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Earth Food Life Project
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Earth Food Life Project
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We’re building a guide for everyday life, where experts will educate you about our world.
Author Spotlight
Alexander Zaitchik is a writing fellow for the Economy for All project at the Independent Media Institute and a freelance journalist based in New Orleans. He is the author of several books, including ''Owning the Sun: A People’s History of Monopoly Medicine from Aspirin to COVID-19''.
Michael Hudson has devoted his career to the study of debt.
Claudio Campagna is a senior marine conservation consultant for the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Mwesigye Robert is the founder of the Rejoice Africa Foundation.
Sarah Margaret Fuller (1810–1850), an American journalist and womenʼs rights advocate, was the first American female war correspondent and full-time book reviewer in journalism. (Source: [[wikipedia:Margaret_Fuller
Doug Tallamy is the T. A. Baker Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware and co-founder of Homegrown National Park.
Laurel Sutherlin is the senior communications strategist for Rainforest Action Network. He is a lifelong environmental and human rights campaigner as well as a naturalist and outdoor educator with a passion for birds and wild places. Follow him on Twitter @laurelsutherlin.
Ed Simon is the Public Humanities Special Faculty at Carnegie Mellon University and editor-in-chief of Belt Magazine.
Helena Norberg-Hodge is the founder and director of Local Futures. She is the author of [[wikipedia:Ancient_Futures
Jessica Pierce is a bioethicist and author of numerous books.
Guides
Conscious consumption means recognizing that everyday purchasing decisions shape the well-being of nonhuman animals, ecosystems, and human communities. It includes choosing foods that minimize harm, supporting ethical and sustainable production, avoiding products linked to environmental destruction, and rejecting exploitative labor practices. From humane food labels and plant-based alternatives to shade-grown coffee, eco-friendly wine, and reduced reliance on fast fashion and fossil fuels, each choice carries impact. The Observatory’s '''Guide to Conscious Consumption''' brings together practical tools and deeper context to help you make informed decisions that support your health, reduce harm, and contribute to a more just and sustainable world.
editorReynard Loki
sourceEarth Food Life Project
areaHuman ecology begins in the most intimate corners of our lives. Every breath we take, every meal shared, every relationship nurtured within a neighborhood depends on the health of the living environments around us. Human ecology helps us see how daily choices are woven into larger social and ecological systems—and how those systems, in turn, shape our bodies, minds, and spirits. It invites us to consider both our material needs—food, water, shelter—and our psychosocial needs—belonging, purpose, and agency—and to understand how inseparably they are linked.
editorEach lens in this Guide encourages us to notice relationships: between people, communities, and the natural world. It examines how governance can support quality of life, how neighborhoods grow and adapt, how education shapes our understanding of one another, and how cultures share resources and respond to change. The Guide offers practical ways to live more gently—and more courageously—with one another and with the planet, showing that the patterns we create carry consequences across places and generations.
At its core, human ecology is about caring for ourselves, the communities that shape us, and the ecosystems that sustain every moment of life. When society teaches that human well-being and environmental health are part of the same story, a new possibility emerges: that future generations may inherit not only knowledge, but wiser, more balanced ways of living on Earth.Sandra Ericson
sourceThe Observatory
areaThis guide explores the concept, models, and examples of the peace economy: the giving, sharing, thriving, caring economy without which none of us would be alive. A peace economy is the sharing of resources, a culture of care, and the remembrance that there is enough abundance for all of us on this planet. It is the return to a culture that understands true value and wealth come from nurturing life, love, and joy. We call it a "local" peace economy because it operates at the local level, beginning in the commons. This guide also offers ways to divest from the war economy that is destroying life and well-being on this planet.
editorApril M. Short
sourceLocal Peace Economy Project
areaFood production shapes the health of ecosystems, communities, animals, and the climate. Yet many modern agricultural systems rely on practices that contribute to soil degradation, biodiversity loss, water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and animal suffering. As concerns about the environmental and social costs of industrial agriculture continue to grow, farmers, researchers, Indigenous communities, and advocates are developing and refining alternative approaches.
This guide explores a range of alternatives to industrial agriculture, including organic farming, small-scale farming, regenerative agriculture, carbon farming, veganic farming, Indigenous land stewardship practices, and emerging innovations such as agrivoltaics. Together, these approaches offer different pathways toward producing food while protecting ecosystems, improving soil health, supporting biodiversity, reducing environmental impacts, and building more resilient agricultural systems for future generations.
editorReynard Loki
sourceEarth Food Life Project
areaThe New Grand Tour is a modern take on the "old" Grand Tour—a journey through the ancient landscapes of Rome and Greece, the kingdoms of Sumeria, and beyond—once reserved for only the privileged few. Today, the availability of data from the past six million years of human activity through archaeological collections and the accessibility of this data enable anyone to journey through the past.
