While the documentary, Wasted! The Story of Food Waste has debuted in the Tribeca Film Festival, and has been released in theaters around the country, many haven’t heard of it, and most aren’t aware of the real impact that food waste has in the world.  For example, when you throw a head of lettuce in…

Food insecurity is an issue all around the world.  Many scientists are focusing on ways to make home gardening more foolproof.  When we can grow our own food, we can begin to feel that we have control over our future. This article reveals the work of one scientist who has developed a tool to “talk”…

Over the past several years, there has been a growing movement of people who have found a passion for the growing locavore movement.  This stems from an expectation of local food as the healthy alternative.  This brief article gives you five reasons to embrace the locavore movement if you haven’t done so already.  Whether your…

There is a growing movement throughout the country of homeowners who are taking steps to make the “local-vore movement” very, very local.  These homeowners are transforming their beautiful lawns into their own mini-farms.  The interest in this trend is spreading quickly and is particularly being embraced in more moderate climates where lawns can evolve into…

One of the hidden mysteries of modern living is the experience of shopping at the local grocery store.  We become complacent right from childhood to expect food will be there for us.  And, we rarely think about the cost of the food item that we place in our shopping cart.  With the advent of an…

Our blog posts have shared ideas that communities can adopt to address providing a healthy resource for food.  Even larger communities and cities like Chicago can take a fresh approach to infusing high-quality food locally.  We’ve shared many examples of this nature in hopes that some of these would provide inspiration to you to take…

At our annual conference last May, we introduced our new research initiative focusing on carrying capacity, with presentations from members of the EDA Research Team.  The research was a beginning of our effort to determine what the capacity for bioregions was for several places around North America.  Carrying capacity is the ability of a specific…

Small towns and communities all over our country are constantly in a search for make-over, particularly those that have had their industrial base shut down, like Gasden, AL shown in this photograph.  Gasden lost their major industries in the 1970’s and 1980’s, and was forced to take steps for revitalization.  After decades of struggle, Gasden…

A recent article in Fast Company revealed a study done by the Potsdam Institute which concludes that food shortage is less an issue of availability than it is a distribution problem.  In 2010, the last time the data was collected, we wasted 510 kilocalories per person per day, as compared with 310 kilocalories in 1965….

In our coverage of the growing local food movement, we’ve been sharing several entrepreneurial efforts that have addressed the need for a focus on growing food on a small scale and distributing that food in an economic way to stores, specialty grocers, and restaurants.  This is a small but ever-increasing group of visionaries who see…

In May 2017, EDA held our first “Our Common Good Conference” where we featured a presentation about carrying capacity in geographical areas around the country. The term “carrying capacity” refers to the ability or limitations of a geographical area to sustain life through the local availability of water and food production. One of the case studies shared in this presentation analyzed…

In recent blog articles we’ve shared the growing trend toward urban farming where some pioneers are using technology to transform old warehouse and industrial buildings into thriving indoor farms.  If you attend our conference in May there will be several presentations on bioregions and looking at carrying capacity for water and food production to serve…

We recently published an article about the Local Food Movement that emphasized the importance of having access to healthy food – free of preservatives and chemicals.  While the natural trend in large-scale commercial farming is focused on heavy use of chemicals in fertilizing as crops are planted, and chemicals to preserve the food for long…

Recently we have posted several articles about the growing interest in accessing locally grown food.  There is an increasing awareness that many places in our country are suffering because there are no local groceries that offer healthy food to residents.  The term “food deserts” was introduced in a recent post to shine a light on…

The image of this desert triggers our imagination. It is a vast region that for the most part is without a lot of resources. Life in a desert is difficult to sustain, with the harsh environment offering little food or water. It is this image that triggered the term “Food Desert.” Sadly this is a…

The interest in growing plants vertically was put in high gear in Milan, Italy  in 2011 with a project that was conceived by architect Stefano Boer to build a vertical forest.  He incorporated trees into the design of his high-rise residential towers.  His buildings were completed in 2015, and launched an interest in vertical farming…

Sustainable farming requires innovation.  As climate change is impacting us, farming can be more and more challenging.  But at the same time, as our population is growing, the need for food is growing as well.  The new technologies that are being introduced to our farms are a testament to ingenuity and our increased need to…