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Foodlab Detroit Fosters New Business Paradigm, Jobs

As Detroit recovers from staggering unemployment due to the mass exodus of the auto industry, small business creation is now being touted by many locals as a better solution for resiliency, higher wages and employment stability than big business recruitment. But starting a new business from a …

New report raises concerns about expansion of frac sand mines in Minnesota and Wisconsin

The true economic impact of frac sand mining may fall short of industry claims promising sustained prosperity and economic opportunity, says a first-of-its-kind expert report to be released Wednesday, May 15. By using currently available economic data, The Economic Benefits and Costs of …

Peak oil review - May 20

 A weekly update. Including: -Oil and the global economy -Middle East -China at a turning point? -Quote of the week -Briefs

Too soon to tell: The case for hope, continued

Ten years ago, my part of the world was full of valiant opposition to the new wars being launched far away and at home -- and of despair. And like despairing people everywhere, whether in a personal depression or a political tailspin, these activists believed the future would look more or less …

Will the International Energy Agency's oil forecast be wrong again?

The famous Danish physicist Niels Bohr once humorously observed, "Predictions are very difficult, especially about the future." And so, as the world considers yet another rosy oil supply forecast, this time from the Paris-based International Energy Agency, it is worth reviewing the …

Peak oil - May 17

•Supply shock from North American oil rippling through global markets •The IEA Says Peak Oil Is Dead. That’s Bad News for Climate Policy •Saudis welcome US shale boom •China Seen Boosting Emergency Oil-Storage Capacity, IEA Says •Peak oil, climate change and …

Mundraub.org: Sharing our common fruit

In a rural area in the former East Germany, late summer 2009: Shimmering heat, the intense odor of fermenting fruits is in the air. A tree covered with hundreds of juicy pears, and a foot-high layer of rotting fruit on the ground. A stone’s throw away – plums, mirabelles, elder …

A Desire Named Streetcar

Twentysomethings are eschewing their cars in never-before-seen numbers for alternate forms of transit...

'Follow the Money': How Rainforest Action Network Is Beating the Corporate Giants

We’ve arrived at a dangerous milestone. For the first time in human history, as Amy Goodman reported this week, "the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has topped 400 parts per million."

Don't Trust Your Stone Age Brain: It's Unsustainable

Humans have evolved to feel a single sense of self, but our emotional brain is encouraging us to pursue perceived self-interest even if it means trashing the planet, leaving our rational brain to try and justify our actions. Why are our intuitions so poor, and how might we engage rational thinking?

Deep Green Jobs

America's green jobs movement parades as many green hues as our national parks, ranging from deep green work to pale green employment.

Why I haven’t been flying (much)

Over three decades I have received many requests to travel across Australia and across the world to speak at a conference, teach a course or participate in some worthy event related to permaculture. My reluctance to travel long distances for short stays has meant I have had to turned down many …

Unburnable: Risky Fossil Fuel Investments & Climate Crisis  

Two new reports say climate change could cause the next financial crisis.  From London, Bob Ward, LSE lead author of "Unburnable: Carbon 2013: Wasted capital and stranded assets." Australia's Climate Institute, John Connor on coal's risky future.  Plus Nancy LaPlaca: why …

Why I’m marking passing 400 ppm by getting back on an aeroplane

I refuse to accept that the lurch to 500ppm, 600ppm, 800ppm is an inevitability. I refuse to accept, as Nigel Lawson tried to argue in his debate with the remarkably patient Kevin Anderson on Jeremy Vine’s radio show recently, that doing anything about climate change would impact on …

Peak oil notes - May 16

A mid-week update. While oil prices are little changed this week, there has been considerable news concerning the energy markets. Bad economic reports from Europe, the US, and China have helped keep pressure on the markets and raised fears of lower demand for oil in the months ahead. The …

Counting the Calories and calories

 As soon as we step out of our homes in pursuit of food, we cross an energy threshold that is worth considering.

What if there is Peak Oil?

So here is the dirty little secret of our civilization: It runs...energy per unit time...In other words, having one billion dollars in your checking account does not help you with purchasing a Rolls Royce with cash if your daily withdrawal limit is 100 dollars.  

The Corporate Enclosure of Seeds Intensifies

If you think that a farmer ought to be able to use the seeds from one crop in the next season, you are entertaining illegal ideas.

Lawns Of Purple and Gold

We burn 800 million gallons of gas mowing lawns, and statisticians say that we spill 17 million gallons every year just refilling our lawn machines. If so, that beats the Exxon Valdez spill of 10 million gallons.

The Pleasures of Extinction

The latest apocalyptic fad is near-term human extinction, or NTE for short: the claim that humanity, along with most other life on Earth, will inevitably be extinct by 2030 at the latest.

"What Then Must We Do: Straight Talk About The Next American Revolution"   

Gar Alperovitz's keynote speech at "The Summit" at Appalachian State in Boone, NC April 2013.

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