Food and Agriculture Archives – Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

Challenging Land Use and Abuse in Allamakee County

October 31, 2024/0 Comments/in Conservation, Dave Rollo, Food and Agriculture, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Pollution, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Water /by Helene Langlamet

by Dave Rollo

Allamakee County lies in the northeast corner of Iowa, bordering Minnesota and Wisconsin. It is part of a three-state region that, unlike most of the upper United States and Canada, escaped glaciation during past ice ages. This geological oddity is immediately obvious to visitors by the dramatic terrain of bluffs, hills, and valleys. Expansive plains characterize most of the rest of Iowa, where miles-thick glaciers moved over the land like a bulldozer,

Steady-State Origins in Sauk County

August 29, 2024/4 Comments/in Conservation, Dave Rollo, Food and Agriculture, Governance, Limits to Growth, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Helene Langlamet

By Dave Rollo

As the setting for Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac, Sauk County, Wisconsin, holds a special place within the pantheon of environmental literature. Leopold’s writings on ecology and forestry brought an understanding of land repair and remediation to academic and general audiences. It is difficult to imagine the fields of wildlife biology, soil conservation, or restoration ecology without Leopold’s contribution.

Likewise, the moral basis for the environmental movement in later decades owes its origins in part to Leopold’s land ethic.

A Trophic Perspective on Fossil Fuels

August 1, 2024/8 Comments/in Alix Underwood, Consumption, Food and Agriculture, Fossil Fuels, Limits to Growth, Pollution, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Helene Langlamet

by Alix Underwood

Like the economy of nature, the human economy has a “trophic” structure. In nature, nutrition and energy flow from plants to herbivores to carnivores, with each of these comprising a trophic level of the ecosystem. In the human economy, materials and energy flow from agriculture and other extractive activities to heavy manufacturing to light manufacturing. Both economies include service providers, such as pollinators in nature and the transportation sector in the human economy.

Okeechobee County: Kept Great with Conservation

July 25, 2024/2 Comments/in Conservation, Dave Rollo, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Governance, Pollution, Steady State Herald /by Helene Langlamet

by Dave Rollo

Okeechobee County is located in Florida’s Heartland Region, within the 3000-square mile Kissimmee River Basin. The Heartland stretches from Orlando in the north to the intertidal coast of mangrove forests to the south, forming an area commonly referred to as the “River of Grass.” Water flowed hundreds of miles through this enormous network of marshlands, helping to shape an ecosystem of unrivalled subtropical biodiversity.

Today,

Rooted in the Earth: The Economy Needs Agriculture

July 11, 2024/5 Comments/in Alix Underwood, Economic Growth, Food and Agriculture, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by Alix Underwood

Though it’s easy to lose sight of, with our language and culture and smartphones, Homo sapiens is an animal species that exists within natural ecosystems. All our activities, including our economic activities, take place within and depend upon these ecosystems. This is the starting point for the trophic theory of money (TTOM).

“Trophic” refers to the flow of nutrition and energy. In the economy of nature,

Rendering the Economic Fat for a Steady State Economy

June 27, 2024/8 Comments/in Economic Policy, Food and Agriculture, Gary Gardner, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Wellbeing /by Gary Gardner

by Gary Gardner

Mention the steady state economy at a gathering of friends and a predictable concern is sure to arise. “I couldn’t possibly manage on a flat income, much less a reduced one. I can barely make ends meet now!” Heads will nod all around. The idea of a nongrowing economy—not to mention degrowth—quickly sours the party mood.

The objection is understandable from people long accustomed to ever-greater levels of consumption.

Recipe for Obesity: Ultraprocessed Foods and Economic Growth

May 23, 2024/9 Comments/in Economic Growth, Food and Agriculture, Gary Gardner, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by Gary Gardner

People of a certain age will remember the tagline from the Lay’s potato chip jingle: “No one can eat just one!” Lay’s’ marketing campaign ran successfully for years because it carried a deep truth: The chips are eminently enjoyable, even addictive. Eating them involves a nonstop cycle—hand to bag to mouth—that repeats until the bag holds only air. At least that’s been my Lay’s experience.

The chips’ addictive character did not emerge from Lay’s skill in finding exceptionally tasty potatoes.

The Steady State of Beautiful Bayfield County

May 16, 2024/8 Comments/in Dave Rollo, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Food and Agriculture, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by Dave Rollo

Bayfield County, Wisconsin is situated on the shores of Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area. Deep in the heart of the Great Northwoods, the county is unique in its glaciated beauty. It also happens to be a rare example of a county in harmonious balance between its natural and constructed communities.

Bayfield County has been refreshingly free of growth controversies and displays key attributes that approach the characteristics of a steady-state county.

Debt, Deficits, and Warranted Money

March 14, 2024/3 Comments/in Brian Czech, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Food and Agriculture, Inflation, Monetary Policy, Money and Investments, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by Brian Czech

If you recognize the damages done by a bloating economy, you’ll be alarmed by the global GDP meter, which hit the existentially menacing threshold of $100 trillion in 2022. If that doesn’t give you a dose of distress, try the global debt clock. Then, for a dizzying dose indeed, check the casino-like combination of debt and GDP maintained by “US Debt Clock.”

Almost all readers,

Conservative Idaho: Poised to Resist Sprawl?

January 4, 2024/10 Comments/in Dave Rollo, Economic Growth, Food and Agriculture, Population, Steady State Herald, Water /by Gary Gardner

by Dave Rollo

The USA, Canada, and other countries have long recognized sprawl as a vexing dimension of urban development. Especially challenging is the difficulty creating the public consensus needed for political and planning responses to the problem.

But growing numbers of residents today are expressing their distaste for sprawling approaches to development and are primed to resist it. Perhaps surprisingly, sprawl afflicts a U.S. state better known for its natural beauty and its potatoes: Idaho.