The City Mouse in the Country

 I consider myself a researcher.   Meaning that I find something of interest and I have to learn all I can until that research itch is satisfied.   I've actually made a career out of it in some ways.  Hopefully not dressed like this Foraging for food has never really interested me much.  I have a passing interest in it because of my desire to make my yard into a edible lawn.   For example I planted an edible (although non native) dogwood tree.  I'm planting or have planted a variety of native perennial fruits and veggie's.  It is an ongoing process, simply because in the back of my mind some post apocalyptic traveler will come across this and have nourishment for a few days. I have identified and used purslane, sheep and wood sorrel, curly dock and; what I believe is fiddlehead ferns in my yard before.  However not being 100% sure about the fiddlehead fern, it's not made it into a dish or salad yet.   Some ferns look...

As I entered the Energy Innovation Center near Pittsburgh's center,  the ladies at the registration desk asked me to write down what Solar Punk meant to me.  I declined.  The reason being that when I first learned about the Solar Punk movement, I was immediately attracted to its desire to change the fundamentals of the world; solar punk is more than an art and literary movement.    While Steam punk was about a time that never was and seemed to have a certain way of dress and style to it solar punk seemed more grounded.  An old pair of blue jeans bought second hand and work boots were functional and fashionable. Where Cyberpunk seemed to envision a cold harsh future, solar punk seems almost utopian.   It offers solutions through everyday acts like gardening, vegetarianism and recycling.  Those that believe in the solar punk movement are simply not sending money to some charity but living and working to make this world a better place....

  This is a true story.   Years ago when I was a young man studying Evolutionary Biology as part of my teaching degree; our professor told us this story.  His professor at the time walked in, dropped the textbook into the trash and said something to the effect of " The discovery of complex life developing in deep sea vents changes everything we thought we knew." In other words....the biologists at the time were surprised to discover multiple colonies of complex animals with completely different biochemistry living in a very hostile environment, at that time it was believed that only small organisms evolved in the extreme temperatures and high pressure of the deep sea vents.    Suddenly there were advanced forms of life (worms and crabs) whose biochemistry was unlike any thing else on the planet.   Evolution, at least the way it was understood at the time, changed.   This story has stuck with me all these years because it teaches a v...