A new face for palm oil? How a small co-op is changing the industry in Honduras
Expanding oil palm plantations are among the top reasons for deforestation globally–this co-op is changing the industry.
Category: Fieldnotes
People who live in the desert dream about water
“People who live in the desert dream about water.” That’s what my friend said, anyway. I just got back from a short stay in my friend’s small desert village in northern Rajasthan, India. It is a village covered in sand, far from any town–a village so remote that it took three phone calls and three hours to get me a paracetamol (aspirin) for a fever I was having. One night…
Do You Know the Heart of the U.S.?
When I landed in Kansas in 2009 as part of a Visioning committee for the Kansas Scenic Byways, I was brought there to help the state develop nature, cultural, and active travel along their scenic backroads. I conducted nine stakeholder meetings throughout the state and was privileged to be part of a process of input and evaluation with hundreds of people committed to sustainable development of their communities. However, in…
Yucatan Field Trip
“It’s a big plastic stomach that’s outside in the yard, with a pipe that leads into the kitchen.”
Our Micro-Grid Safari
Even though they have been around for decades, microgrids have become a buzz word among energy folks lately, especially in the rural electrification world.
Alternative Energy Scenarios and Friendship in Mayan Mexico: An ERGie adventure!
This winter, we traveled to the Yucatan state of Mexico to enjoy the warm water and sunshine of Central America and to work with Alex Eaton, social entrepreneur.
Nairobi revealed
I’m a brand new development scholar, one who just had his first real experience with abject poverty while visiting Nairobi.
Notes Off the Field in India – from food and culture to climate and reality
Farming pushes forward using alternate irrigation sources (wastewater and borewells) during a weak monsoon season in Southern India in 2012. Photo Credit: Sharada Prasad CS Pre-monsoon days in the city of Dharwad are peppered with the rhythmic honks, beeps and stops of barreling buses, autos, cars, motorbikes, parades and swarms of people rushing to work or to the market. Spending three months last summer for field research in central Kannada,…