We are all gardeners

...subject of a whole different essay, but if you need convincing, check out books like Last Child in the Woods and Your Brain on Nature, or more immediately, articles on “nature prescriptions” like this one in Slate. Embracing our role as gardeners and stewards of creation is a thread of hope in an otherwise grim time. It’s a way of telling a story which counters our prevailing narratives of hopelessness and destruction. It’s also something we can...

Read…

RIP Joseph Shuldiner

...and designer with a passion for food. He was the author of a terrific cookbook called Pure Vegan: 70 Recipes for Beautiful Meals and Clean Living. He had a second book due to come out next year, The New Homemade Kitchen. He went on to oversee, along with Kevin West, the transformation of Grand Central Market. He also founded and ran the Altadena Farmers’ Market. Unlike many market managers, Joseph made sure that the vendors actually grew the food...

Read…

Our Hot Streets Are an Opportunity

...a more radical alternative to business as usual. As Mark Fisher says in a book everyone should read, Capitalist Realism Is There No Alternative?, The long, dark night of the end of history has to be grasped as an enormous opportunity. The very oppressive pervasiveness of capitalist realism means that even glimmers of alternative political and economic possibilities can have a disproportionately great effect. The tiniest event can tear a hole in t...

Read…

120 Inhabiting Suburbia with Johnny Sanphillippo

...ring the podcast we mention: The video Johnny shot of us. David Holmgren’s book RetroSuburbia: the downshifter’s guide to a resilient future Buying a house in Cincinnati. Johnny’s house in Sonoma County. How do you inhabit suburbia? Join the discussion by leaving a voice mail at (213) 537-2591. We’ll play your comments on the next podcast. If you’d like to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to...

Read…

Saturday Tweets: A Flying Shame

..., led by sports personality, now with 30,000 followers, 100% rise in train bookings on some routes, 3% drop in flight bookings: https://t.co/RUyCTARdHA — StopFlying.org (@stopflying) February 18, 2019 humanity is doomed https://t.co/CZj3UOgnSF — Internet of Shit (@internetofshit) February 18, 2019 my cat needs a backup beeper pic.twitter.com/9pt9HAvZJ0 — A Cat IRL (@computerpaws) February 18, 2019 It is time for a cat by Ulisse Aldrovandi pic.twit...

Read…