Permaculture Living

For an alternative to traditional charity giving, check out Kiva, where you can help entrepreneurs around the world grow their businesses and help lift themselves out of poverty.

I loaned $25 to a rice-seller in Tajikistan to help her buy a larger amount of stock, but there are farmers in Uganda, spare parts sellers in Peru, and shoe sellers in Kyrgyzstan. Some are riskier than others and some have better business skills, but it’s up to you who receives your loan.

Permaculture has finally made it to television, on Costa’s Garden Odyssey (Thursday, 8pm, SBS). Last week they showed volunteers a Permablitz on a backyard in Melbourne, and things you need to know for installing a water tank.

Episodes are online on the SBS website if you miss them on TV too.

The very cool Permaculture Principles website has produced a Permaculture Calendar for 2009 and a spiral-bound diary for 2009. I know what my nearest and dearest will be receiving for Midsummer and Christmas.

How consumer spending now has a light green hue…

Congregation of the Church of the Holy Organic, let us buy.

Let us purge our closets of those sinful synthetics, purify ourselves in the flame of the soy candle at the altar of the immaculate Earth Weave rug, and let us buy, buy, buy until we are whipped into a beatific froth of free-range fulfillment.

And let us never consider the other organic option — not buying — because the new green consumer wants to consume, to be more celadon than emerald, in the right color family but muted, without all the hand-me-down baby clothes and out-of-date carpet.

Rest the rest of the Greed In the Name Of Green article.