Globally, our human stories have varied depending on factors such as terrain type, resource availability, and the ecoregion type at a given time and place. However, our collective story is written around the fact that environments shape human culture and, in turn, humans shape their environments.
editorIrina Matuzava
sourceHuman Bridges Project
areaAs people live longer and face increasingly complex end-of-life decisions, understanding death and dying has never been more important. This guide explores the emerging movement of death literacy, offering practical tools, knowledge, and community resources to help individuals navigate mortality with clarity and confidence. From fostering open conversations about death to exploring near-death experiences and preparing for end-of-life care, these articles provide insights into how we can approach death as a natural, supported, and meaningful part of life.
editorReynard Loki
sourceThe Observatory
areaThis guide explores the evolutionary origins of aesthetics in humans, otherwise known as bioaesthetics. Bioaesthetics is an interdisciplinary field that bridges biology, psychology, philosophy, and art to investigate aesthetic perception and how we perceive certain forms. Emerging research underlines the fact that our sense of beauty isn't purely cultural and has biological underpinnings.
editorIrina Matuzava
sourceHuman Bridges Project
areaThe guide will help readers understand the global plastic crisis from multiple angles, including the impact of plastic on human health, wildlife and the environment, the upstream forces in the lifecycle of plastics, the complex reality of recycling plastic, the unique threat posed by tiny plastic particles called nanoplastics, and how two similar cities have handled the plastic issue in different ways.
editorReynard Loki
sourceEarth Food Life Project
areaThe '''Guide to Factory-Farmed Animals''' examines the conditions, systems, and consequences of industrial animal agriculture. It explores how billions of chickens, pigs, and cows are raised in confined environments, often with minimal legal protection and significant welfare concerns. The guide connects animal suffering to broader impacts on human health, labor conditions, and the environment, including pollution and disease risk. It also addresses how cultural narratives and industry practices shape public perception of meat and dairy. By bringing together reporting, analysis, and ethical inquiry, this guide offers a clear, grounded understanding of factory farming and the forces sustaining it.
editorReynard Loki
sourceEarth Food Life Project
areaThe '''Guide to Changing How We Relate to Animals''' explores how human perceptions, language, and belief systems shape our treatment of nonhuman life. It examines growing scientific understanding of animal intelligence, emotion, and social complexity, alongside philosophical and cultural frameworks that influence moral consideration. By questioning long-held assumptions about hierarchy, consciousness, and value, the guide highlights how attitudes toward animals are evolving. It also considers how shifts in awareness can lead to changes in behavior, policy, and everyday interactions. Together, these perspectives invite a more expansive, reflective, and ethically grounded relationship with the living world.
editorReynard Loki
sourceEarth Food Life Project
areaNew Additions
Long before modern science warned of global warming, the Founding Fathers believed human activity was reshaping the planet’s climate—and they set out to prove it.
By: Raphael Calel
In Georgian Britain, Edward Jenner’s smallpox vaccine sparked panic over “beastly” side effects, exposing how new science can collide with old beliefs.
By: Erica X Eisen
As consumers flock to “reef-safe” and “ocean-friendly” skincare, beauty brands are selling a vision of ocean purity that is more marketing-driven than science-based.
By: Kate Petty
Humanity’s evolution into a super predator has reshaped ecosystems and instilled a primal fear in much of the animal kingdom.
By: John Divinagracia
From cancer-resistant mole rats to 200-year-old whales, evolution has equipped long-lived species with unique biological strategies.
By: Leslie Alan Horvitz
From journaling to essay writing, the simple act of writing is one of the most powerful tools for improving clarity, creativity, and critical thinking.
By: Ellen Feld and Reynard Loki
Common sense is contested terrain.
By: Colin Greer and Eric Laursen
Despite significant advances in human-based research, millions of mice and rats are still used in U.S. laboratories each year—at immense ethical and scientific cost.
By: Reynard Loki
At the turn of the 20th century, mathematicians, mystics, and modernists blurred the line between physics and philosophy. Their search for a hidden spatial realm—the so-called “fourth dimension”—transformed art, inspired the occult, and reimagined the very structure of reality.
By: Jon Crabb
Responding to a population seeking practical knowledge and tools, the death literacy movement is filling a much-needed void by offering clarity, comfort, and confidence.
By: Caren Martineau and Sarah Parker Ward
Classics
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