September 10, 2020

Perennial Vegetables Are a Solution in the Fight Against Hunger and Climate Change

https://civileats.com/2020/08/19/perennial-vegetables-are-a-solution-in-the-fight-against-hunger-and-climate-change/

Perennial agriculture—including agroforestry, silvopasture, and the development of perennial row crops such as Kernza—has come to prominence in recent years as an important part of the fights against soil erosion and climate change. Not only do perennial plants develop longer, more stabilizing roots than annual crops, but they’ve also been shown to be key to sequestering carbon in the soil.

Now, a new study in the journal PLoS ONE is pointing to vegetables like the ones in Auerbach’s garden as another important addition to the list. The perennial vegetables most people are familiar with are artichokes or asparagus, but the study expands that list, providing a detailed nutritional analysis of 613 species and a full accounting of their potential to pull carbon from the atmosphere.

“Greater adoption of a wider array of perennial vegetables could help to address some of the central, interlocking issues of the 21st century: climate change, biodiversity, and nutrition,” wrote lead study author Eric Toensmeier, a lecturer at Yale University, a senior fellow at Project Drawdown, and author of the Carbon Farming Solution, in the report’s introduction.

Real interesting stuff. I've been pecking away at a Permie garden for a few years... but this stuff is finally getting some scientific recognition. Admittedly, some plants have been a taste or yield fail, but some have been delightful!

May 22, 2020

OK, nasal swabs were invented by a sadist...

Got swabbed today for a Covid test. Holy Hell! That was one of the most uncomfortable 10 seconds i've ever experienced. Right before she stabbed me in the brain of course she says "You might feel like sneezing... don't" My eyes watered for over an hour! No way does everyone in the WH have to go through that every day! I will know in 1-2 days what the result is. I have a coworker who tested positive, i don't have any symptoms, but figured it was good to know. I'm not being charged for the test, it was a drive-up and i had to make an appt and travel over an hour to get there. FWIW it seemed well run... looked like the National Guard directing cars and checking IDs, medical personnel in full gear. I was told they were scheduling 30 tests an hour.

March 26, 2020

It's safe to say...

I think, that Trump is trying to kill as many Americans as possible. He is especially intent on killing the elderly. Why not phrase it this way instead of begging for his help? Is this not clear in his actions and decisions? We must consider it a genuine possibility. Why would he do this, apparently intentionally? No intention of being CT here, but off the top of my head i can only think he wants to mangle our elections somehow...

anyway, grist for the mill.

March 4, 2020

Age groupings in polling?

From a recent poll that is being touted as showing poor "youth" turnout. This youngest age grouping is for 12 years, the middle grouping for 14 years, the third for 19 years and the fourth for an indeterminate amount. How do they devise these groupings? Would the numbers be significantly different if it were 17-32, 33-48, 49-64, 65-80, etc? What percentage of the voting population does each group represent? My 18 yo daughter faced multiple stumbling blocks trying to vote in the primary in MA while attending college in CT. I imagine that affects turnout numbers somehow...


Age 17-29 were 13% of voters: 58% for Sanders v. 21% for Biden
Age 30-44 were 23% of voters: 33% for Sanders v. 30% for Biden
Age 45-64 were 39% of voters: 21% for Sanders v. 51% for Biden
Age 65+ were 25% of voters: 8% for Sanders v. 71% for Biden

January 16, 2020

"The Case For Elizabeth Warren"...

Excellent article in a series by Vox...

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/1/15/21054083/elizabeth-warren-2020-democratic-primary

just a taste:

It was Warren, in her 2004 book The Two-Income Trap, who recast the state of the American middle class. Those rising incomes? The result of families sending women into the workforce, which meant they now needed to pay for child care and had fewer options for rescue if anything happened to the primary breadwinner. Those cheap consumer goods? They didn’t make up for the rising cost of housing, health insurance, and child care. And that informational plenty? It hadn’t stopped predatory industries from bilking ordinary Americans.

a little more:

In 2010, the Roosevelt Institute held a conference at which Warren spoke, and the think tank released an e-book, with the stirring title “Make Markets Be Markets.” Warren was, at this point, pushing for the creation of a consumer protection agency. Willing a new federal agency into being is the kind of political project that can take generations. Congressional chairs and even US presidents spend their careers fighting, and failing, to achieve more modest institutional reforms. Warren faced yet longer odds. Her power was informal. She wasn’t a US senator, a Cabinet secretary, or the president. She controlled no committees, commanded no voting blocs, owned no budgets, was the key vote on no legislation.

A long but good read... Enjoy!