Earth Day, fifty years on, looks a lot different from the early Earth Days I remember. Followers of this blog may recall my claim to be “older than dirt” (as a gardener who composts, I can confidently make that claim). I also am older than Earth Day. As with many things in the 1970s, however, I came to Earth Day a bit late. Many schools in the US let out classes or didn’t count absences, if students left campus to participate in peaceful demonstrations…
How many times and in how many different ways have we destroyed the earth? The “we” in that sentence refers to science fiction writers. Yet again the other day, a friend read a book description out loud, and the rest of us could almost guess how each phrase would go before she said it. A “dying Earth” (COD not specified in this blurb) has been fled by the “last remnants of the human race” who are, of course, “desperate [for] a new home among…
If meat is an unsustainable protein source, what could replace it? I ask the question because, unfortunately, meat production from livestock is an extremely resource-intensive exercise. There literally are not enough resources on Planet Earth to feed everyone in the world a protein-rich, Western-style diet. You don’t have to be vegan to look at the facts and figure that out. One of the most pernicious myths about meat, in my opinion, is the idea that confined animal feeding operations (abbreviated CAFOs) are more efficient and less expensive than…
Which Disaster Zone do you prefer? That was the question my Beloved asked, not long after Hurricane Maria finished doing the job on Puerto Rico that Irma had left half-finished, and the central Mexico earthquake had leveled significant portions of the region. His question caught his co-workers by surprise, but–if you think about it–none of us really should be surprised. So, then, what’s your answer? Where would you rather live? You could live in a tropical paradise like Barbuda or Puerto Rico, where a hurricane can level your…