I am literally gone fishing right now: up in the Adirondacks, no cell service or wifi—not even a landline—enjoying one of the best parts of my state during one of the best times of the year. This seemed like a good opportunity to try out a new newsletter format, because if you hate it, you can’t reach me to complain about it. But I’m confident you’ll at least tolerate what I’ve got for you, because it was your suggestion: In the survey I sent out a few weeks ago, many folks expressed interest in other environment-related reading that gave them hope instead of hives. JB on it!
A side note for anyone interested in what we journalists call “packaging,” which is the tradecraft and tactics that inform how we assemble and present content: I don’t generally like link roundups. They’re always too long and overwritten; the time I spend reading the lists themselves subtracts from the time I can spend enjoying what’s recommended. (I am doing this same thing right now!) There’s an old newsroom adage that it’s twice as hard to write half as long, and I think that applies with curation as well. So I challenged myself to limit this list to three items, with one example apiece from audio, written media, and video.
Here we goooooooooooooo:
AUDIO:
The Fieldwork Podcast
The folks who practice agriculture are some of our most valuable practical scientists, which is how the farmer hosts of this podcast frame their conversations. It’s awesome. They talk to other farmers, researchers, engineers—they even interviewed the Secretary of Agriculture. Subjects range from robot tractors to carbon markets to the finance of farming. This is one of those magical internet moments, where we’re allowed to see into a once-hidden world.
WRITTEN MEDIA:
You want to buy meat? In this economy? (New York Times)
We’ve talked at length about the climatological reasons for cutting meat out of your diet, but this opinion piece in The Times has another reason: inflation. While the cost of fruits and vegetables has gone up 7.8 percent in the past year, meat has jumped 14.3. For the highlight reel:
Americans’ actual diets, though, tend to be dictated by financial rather than ethical considerations. One recent survey of 3,500 consumers found that while environmental concerns and animal rights would not persuade many shoppers to purchase meat substitutes more often, lower prices could
VIDEO:
Urban Farmstead on YouTube
I like to garden, but I am from New York City. We had some great houseplants growing up, but only the dog ate them. So I spend a lot of time on YouTube trying to figure out how to make fruit and vegetables out of seeds and dirt. Maybe my NYC roots predispose me to like stuff with the word “urban” in the title despite living in actual farmland, but my gardening go-to is Urban Farmstead. Kyle-from-Sacramento has a ton of practical, well-researched tips that veer more towards “make this” than “buy this.”
That’s it! Let me know what you thought of this roundup; and, if you read, watched, or heard something that I should know about, send it my way.
Take care of yourselves—and each other
Joe
joe@one5c.com