Ecology

.

Edible Wild Plants of West Michigan, Volume 1Edible Wild Plants Of West Michigan Volume 1 produced by the Sprout Distro

This zine is designed to give folks an easy introduction to foraging in Grand Rapids and the greater West Michigan area. Whereas other field guides and foraging books folks on an almost overwhelming number of plants, we stick to fourteen plants that are reasonably easy to find:

Ramps (Wild Leeks), Wild Garlic, Wild Asparagus, Lamb’s Quarters, Juneberry, Wild Bergamot, Black Raspberry, Blackberry, Purslane, Dandelion, Hen-of-the-Woods, Dryad’s Saddle, Chicken-of-the-Woods, Blue Violet, and Crabapple.

There is at least one photo of every plant and line drawings for many of them.

Many of these plants should be able to be found elsewhere in the Midwest and Eastern United States.

.

Primitive ToothcarePrimitive Toothcare by Rowan Wolf

Subtitled “A DIY Guide to Uncivilized Oral Hygiene” this zine is an exploration of dental care without relying on large corporations or even smaller and unnecessary “green” companies. There’s ideas for alternatives to use for toothpicks, general tooth care, herbs for cleaning teeth, etc.

.

.

.

Towards An Anarchist EcologyTowards An Anarchist Ecology by Knowing the Land is Resistance

This zine is based on a series of workshops held by Knowing the Land Is Resistance aimed at critiquing mainstream ideas of “ecology” and offering ideas for moving towards an anarchist knowledge of the land. The zine explains how traditional notions of ecology are based on colonial and capitalist conceptions. As an alternative, the zine explores five starting points for developing an anti-authoritarian and anti-colonial relationship to the land: rooted in relationships, deep listening, urban ecology, re-enchanting, and unexpertness. It’s a good starting point for anyone interested in developing a closer relationship with the land.

.

Radical MycologyRadical Mycology

Mushrooms tend to get a bad rap amongst many foragers because of a fear poisoning and/or a fear of the unknown. Radical Mycology demystifies mushrooms, explaining how they grow, different types of mushrooms, how to cultivate them, and how to preserve them. The authors also included a lengthy section on identifying common edible wild mushrooms.

.

    ChickweedChickweed by the london anarcha feminist kolektiv

    Chickweed is a zine published by an anarcho-feminist collective out of the U.K. It’s a good introduction to herbalism. It covers common herbs, how to plant and harvest them, preserving them, basic cold and flu remedies, and more. A great starting place!

    .

    Decolonizing Nature, Strategies for Conservation in a Postcolonial Era

    The need to link biodiversity conservation to the development of local peopleis a critical issue in most developing countries. Post-colonial countries sufferfrom ‘poverty of choices and of opportunities’ (see World Bank Report, 2000). What local people can or cannot do with biodiversity resources is largely driven by available choices and opportunities. In most cases, they are helpless participants in biodiversity conservation processes over which they have little influence. Where national parks are concerned, the agenda, disguised or blatant, is that biodiversity conservation should assume top priority, and developmentpaths based upon alternative uses of the land should receive a low priority (Magome, 2000). In southern Africa, trans-frontier conservation initiatives are a reality and the choices of affected local people appear limited (Katerere et al,2001). The failure or success of various models that try to link local people to biodiversity management should be seen in the greater context of local, nationaland international politics. We conclude that if the dominant agenda is conventional biodiversity conservation, the political expediency that facilitated the decolonizing of nature at the national level will cause its re-colonization at the international level.

    .

    Global Enclosures An Ecosystem at Your Service

    Environmental stategists are redefining nature as a capitalist commodity. SIAN SULLIVAN explains the latest thinking from those pushing for the global enclosure of local commons.

    .

    People, Parks and Poverty – Political Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation

    .

    Dean Puckett & Sengwer: Conservation vs Communities

    .

    Community Based Forest and Livelihood Management in Nepal 

    .

    .