Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
There are two stories here, interwoven: the story of a project called “All Things Mortal,” and the story of the dying and funeral of our friend and colleague in Transition. They are two sides of the same coin, like life and death, and joy and grief. Neither one would have happened the way they did if it hadn’t been for Transition.
It’s a bit odd that land reform is barely mentioned in most progressive agendas. Maybe that’s because it is seen as challenging the presumed virtues of private property and capitalist markets.
Production peaked 2015 due to Venezuela’s production collapse. Brazil’s production has not yet peaked but is unlikely to offset Venezuela’s decline. All other countries together are on a bumpy production plateau for the last 20 years.
Not buying new laptops saves a lot of money, but also a lot of resources and environmental destruction.
2020 was a year lived in fear—fear of the surprise arrival of a novel coronavirus, of not understanding it, of getting it, of watching a loved one get it—never being sure if they’d survive.
In fact, capitalism isn’t particularly about markets or selling things. This needs stressing over and over, because powerful narratives to the contrary repeatedly fool us into supposing otherwise.
Our society’s recovery from this disease should be centred on building more equal, resilient societies, where people in all parts of the world have access to both protection from the disease and access to research developments.
Tom Philpott has a book out that examines the impending crises in US agriculture caused by short-sightedness, a relentless profit motive, and the power of corporations over US farm policy.
About 40 years ago, Wes Jackson at the Land Institute in Salina, Kansas asked this radical question: Why can’t we have perennial grains? Since grains make up about 65% of worldwide calories, why not develop perennial versions?
That is why there is no room for love in capitalism. You cannot love a thing and at the same time be indifferent to its demise.
In this episode of “Podcast from the Prairie,” Wes Jackson and Robert Jensen discuss the role of religion, both in Jackson’s life and in our human future.
Rushkoff’s work explores how different technological environments change our relationship to narrative, money, power, and one another. Through this lens, he answers the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?”
