Benefits of a Natural Pool – The Permaculture Research Institute
Environmental News
The Great Lakes Are Filling Up With Giant Green Blobs – Mother Jones
How 5 Large Mega-Gyres Helped Create a “Galaxy of Garbage” in the Pacific – Mother Jones
The New York Times Just Reported That 5 EPA Employees Were Sidelined After Questioning Scott Pruitt – Mother Jones
Michigan OKs Nestlé Water Extraction, Despite 80K+ Public Comments Against It : The Two-Way : NPR
Documents reveal Shell knew dangers of fossil fuels and climate change decades ago
Calling Car Pollution Standards ‘Too High,’ E.P.A. Sets Up Fight With California – The New York Times
Emergency Declared After Oil Spill Ignites on Indonesian Island of Borneo | Earth First! Newswire
Shell Threatened with Legal Action Over Climate Change Contributions | Earth First! Newswire
International Energy Agency Accused of Undermining Global Shift from Fossil Fuels | Earth First! Newswire
Despite Widespread Opposition, Michigan Approves Nestle’s Water Withdrawal Permit | Earth First! Newswire
A judge just said “nope” to ExxonMobil’s efforts to stop an investigation into their own coverup. | Grist
California banned some super potent greenhouse gases. | Grist
Lawmakers are trying to criminalize pipeline protesters for “conspiracy.” | Grist
The EPA edited out farmworker concerns about pesticides. | Grist
Faced With Drought, the Pharaohs Tried (and Failed) to Adapt – The New York Times
Hot Springs Lower Stress in Japan’s Popular Bathing Monkeys – The New York Times
Which generates more greenhouse gases, transportation or buildings? | TreeHugger
Stunning Drops in Solar, Wind Costs Mean Economic Case for Coal, Gas is ‘Crumbling’ – Resilience
Here is What #ShellKnew about Climate Change in the 1980s – Resilience
Research News
Limiting warming to 1.5C could ‘substantially’ cut risk of ice-free Arctic summers | Carbon Brief
Limiting global warming to 1.5C would have ‘significant economic benefits’ | Carbon Brief
Guest post: Using satellites to track the retreat of Antarctica’s glaciers | Carbon Brief
Global solar capacity grew faster than fossil fuels in 2017, says report | Carbon Brief
In a melting Antarctica, scientists get a glimpse into the life of a mysterious species | Grist
Another reason climate change is a public health nightmare: Allergies. | Grist
Antarctica’s Mighty Glaciers Are Melting Way Faster Than We Realized – Mother Jones
Chemical tipping point triggers eruptive transitions | EARTH Magazine
Op-Ed¹
The Problem with EIA Shale Gas and Tight Oil Forecasts – Resilience
The Great Change: Just One Word: Bioplastics
Living architecture: altering the environmental impacts of human development
Resource Insights: Silent spring revisited: New worries and the human future
Stronger fuel standards make sense, even when gas prices are low
Today’s youth reject capitalism, but what do they want to replace it?
A chicken in every backyard: Urban poultry needs more regulation to protect human and animal health
Why is Patagonia now selling food? | TreeHugger
Plastic is only a small part of the problem: our oceans demand systemic thinking
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.