PermaKent Permaculture Ideas of J. Kent Hastings

“Greenpa” over at Little Blog In The Woods has lived off-grid for over 30 years now. He posted news about his homestead, called the Little House, including the following update:
“. . .the Little House has been approached by Nick Rosen; author of How to Live Off-Grid, for us to be one of the families he’ll […]

http://www.worldwater.org
Times Online UK story, “Ecologists warn the planet is running short of water” references a Pacific Institute press release about their most recent publication, The World’s Water 2008-2009.
The WorldWater.org site has plenty of excerpts and data charts to illustrate their “peak water” scenario. The following is from the introduction to The World’s Water 2008-2009:
“In many […]

This Kurzweil AI item links to a New Scientist article, “Balloon power isn’t just a load of hot air.”
“A greenhouse traps solar energy, providing hot air to fill the balloon. As the balloon rises, it pulls a tether, which turns a generator on the ground.”
Balloon power should be cost competitive with wind turbines and other […]

Two’s-day is when I post my interpersonal and political items for the week that aren’t directly related to alternative energy, organic gardening or off-grid living.
There were a couple of good reviews posted on the Interblogs about Alongside Night, a novel by J. Neil Schulman that brings agorist philosophy to life more directly than any other […]

Melonie Kennedy wrote this Prepared Family post, about how the online Flash interactive version of the Murray McMurray Hatchery catalog just made her crave getting the paper version even more. So much for the paperless society. She also confesses her wish that live chickens could be mailed. Don’t tell PETA. (Here’s the regular McMurray site […]

This Sat-urday item (what I’m calling satellite and other green/off-grid tech news) is from Cory Doctorow’s Boing Boing post about LightLane, a concept device that paints bike lanes using portable lasers from the bicycle.
Quoting the Good Magazine blog post “Superb Idea: Bike Lane That Travels With You’:
“While ridership is increasing every year, bicycle safety remains […]

This Toilet Lid Sink is a conversation starter. Here’s the product description:
“With each flush of your commode, clean water that would otherwise go straight down the toilet is first routed up through a chrome gooseneck spigot to dispense pure water for hand washing. The Toilet Lid Sink installs easily without tools, is attractive for any […]

Yesterday, there was a Boing Boing post about Leno’s Garage and a video featuring a magnetic levitating wind turbine, which will be delivered to Ed Begley, Jr.’s house. Jay took great pride in his own larger wind turbine. He bragged: “Mine is bigger than Ed Begley’s.”
Oddly enough, perhaps due to the “carbon footprint” needed for […]

I recently posted a comment against the shutting down of tax havens, proposed in an article headlined “Pin Striped Pirates” at the Australia Permaculture Research Institute site.
As the saying goes, “There would be no tax havens if there were no tax hells.” I’ve had my own personal tax troubles in the past, but not […]

Happy New Year! Welcome to all the new laws in effect now, giving me a flashback. I was probably the first victim of the cell phone restrictions in California back in July.
To put it in context, I live in Nevada and was driving to L.A. a day or two earlier, during the time when gas […]