many thanks to simon b for pointing me to this excellent article on homeopathy. if i was better educated in medical protocol this is exactly how i would have said it! bravo.

Just listened to Richard Heinberg’s Soil Association talk. Which led me to read this paper on Peak Phosphorus.

Fascinating for me as I did my MSc project on Phosphorus pollution from intensive outdoor pig production. It also makes me feel even more pleased we’ve built in a compost toilet system into our new house - recycling human (and animal) waste will become critical in the years to come.

just in case you’re not aware of the very imminent collapse of biosphere and global economy then richard heinberg’s museletter #187 is a good start. here’s an extract:

However, steep declines in standards of living will be hitting these wealthy countries anyway, due simply to depletion of important energy resources, starting with oil. The only way to avert massive social chaos and famine as extraction levels decline will be to devote public capital domestically toward the building of low energy infrastructure (e.g., electrified rail networks, trolley lines, wind farms) while moving many people to rural areas and teaching them to farm sustainably. Production and consumption will have to be largely re-localized, essential goods rationed by quota. Basically the same thing will have to happen in the poor nations.

(there’s a lot of this stuff out there; but - for me - heinberg says it best. my friends rob and graham have covered similar ground in slightly less depth.)