From a survey performed in late 2009, the following list of Top 10 sustainable professions emerged. The responders of the survey had all been motivated to find or develop new skills in response to threats from Peak Oil.

Top 10 Sustainable Professions:

1. Farming
2. Activism/Volunteerism
3. Renewable Energy/Energy Audits
4. Teaching
5. Small Business Owner
6. Permaculture Design/Teaching
7. Sustainability consulting
8. Non-profit
9. Alternative health
10. Energy-efficient building/Architecture

Source: EcoWatch

Some survey findings that may help those working to accelerate awareness and action among the general public are:

• People are driven to act in the face of global threats largely by a sense of right and wrong – their conscience – with some encouragement and inspiration from books, movies, media programs and articles.
• Emphasizing the positive consequences of particular lifestyle changes, and focusing on health and wellness benefits and a simpler, more satisfying life may be more effective ways to encourage change than promoting financial savings.
• The lack of support from one’s community and family and lack of assistance with overcoming unhelpful personal habits and attitudes are more significant roadblocks to effective response than not having enough information on what actions to take.
• Growing one’s own food is a popular and transformative way to begin living a more sustainable lifestyle, and may lead to a new career opportunity and the development of more community support.
• Most people do not feel they need to measure the impact of their lifestyle changes, but some think such feedback would motivate and assist them with doing more. Setting goals, even without measurement, is extremely helpful.
• Nine out of ten people plan to make additional changes, including starting or expanding a garden, installing a renewable energy system, or working with others in their local community to make broader, more systemic changes.

Apple trees are one of the few fruits that can be grown easily in southern Quebec and have been used for centuries to make cider, jams and sauces. One day, I’d like to have an apple orchard of my own.

What: Theory and Practice of Organic Apple Tree Maintenance

When: Saturday, March 20th, 9AM to 4PM

Where: Lobinière, Quebec

Duration: 6 hours

Description: In collaboration with the Collective regional agricultural training, Team Haunted Farm organizes a course on mastering techniques based on the size and maintenance of organic apples.

There will be further concepts such as the physiological development of apple trees, their major pests, the basic techniques of pruning with distinctions appropriate for different sizes of trees (from training, annual maintenance, fruiting and most importantly, restructuring of old apple trees).

At the end of training, participants will be able to make the right size of Apple tree, the recultivation of abandoned apple trees and to develop a plan to fight against the major integrated pests.

Cost: The cost of this course is about $ 50 (or less, the total fee is divided in proportion to the number of entries). Depending on the interests of participants in a sequence can then be available on the cuttings (in April) and planting (Fall).

Who: The trainer is John Lamontagne, CFP professional arborist of Fierbourg. For more information and to book your spot, place contact (as soon as possible!) Lea, Coordinator for Productions Haunted Farm.

Looking forward to prune in your company for the finest apples this fall!

*** Possible barter tuition cons of 5 hours work size in the orchard the next day (ie Sunday AM March 21) and / or work the size of the orchard in exchange for the equivalent  vegetables (summer 2010); to negotiate with Lea. ***

* Chance of carpooling and lodging on site. *

Contact: Lea Charest, for the Haunted Farm
585 rang St-Eustache, Lobinière, Quebec
796-3277, leacharet418@hotmail.com

10th Annual Seedy Weekend Seed Fair in Montreal at the Montreal Botanical Gardens

This event aims to promote seeds of the open-pollinated variety which have been grown locally and sustainably.

Please note this year’s changes outlined below as there have been quite a few. You can contact Action Communiterre for a more in-depth interview at animation@actioncommuniterre.qc.ca

This year’s seedy weekend will take place over two days, Saturday, February 13th and Sunday, February 14^th 2010 in order to accommodate the public’s growing interest in this event. For that same reason, the layout of the room will also be modified to allow for greater circulation. The fair will run from 10 :00am to 4 :30pm. Access is free, but a voluntary donation would be greatly appreciated, as the event is organized as a fundraising opportunity for Action Communiterre (a non-profit, community organization that sponsors collective gardening and works on issues related to urban agriculture and food security) and les Amis du Jardin Botanique de Montréal, who’s mission is to support the Botanical Gardens and it’s cultural, educative and scientific development. There are however fees for parking at the Botanical Gardens.

There will also be a snack kiosk in one of the adjacent rooms catered by Au Pois Chique, a non-profit organization taking care of a local ‘meals on wheels’.

