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Yes, the name Pomona comes from the Roman goddess of fruit, a reminder of the days four decades ago when apple orchards and farms dotted the countryside at the foot of the Ramapo Mountains in Rockland County.
But in a suburban county where the number of farms has gone from 900 in the 1920s to 406 in 1950 to - depending on which ones you care to count - about a half dozen now, it's a little hard at first to imagine why anyone would have seen much point in forming the Rockland Farm Alliance last year.
But how successful have we been in that pursuit? And now that the global finance system is imploding, how likely is it that we'll be happy in the coming months and years?
Can't Buy Love
Organic Transitions Coming to Baltimore Schools
Driving on U.S. 40, shoving along with the traffic past strip malls, gas stations and drive-through restaurants, there's no apparent reason to give Nuwood Road, landmarked by an auto supply store, a second glance.
But if one did turn in and hang a quick right, he or she would see what could soon become the linchpin for bringing wholesome eating to Baltimore City schools.
For Brooklyn real-estate agent Maria Mackin, the obsession started five years ago, on a trip to Pennsylvania Amish country. She, her husband and three children - now 17, 13 and 11 - sat down for brunch at a local bed-and-breakfast, and suddenly the chef realized she'd run out of eggs. "She said, 'Oh goodness! I'll have to go out to the garden and get some more'," Mackin recalls. "She cooked them up and they were delicious." Mackin and her husband, Declan Walsh, looked at each other, and it didn't take long for the idea to register: Could we have chickens too?
While Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson performs a mysterious magic act in which he shows us what a deregulated bailout looks like, some of us are trying to imagine what President-elect Barack Obama can do to turn our country away from the disastrous and corrupt ways that have gotten us in this nice big mess.
Suppose you give me a million dollars with the instructions, "Invest this profitably, and I'll pay you well." I'm a sharp dresser -- why not? So I go out onto the street and hand out stacks of bills to random passers-by. Ten thousand dollars each. In return, each scribbles out an IOU for $20,000, payable in five years. I come back to you and say, "Look at these IOUs! I have generated a 20% annual return on your investment." You are very pleased, and pay me an enormous commission.
People need to lose their jobs. It sounds crazy, but what if it's true?
In this time of mounting tensions and rude awakenings, it is fortunate we can stress compassion and positive ideas. Yet, foremost we must be warned about our present course as an unsustainable society. Sudden, disruptive change is generally good to avoid, but sometimes we need to make an abrupt and wrenching move to save ourselves.
(NaturalNews) We know that fatty processed foods aren't good for our schoolchildren, but getting more locally grown foods on the cafeteria menu can be difficult. The economic crisis may change that. Schools now have less money to spend while at the same time farmers find it increasingly expensive to transport their crops to distant markets. Connecting school lunch programs directly to local farms is good for everyone. Schools save money, farmers find nearby buyers and student health improves.
Bail out General Motors? The people who murdered our mass transit system?
First let them remake what they destroyed.
GM responded to the 1970s gas crisis by handing over the American market to energy-efficient Toyota and Honda.
GM met the rise of the hybrids with "light trucks."
GM built a small electric car, leased a pilot fleet to consumers who loved it, and then forcibly confiscated and trashed them all.
