Linda's Blogspot

  Environmental Films: Using Documentary to Educate, Inspire, and Build Communities Environmental films offer an opportunity to learn about the natural world, the challenges facing our planet, and the people working to protect the environment. Through documentaries, viewers can explore sustainable agriculture, forest conservation, environmental justice, traditional ecological knowledge, and community development. A film screening can be more than an opportunity to watch a documentary. It can become a gathering place where people exchange ideas, learn from one another, and consider how environmental knowledge can be applied in their own communities. For organizations interested in environmental education, sustainable agriculture, and community development, environmental films can be valuable educational resources. Where Can You Find Environmental Films? Several organizations specialize in environmental documentaries. Their collections cover subjects ranging from wildlife conservatio...

Carla Hall, African American food history, and the importance of Black farmers. The 2026 Black Farmers Urban Gardeners Conference at Dillard University in New Orleans - Keynote speaker  Carla Hall, African American Food History, and the Legacy of Black Farmers Food Is More Than What We Eat When we talk about African American food, we often think about soul food: collard greens, cornbread, black-eyed peas, sweet potatoes, fried chicken, and other familiar dishes. But there is a much larger story behind these foods. It is a story about African agricultural knowledge, Black farmers, cultural survival, entrepreneurship, and the passing of knowledge from one generation to another. Chef Carla Hall has helped bring this history to a wider audience through her cooking, television appearances, and cookbook, Carla Hall's Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration. In 2026, Hall will be the Black Farmers Urban Gardeners Conference Keynote Speaker. She will bring  her interest in African America...

The Songhaï Centre in Benin: An African Model of Sustainable Development In Porto-Novo, the capital of Benin in West Africa, an agricultural initiative has been demonstrating how farming, environmental sustainability, education, and entrepreneurship can work together. Known as the Songhaï Centre, this initiative offers an approach to development that connects food production with employment, resource conservation, and local economic growth. Established in 1985 by Godfrey Nzamujo, a Dominican priest and scientist, the Songhaï Centre was created to help Africans develop productive, sustainable economies using their own resources, knowledge, and skills. Rather than treating agriculture simply as the cultivation of crops, Songhaï developed an integrated system in which farming, livestock, fish production, food processing, and energy generation support one another. Its approach raises an important question: How can African communities use their land, natural resources, knowledge, and entrep...

Gaviotas, Colombia: A Community That Turned Environmental Challenges Into Opportunities An Experiment in Sustainable Living In eastern Colombia, a community called Gaviotas set out to answer an important question: Could people build a productive community in a challenging environment while living in greater harmony with nature? Founded in 1971 by Colombian development visionary Paolo Lugari, Gaviotas became known for its experiments in renewable energy, water systems, forest development, and appropriate technology. Located in the department of Vichada, in Colombia's vast eastern grasslands, Gaviotas developed an approach to community development based on experimentation. Rather than simply importing technologies designed for other places, its residents worked to develop practical solutions suited to their local conditions. Their experience offers lessons for people interested in sustainable agriculture, environmental restoration, renewable energy, and community economic development...

  The Greatest Generation: Learning to Adjust, Adapt, and Make Do What an Earlier Generation Can Teach Us About Living in Changing Times I have been thinking about what we call the Greatest Generation and the lessons that people who lived during that period might have to teach us today. The Greatest Generation generally refers to Americans born between 1901 and 1927. They experienced the Great Depression, World War II, and years of significant social and economic change. Many grew up in households where people had to be resourceful. They learned to stretch a dollar, prepare meals at home, repair what they owned, and make adjustments when circumstances changed. Their lives were not easy. For African Americans, the challenges were often compounded by racial segregation, discrimination, and unequal access to employment, housing, education, and economic opportunities. Yet families found ways to survive, raise children, build communities, and pass knowledge from one generation to anothe...

Capital Grants vs. Free-Trade Deregulation: How Two U.S. Presidents Reshaped Ghana and Haiti ​When examining American foreign policy across Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean during the late 20th and early 21st centuries, few comparisons illustrate the power of economic methodology as vividly as the contrasts between George W. Bush’s infrastructure investments in Ghana and Bill Clinton’s agricultural trade policies in Haiti. ​While both policy initiatives were framed as efforts to stimulate economic growth and modernization in developing nations, their real-world mechanisms and long-term impacts diverged dramatically. ​The Infrastructure Grant Strategy: George W. Bush in Ghana ​In 2006, under President George W. Bush, the United States launched a $547 million aid compact with Ghana through the newly established Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). The centerpiece of this grant was a direct capital investment aimed at removing physical bottlenecks that throttled domestic trade....