Greening our cities is a major part of the Transition Towns movement. This can present a challenge for many urban centers, which for the most part are covered in concrete and asphalt. I would often dream of ways in which all the asphalt could be removed from streets, or parking lots. And so, I was happy to hear that there is an organization which goal is exactly this. It is called depave.

As mentioned on their web site, depave was created to inspire, and “promote the removal of unnecessary concrete and asphalt from urban areas”. For the moment the organization, is local to Portland, Oregon, USA. However, it signifies a growing trend, shared by many transition towns/communities. On their web site, pictures can be seen of the depaving process, such as those of an urban Chicago back-parking lot.

Depaving is by no means an easy task. It could be quite time consuming, but I’m sure it is a satisfying process! Different methods might be needed depending on whether you are depaving asphalt or concrete. As a general rule the soil under the concrete remains healthy, whereas it is advisable to have the soil under asphalt checked for toxicity. A complete manual on how to depave can also be found on depave.org.

It was interesting to read an article in the NY Times today about how cities in California and Oregon are beginning to prepare for a rise of electric cars. In fact San Francisco will soon have regulations requiring new buildings to include necessary car chargers.

Car manufacturers are expected to introduce mass-market electric cars within 2010, and there is much speculation about how these cars will be received. Putting aside the performance of these cars, issues such as those dealing with home charging stations need to be worked out.

From an environmental perspective, it is interesting to look at the current amount of energy needed to charge an electric car. The article quotes a utility expert that says a single car could potentially consume three times as much electricity as an average San Francisco home. One can imagine the amount of electricity that will be needed if hundreds of thousands of cars make their appearance on the streets. Despite the fact that the energy these cars use does not come from oil, they will put pressure on the electric grid which in turn will need to produce more power – hopefully in an environmental-friendly way.

Reading about Transition Towns today, I wondered how these eco-friendly towns would accept electric cars. I’m guessing they would embrace them, but perhaps with some reservation, as they will question all energy needed to produce, use and recycle/dispose the new electric cars.

Dreamriver Press is collaborating with author Eric Herm, in preparing his new book for publication, titled Son of a Farmer, Child of the Earth.

The book examines the devastating effects that conventional commercial agriculture is having on resources, delicate ecosystems, and the farmer. As a fourth-generation farmer, Eric Herm deals with the harsh economic realities and complicated legislation facing farmers, as well as the undeniable health impact of GMO crops and excessive chemicals on all living creatures. Son of a Farmer, Child of the Earth provides ample resources of natural, healthy alternatives that will inspire the farmers’ transformation from corporate-motivated producers back to the flesh and bone guardian angels of the Earth.

I’m looking forward to the publication of this book and think it is timely given the environmental challenges we face. Furthermore, agriculture concerns almost all of us, whose food source is directly linked to its practices.

Eric Herm grew up on a cotton farm near Ackerly, Texas. He left the farm to pursue other interests, traveling to various places across the world before returning to his roots. Upon arriving back on his family farm, he noticed many changes in not only the landscape but the methods of commercial agriculture that were causing more long-term problems. He began searching for answers to these problems, slowly discovering healthier organic methods which provided the inspiration for his book, Son of a Farmer, Child of the Earth.

We are expecting the book to be available for pre-orders in Spring 2010!

This is a recent video interview Olivier Clerc, author of Invaluable Lessons from a Frog, gave to Lilou Mace.  Enjoy!

This past Friday I attended an event organized by Evolver where an ex-financial trader, Alex Gordon-Brander, made an interesting proposition: the use of a new currency, a form of paper money, which would be backed by energy. The value of this money would be measured in joules, which is a measure of energy.

The idea behind his proposal is that the value of joules-money is directly linked to the energy spent. Historically paper money has been a token, a promissory note, backed by gold or silver, or other precious metals. It would be interesting to envision how energy backed money would work. However, I wonder whether such a currency would in any way develop a dependency or even encourage an increase in the current production of energy worldwide.