Transterraform

07/10/2016

Check out this great interview between Dr Mercola (you already know about him, right?) and lifelong Georgia farmer Will Harris about regenerative agriculture and holistic rangeland management.

One thing I found insightful is that one of Harris' basic guiding principles is the "welfare" of his animals, which he defines as the "ability to express their instinctive behavior" - something they certainly can't do in the CAFOs where most meat in the US comes from.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/07/10/animal-impact-regenerative-agriculture.aspx

Animals are an important aspect when it comes to achieving healthy soil. By urinating and defecating on land, they provide important nourishment for soil microbes.

05/23/2016

Our good friend and mentor, restoration ecologist Charlie Dewberry, discusses the importance of watershed vegetation integrity for stream life in this award winning video. Check it out!

https://vimeo.com/103375891

Stream and restoration ecologist Charley Dewberry is on Canton Creek, a major tributary of the North Umpqua river in Oregon. The Pacific Rivers Council and Charley…

04/11/2016

I welcome open source, small scale plastic recycling technology with open arms!

http://preciousplastic.com/

Turn plastic waste into new valuable things

03/07/2016

If you thought deep sea aquaculture was interesting and liked what Dan Barber had to say, you'll probably find his TED Talk on ecological fish farming fascinating. Veta La Palma looks amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EUAMe2ixCI

http://www.ted.com Chef Dan Barber squares off with a dilemma facing many chefs today: how to keep fish on the menu. With impeccable research and deadpan hum...

03/05/2016

I was introduced to Dan Barber by an episode of Chef's Table (S01E02) on Netflix - a brilliant chef, cultural theorist, and food activist doing great work by exploring the beneficial relationship between the art of cuisine and ecological stewardship.

Give it a watch if you can. Otherwise, search YouTube for "Dan Barber" - there are lot's of great talks and interviews about his work, such as the farm to table restaurant Blue Hill.

https://youtu.be/tqGZKiOLsU8

Celebrated chef, dedicated farmer and food industry revolutionary Dan Barber is leading a fight to change the way we think about, and grow, our food.

03/04/2016

Is Deep Sea Aquaculture a form of sustainable resource management that balances ecological insight with the inevitable trend of population increase and globalization, or a techno fantasy propping up old notions of unlimited consumption, centralization, and industrial monoculture?

https://youtu.be/WpPZUGIJ2M0

In this episode of Upgrade, Motherboard goes to Baja California, Mexico to get a firsthand look at these free floating pods, and to get an understanding for ...

03/02/2016

“In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” ~Eric Hoffer

02/28/2016

At TTF we strive to apply design thinking to create regenerative solutions for the unsustainable patterns of modern society. These patterns are pervasive, and not only limited to climate change, food supply chain breakdown, or natural ecosystem destruction. Ecology addresses the interrelationships of all systems - including our interaction with everyday things. As one of the principles of the school of design thought called permaculture is to "integrate rather than segregate", we think it's important to remember that permaculture design thinking can be applied to problems running the gamut of human interactions, such as industrial product design, not only in the agriculture and conservationist context from which it arose.

But it's also important to remember that other schools of design thought which arose out of their respective contexts can inform permaculture's approach to its "home field" issues too. In The Design of Everyday Things, Norman argues that products should be imbued with with "discoverability", sometimes called affordance: having the quality of being obvious how to use. This insight arose while solving problems belonging to industrial product design, but it's relevant to issues like sustainable agriculture, and this shows that permaculture has alot to gain from interacting as much as possible with other design thought paradigms.

Can you think of ways in which we might apply the principle of "discoverability" to solve problems such as the unsustainability of industrial monoculture, overdependence on greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels, biodiversity loss, etc?

https://youtu.be/yY96hTb8WgI

This video is about doors. We collaborated with 99% invisible, a wonderful podcast. Check them out here: http://www.99pi.org Subscribe to our channel here: h...

01/08/2016

VIDEO: Brace yourself.

01/04/2016

Today while freezing rain beats on my windows, we are indoors processing the seeds of these beautiful sweet meat squash. This activity has placed me in a rather philosophical state of mind (doesn't winter always turn us inwards?).

I love the all the sensations involved in caring for these beautiful plants; but cutting open their fruit for seeds is, I think, the most joyous of the many aesthetic experiences they bless us with. Their rich, aromatic flesh permeates the house as they bake.

Meanwhile I separate the pulp from the seeds and think about economies of scale: I know that many of us who are interested in regenerating the environment while producing value for our communities promote large scale action, such actions are desperately needed, no doubt. But I must confess that I prefer this more intimate, more human scale, and I wonder if more of us took an active part in the cultivation of our essential liberties (the right to grow your own food! Etc.) if the cumulative effect on our land, our communities, and our inner lives might be larger than the great regenerative schemes that often seem to capture my imagination.

01/01/2016

James Lovelock has some harsh words for those of us who think we can buy our way out of environmental disaster:

"All these standard green things, like sustainable development, I think these are just words that mean nothing. I get an awful lot of people coming to me saying you can't say that, because it gives us nothing to do. I say on the contrary, it gives us an immense amount to do. Just not the kinds of things you want to do."

This is a difficult article to read, because whilst James Lovelock foresees apocalypse, we here at Transterraform are quietly optimistic about the future.

I'm curious to hear if people who see our posts are optimists or pessimists when it comes to the future of our planet, what say you?

The climate science maverick believes catastrophe is inevitable, carbon offsetting is a joke and ethical living a scam. So what would he do, asks Decca Aitkenhead

12/22/2015

"This morning, Portland Oregon broke its all-time monthly precipitation record for December. The wettest December on record." And we are only 2/3 of the way through December!

This much water is a big part of why the PNW Bioregion is so resilient, but we cannot take this an excuse to abuse our already degraded ecosystems. We need to catch, spread and infiltrate all this water (Just like the beavers used to do for us, before they were hunted into near oblivion). This is an opportunity on a massive scale that I fear is going pass us by.

Are you doing anything to take advantage of these "insurmountable opportunities"?