Dawn Allen, Author at Legal Reader

Dawn Allen is a freelance writer and editor who is passionate about sustainability, political economy, gardening, traditional craftwork, and simple living. She and her husband are currently renovating a rural homestead in southeastern Michigan.

Part of the Jonas Ridge, on the eastern rim of the Linville Gorge, in the Pisgah National Forest.

Local Solutions Help Fix Real Problems

May 12, 2017

News reporting always seems to concentrate on the things going wrong, doesn’t it? Especially since the 2016 election, there’s been a widespread feeling among Progressives that all we can do is buckle down and resist the worst of the Trump agenda. It’s easy to be discouraged into hopelessness by seeing the scale of the battles ahead of us. However, in communities across the country, individuals and organizations are actively making the world a better place to live. We don’t have to wait until government changes hands again to come up with local solutions that might just work.

A single family home, overgrown with weeds, exemplifies suburban decline in America.

The Long, Slow Suburban Decline

May 10, 2017

Cities and the suburbs around them are in a state of transition. We used to hear about urban decay and white flight, but that trend has been reversing for a while as the Millennials come into their own. Now, we’re enjoying a revitalization of some cities, and facing a long, slow suburban decline.

A pipeline burns in the Gulf of Mexico, south of New Orleans.

Gulf Bends Over for Offshore Drilling

May 8, 2017

Oil. Our modern economy can’t exist without it. It powers our transportation, feeds our growing population, provides a cornucopia of plastic products (and oceans of plastic waste), precipitates wars, fouls our environment, and burning it raises sea levels. Our cultural response to the black, sticky stuff is equally complex and internally contradictory. With offshore drilling back in the news, it’s worth thinking about what we’re willing to accept in exchange for oil.

A red pill grasped between the thumb and index finger.

The Red Pill and the Handmaid [NSFW]

May 4, 2017

In certain corners of the Internet, it’s hard to escape the marketing blitz for Hulu’s new miniseries, an adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. While production of the series began before the 2016 Presidential election, the story of a not-too-distant future where women have lost so many rights, including the right to bodily autonomy, has taken on new relevance in the age of Trump. Speaking in 2012, Atwood described her novel’s reception in the United States as “How long have we got?” Drawing comparisons between Trump’s America and the handmaid’s Gilead may draw a few eyerolls and accusations of pathetic melodrama, but like Neo in the Matrix, take the red pill and follow me.

An axe left in a tree stump, surrounded by short grass.

If Canadian Lumber is Unfair, So is This

May 3, 2017

The Trump administration imposed a 20% tariff on Canadian lumber, citing unfair government subsidies. Very well, but what about our subsidized exports? Just two days after the tariff decision, Trump signed an executive order amending the Antiquities Act, allowing a review of all national monuments declared since 1996. One thing this would potentially do is open up more national forest land for logging. How is this different from the “unfair government subsidy” of the Canadian lumber industry?

A plate of sushi, a common target for food fraud.

False Fish Flops as Food Fraud

May 1, 2017

I know we’re all used to a certain level of lies coming out of Washington, but from restaurants? There’s a basic trust with purveyors of noms that what we order from the menu will be the food that shows up on our plates. Not necessarily so, according to an article from last week’s Washington Post investigating potential food fraud.

We’re In the Midst of a Retail Collapse

April 27, 2017

When the mining and manufacturing jobs that supported a strong middle class went overseas or were automated away, they told us not to worry. Not only would these changes make widgets cheaper for people with lower incomes (like most of us were destined to become), we were just transitioning into a service economy, and new jobs would be easy to find as long as we were ready to retrain and think outside the box. As it turns out, we’re going to have to think outside the Big Box (stores, that is) since now, even those lower wage jobs are disappearing in a retail collapse.

Fungibility Key in Trinity Lutheran Case

April 26, 2017

There’s an upcoming case at the Supreme Court that has some rather far-reaching implications. Trinity Lutheran v. Comer concerns a Missouri recycling program, a religious school, and a whole passel of issues. In this case, religious freedom advocates seem to claim that grant money isn’t nearly as fungible as when it goes to Planned Parenthood.

Lois Lerner takes part in a House oversight committee meeting.

Of Course Lois Lerner Wants Privacy

April 24, 2017

Remember ancient history, all the way back in 2013, when the world was a much simpler place and the news of the day was that the IRS had supposedly “singled out” Tea Party organizations for further scrutiny before allowing them tax-exempt 501(c)(4) status? It’s been a while, but those events are still shaking out in the legal system.

A desert guide walks away from us, his footprints blurred in the shifting sands of a dune.

Humans Can Help the Environment

April 21, 2017

Since Earth Day is tomorrow, it’s worth considering a couple old, bold examples of what humans can do right – and wrong. Surprisingly, two of the most contrary landscapes on the face of the planet may both have been created by people. What can we learn from the stark difference between the Sahara and the Amazon?

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