A few months ago we created this little website called as part of Transition Luton. It’s coming into it’s own at this time of year, so I thought I’d post a reminder. Fruity Luton is simple interactive map of the town that shows all the places where fruit is growing in public places. You can [...]
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Sew Your Own, by John-Paul Flintoff
A year after starting our house renovation project, we’re at the soft furnishings stage and recently got some quotes for curtains. I find myself wishing I had paid more attention in sewing classes at school. It’s a recurring thought – that sewing is something that I really ought to be able to do, especially since [...]
Plants for a future, by Ken Fern
There are over 20,000 known edible plants in the world, a quarter of which can be grown in the UK. So why does 90% of our food come from just 20 plant species? Ken Fern has dedicated his life’s work to rectifying this situation, trying out and promoting alternative foods, and now runs the charity [...]
The future’s bright, the future’s low tech
I’m quite a fan of appropriate technology, E F Schumacher’s belief in human-scaled technology, as exemplified in projects such as appropedia or practical action. According to Schumacher, technology has a tendency towards giantism and complexity, and so moves ever further away from its human operators. Appropriate technology on the other hand recognises the ‘actual size’ [...]
The One Straw Revolution, by Masanobu Fukuoka
This week I’ve read an extraordinary book, Masanobu Fukuoka’s One Straw Revolution. I first heard of it through Tom Hodgkinson at the Idler, and have seen it mentioned several times since then in various places. It’s something of a classic in permaculture and organic gardening circles. Fukuoka was a plant scientist working in Japan in [...]
The software that helps you do less
This week I came across a remarkable sub-genre of software that I wasn’t aware of – programs to help you do less. Or more to the point, to help you do fewer things. Apparently our computers can do too much at once, and our ability to multitask actually means we never focus on one thing. [...]
In praise of libraries
I’m a big fan of libraries. They are one of those few public spaces that truly belong to the entire community. Drop into Luton’s central library and you’ll find school children downstairs, Sheik men reading the papers on the armchairs in the middle, students on the balconies above, and pensioners gathering upstairs for the afternoon [...]
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek has been recommended to me a number of times now. Like Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring it’s considered one of the great nature books and it won a Pulitzer Prize, so I thought it was time I checked it out. But I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would, [...]
Streetbank – building a bank of local tools and skills
Last year at the Breathe conference we had a short presentation from Sam, a man with a good idea that he was piloting at the time – a simple website where you could list things that could be borrowed, things you wanted to give away, and things you needed, and then exchange them with your [...]
21 hours – less work, more life
Working less is a cause close to my heart, and not just because I’m lazy – I think there are lots of things wrong with our work culture. I think it’s crazy that some of my friends work far too hard, while others can’t find work at all. Other friends are paid big salaries for [...]
Books
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