Introduction

Hi there, and welcome to my blog. I’ve never run a non-personal blog, but I hope this will end up a worthwhile venture both for me and any readers that chance upon it. The topics that have led me here can be considered, more or less, to fall under the term sustainability. These include issues of food production, food systems, transit, and urban planning. The psy is for any contribution of my academic ties with the brain sciences. If I end up veering off course, the name is sufficiently ambiguous that it will likely still fit.

I’ve been interested in food for as long as I can remember. Not particularly unique, I know. My recent exploration of where that food comes from started with a MetaFilter link to a Michael Pollan article based on his In Defense of Food, which led me to the Omnivore’s Dilemma. Then Much Depends on Dinner, and more recently Fast Food Nation and the archives of Deconstructing Dinner. Living in Waterloo, Ontario, has given ample demonstration of viable local food systems through the local farmers’ markets and farmstands. I won’t even attempt to cite all the Internet sources of information.

My interest in transit comes partly from my familiarity with European models of it. After Moscow’s metro, no North American city’s transportation system compares. Similarly with European train travel versus North American automobile travel. This isn’t a proper justification, just a bit of a background.

Now, I am not entirely sure what this blog will end up comprising, but I intend for it to be a place where I can discuss ideas that come out from some of the above interests, and for other subjects that are outside of my academic research. It should help me to formulate ideas more clearly, and perhaps to come up with better ones.