Location :
Montreal Botanical Gardens
Pavillon d’accueil
4101 Sherbrooke Street East, Montreal

To get there: The parking lot entrance of the Botanical Garden is located on Sherbrooke Street, between Pie IX and Viau. The Botanical Gardens is also accessible by metro, Pie IX station
Important notice: The parking lot now has parking meters. The cost is $10, payable by coin, or by credit card

This has real potential as a solution to re-define wealth that calls back to an earlier definition:  a roof over your head, clothes on your back, running fresh water and fresh food grown nearby. And the concept is analogous to Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) where many individuals invest in the health and prosperity of a nearby farm.

Source: Alternet

The goals and structure of the the [Slow Money] movement are fairly amorphous — cynics might say squishy — more on the philosophical than pragmatic level for the time being. Tasch’s recent book “Inquiries Into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered” (Chelsea Green) aims to spark and incubate investment at all levels in local or regional food systems. This means not only organic farms, dairies and ranches, but food processing facilities, food artisans (makers of jelly, cheese, etc.) and retail or distribution networks, restaurants and stores.

“It is two things: a new way of thinking about money at a macro level, in terms of philanthropy and social investing, and on the ground it is getting money into local food systems,” said Tasch. “Our objective is a very robust network at regional and local levels across the U.S. — many, many players who are all interested in the same goal: rebuilding local food systems.”

Butterworks Farm in Vermont practices "Slow Money"

“People joining CSAs and shopping at farmers markets is the beginning of this sea change. People think of those as consumer rather than investment dollars, but they are a kind of investment.”

How much Slow Money can raise remains to be seen. Rather than using a venture capital model they are seeking to mobilize hundreds of thousands of members contributing millions of dollars per year which will then be used to seed the nurture capital industry. Founding members — 150 of them — contributed at least $1,000 each. And the overarching goal, Tasch said, is connecting investors with food systems in their own regions.

Lazor said organic farms will likely never be as profitable for investors as more traditional stocks, but he thinks people are increasingly seeing such investments as an attractive option in the holistic sense.

“People’s perceptions of good [financial] risks are the traditional exploitative and extractive industries that are ruining the earth,” he said. “Folks that have the dough are going to need to be satisfied with a lower return on their dollar, and get their satisfaction from knowing they’ve made the earth a better place.”

Slow money involves the belief that investment in sustainable local food systems is likely to pay off financially in the long run, since it simply makes more sense and curbs the costly environmental and health damage wrought by industrial agriculture. But it may not pay off quickly — hence the “slow” — and the payoff may not come in direct dollars back to the investor but rather tangible or intangible benefits to food producers, the environment and the general public.

Slow money proponents see the economic crisis, paired with increasingly alarming news about the effects of climate change and environmental degradation, as an opportunity for a new economic and agricultural paradigm.

“Our historical experience with global industrial finance is now in question — people are not completely sanguine about the prospects of venture capital and investing in China as it has been practiced,” said Tasch. “There’s a lot of economic uncertainty, so just the idea of diversification, putting one percent of our money to work in local food systems, is more attractive. And the number of people just interested in food is at an all-time high, people are starting to understand problems with industrial agriculture, industrial food.”

Tasch is hoping to get thousands of signatories to the Slow Money Principles, which include, “We must bring money back down to earth” and “We must build a nurture capital industry.” Whether or not people invest or donate, he hopes people use the holiday spirit to forward the principles far and wide.

Community Supported Agriculture offers average urban consumers the opportunity to purchase fresh, local and often organic fruits, vegetables and meats directly from farmers.

Here’s how it works: You contract with a CSA farmer to deliver a small fraction of what they produce seasonally. The farm delivers the fresh produce to a central location, or in some cases, directly to your home.

The benefits are that you get fresh food directly from a farmer who you can meet and talk to, and the farm gets to sell at a higher profit margin while developing consumer relationships. The local community supports sustainable family farms. Everybody wins (except the big supermarkets)!

In the Montreal area, there are about 90 farms that participate in CSA programs. To find a CSA farmer that serves your neighborhood in Montreal, visit this page (en francais).

To learn more about CSA’s in Quebec visit: Equiterre

From the author of Depletion and Abundance, upstate New York farmer Sharon Astyk is due out with a new book in April 2009. Titled A Nation of Farmers: Defeating the Food Crisis on American Soil the book examines the limits and dangers of the globalized food system and how returning to the basics is our best hope. The book includes in-depth guidelines for:

• Creating resilient local food systems
• Growing, cooking, and eating sustainably and naturally
• Becoming part of the solution to the food crisis

While the target is America, it should be equally valuable for any Canadian community looking to improve and shore up community food security.

Research Credit: Carolyn Baker