Explaining the commons economy

It’s an economy in which the essentials of life – housing, energy, land, food, water, transport, social care, the means of exchange etc. are owned in common, in communities, rather than by absentee landlords, corporations or the state.

Facing difficult truths

Climate psychology seeks to place citizens of the West under critical scrutiny. It tries to throw light upon our complicity and inaction in the face of the climate crisis and promote greater ethical and political engagement with the issue. It sees the modern Western self as the product of three great separations or alienations – from external nature, from our own physical nature as mortal beings, and from other selves.

Keeping warm and remembering Plough Monday

If it is unusual in the rest of the privileged world to even consider their power usage, maybe Vermonters should start training folks in how to live with an increasingly expensive and feeble grid. HINT: there is more clothing in the winter… probably a good deal of goofy hand-knits.

The end of paper?

While the world continues to consume paper in ever greater amounts, the idea that we can preserve all our knowledge electronically is catching hold. Is that really a good idea?

A Compelling Theory to Explain a Key Trait of Modern Humans

Paleoanthropologist Curtis Marean has developed a comprehensive explanation based on a synthesis of research and archaeological evidence for what propelled H. sapiens to leave Africa about 70,000 years ago and colonize every part of the world, replacing other existing hominin populations. Key to the process is “hyperprosociality,” by which Marean means the ability to cooperate with people who are not relatives.