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Articles by Andrée Collier

Andrée Collier (Zaleska) is the co-founder of the JP Green House, and a community organizer at the Institute for Policy Studies. More information about the JP Green House can be found at jpgreenhouse.org. Andree also blogs and hosts discussion on the psychological effects of Climate Change at the site http://www.ClimateGrief.ning.com

Featured Article

Is it the natural abundance of vitamin D, or the energy boost of eating fresh foods, or those things we call vacations that remind us how life should be?

Everyone feels the happiness, the ease, of summer. This year I noticed something a bit new, though. I’ve spent the last several years developing a critique of current American “civilization” that began with a deepening awareness of the perilousness of climate change. It expanded–because I’m a critic by nature–to include my understanding of what Peak Oil was going to mean, to seeing the effects of our economic recession as a symptom of collapse, to a sense of the depth of cultural denial of the crisis. I’ve faced real despair about the path of human existence–not to put too fine a point on it! It’s been rough. And of course you’re all here with me, aren’t you?

And then, the summer of 2010 dawned, and I was happy. I was happy despite the heat, the ongoing saga of building the JP Green House, and some pretty serious family trouble. I was so happy creating my garden (out of a weedy and abandoned city lot) t... Read more

All Articles

  • Dmitry Orlov on why the U.S. is headed toward Soviet-style collapse

    Dmitry Orlov“Really, there’s no one at the helm now,” Dmitry Orlov says nonchalantly. We are talking about the economic crisis and the way that the destructive system of our economy operates without anyone really leading it. It’s a perfect statement from a man who has traded in his house and car to live on a […]

  • Car free in Boston, for all the wrong reasons

    I’m currently in transportation transition. By the end of the month, I will have transferred my aging VW into my partner’s name, and canceled my own insurance. I will have tuned up my bike, spent a good chunk of money on a metro pass, and signed up with the local car-sharing business. But I’m not […]

  • How to talk to your friends about climate change

    I may soon end up walking the streets of Boston with a sandwich board and a tinfoil hat. I know you’ll all remember me fondly when that day comes, and stop to say hello and maybe buy me a sandwich. But in the meantime, with my wits still somewhat collected, I’m going to tell you […]

  • JP Green House intern dines with construction crew

    Five construction workers and I crowd around a covered picnic table outside a run-down little house on the outskirts of Boston. Formerly a 100-year-old neighborhood store called "Jack's Corner Store," the place was abandoned for five years before current owners Ken Ward and Andrée Zaleska purchased it in 2008.