Rather than just jump head first into saving the world I thought it might be nice to have a short “getting to know you” session so that you have a better understanding of who I am and what you might come to expect out of my tenure at world.edu.

My name is Michael Nolan and I am a lifelong advocate of sustainability and environmental responsibility.  It is my hope that someday people will come to fully appreciate just how important sustainable living is to the future of our families, our communities and our planet.

I am an author and a blogger, but most recently I am a sustainable homestead farmer.  In May of this year I relocated from my home in a large metro area to a 10 acre rural farm where I am already raising horses, chickens, goats, rabbits and pigs in addition to edible food crops.  Last year I began work on a book based on sustainability and came up with the concept of a S.E.E.D. – Sustainability Education Everyone Deserves.

I can\’t be the only one who thinks that our grandparents must be shaking their heads at all of these \”new\” sustainable ideas, many of which are just a new way of presenting the old way of doing things.  Sustainable is just the latest buzzword in a society that seems hell bent on assigning labels to everything.  This time though, it makes sense.  What we call sustainable living, our ancestors called survival.  Raising chickens in the back yard wasn’t a fad, it was the only way to get eggs on the table.

Even urban gardening is not a new concept by any stretch of the imagination.  During the World Wars, the U.S. government encouraged everyone to grow Victory Gardens as a way of supplementing their food with fresh produce.  It wasn’t done because it was fashionable, it was done because it was necessary.

If Sustainable Education programs were available at a local level, you and I could make a tremendous impact in two of the biggest health problems our societies are faced with – hunger and obesity.  It is more than a bit ironic to me that I live in a country whose children are both overweight and malnourished and after doing a lot of thinking I came up with the S.E.E.D. idea that might just be the basis for global change, one neighborhood at a time.

My goal here at world.edu is to be the S.E.E.D. Starter who helps you learn how to live a more sustainable and environmentally responsible lifestyle.  To that end, please feel free to leave your questions and comments here.  I will be answering reader questions every week so let me know what’s on your mind!