Recycled Minds Reflections on 2008

In the reflections on recycled minds 2007, we noticed a thread of hope and change that linked our posts together, even when the topics seemed disparate. What we sensed then has perhaps run in its course in 2008. Change became a political ballad and optimism fell by the wayside as food and economic crises converged.

And yet, even still, hope and change permeate the articles and information we have shared this year.

One of the most prevalent topics at recycled minds is indigenous cultures. This issue came to the forefront of popular news, very briefly, when photographs surfaced of a “lost” tribe in the Brazilian Amazon. Yet many more stories made our headlines this year, from indigenous journalism, to the movements in Bolivia, to the Minga Popular in Colombia, and others. We even found a bit on the Zapatistas, a group we've been blogging about for a few years now.

Just as prevalent this year was a focus on food, ranging from the worldwide food crisis to urban gardening, school gardens, and other food production strategies that Michael Pollan has brought to public awareness. Sustainable agriculture in Paraguay countered the unsettling stories about Monsanto, Wal-mart and other corporate giants. And articles delving into the meaning of food reminded us that consumption comes in many forms.

Articles about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the FARC in Colombia, profiting off the poor in Latin America, Hurricane Ike in Cuba appeared as testimonies to the unrest and suffering in the world, even as the 60^th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights passed in December. In solidarity with those trying to make a difference out there, our 20 posts in Activism offered a number of unique ideas on ways to counter the many injustices and problems that we mentioned this year. 

More randomly, our friends made the pages of Recycled Minds with videos about a trip to Antarctica, and some music about unicorns. We also noted the passing of the legend who discovered one of the most influential substances in human history. We introduced our Recycled Minds Library on Scribd, which has a number of very popular documents. Finally, our 10,000th visit came in July this year while this post was up, and we've since been visited nearly 4,500 more times.  

This year has seen our popularity grow significantly, and we hope to continue this trend in 2009 with interesting news, ideas, and places from around the web and the world. 

Happy New Year and thanks for reading!

Until next year…