The Post-Partisan Emporium

Back to the Land On Generating Self-Worth Heather Heying In the Shenandoah Valley of western Virginia, Polyface Farm is a beacon. Joel Salatin, the proprietor, has created a farm so vital, the land itself seems to breathe. Unlike much modern agriculture, which relies heavily on capital, electricity, and infrastructure, Polyface Farm relies primarily on people. Polyface Farm  has beckoned me since 2006, when Michael Pollan’s  The Omnivore’s Dilemma  came out, and I, like so many others, fell in awe with Joel Salatin and his farm. I was a professor at one of the country’s most liberal colleges then, and when I assigned Pollan’s book to my students, they too fell for the promises therein: that we can and we must remember what we have been, what the Earth is, what we are all capable of, and grow our food and communities with attention to ancient and actually sustainable ways. Back then, Salatin reports, about 80% of the visitors to Polyface Farm were on the left, politically—...

The New York Times somehow casts a Massachusetts couple who spent $7 million on building an oceanfront (second) home as environmental activists. Can't make it up. You’re gonna want to read this one on an empty stomach. Twenty-six times a year, The New York Times shows its commitment to the environment by offering readers “Living Small.” No, Living Small isn’t about the joys and trials of being height-challenged. It’s “a biweekly column exploring what it takes to lead a simpler, more sustainable or more compact life.” Seems the Times defines “sustainable” somewhat broadly, though. Thus today’s   Living Small : Their Cape Cod Home Isn’t Small, but Its Carbon Footprint Is — When I saw that headline, I paused to pull on my Tyvek suit before clicking through. I knew the unintentional irony and hypocrisy were about to get thick. But I had no idea how thick. In 2019, Michael and Jennifer Monteiro dropped $2.6 million on an oceanfront vacation house in Harwich, Massachusetts. Good for them...