Failing States, Collapsing Systems: Biophysical Triggers of Political Violence: Review
…[A]n unfortunate side-effect of the explosion of information that the Internet has provided us with is the even further erosion of the signal-to-noise ratio.
Society featured
Child Care Co-ops
Of all the problems facing parents, making sure our children have access to the highest quality childcare is one of the biggest. As studio members at Near Now…we have been working with #RadicalChildcare founder Amy Martin to research and prototype possible alternatives to current childcare provision.
Wattle and Daub
These days, you spend your life paying off a house, and even building a shed or animal shelter can be expensive…For thousands of years, though, people used a simpler technique that used nothing but natural, local materials.
The World as Representation
Too obsessive a fixation on that claim to authority, and the political and financial baggage that comes with it, could very possibly result in the widespread rejection of science across the industrial world in the decades ahead.
Placemaking for Peacemaking
Even though, by definition, public spaces are open and accessible to everyone, for refugees and immigrants they often become sites of danger and exclusion.
Richard Heinberg on ‘America First’
From a Transition perspective, a shortening of trade distances has to be a good thing, right? Bringing manufacturing back closer to where people live, thereby reducing carbon emissions, enabling more money to cycle within the national economy rather than globally? So far, so Transition… And yet.
All Change or No Change? Culture, Power and Activism in an Unquiet World, Part 2
It’s important to say at the outset that this is not about one story being in any simple way better than the other, let alone one being right and the other wrong. The point is that, by being able to contrast the two, we get a fuller understanding of the present moment than either could offer on its own.
Lebanon’s First Bike-Sharing Service Pops Up in Beirut
Due to a lack of robust public transportation infrastructure, residents of Lebanon’s capital city Beirut and the local government have launched a bike-sharing service to offer an alternative, sustainable transportation service.
Perched on the Wheel of Time
The conventional wisdom of our era insists that modern industrial society can’t possibly undergo the same life cycle of rise and fall as every other civilization in history; no, no, there’s got to be some unique future awaiting us—uniquely splendid or uniquely horrible, it doesn’t even seem to matter that much, so long as it’s unique.
Streets as Places, Before & After
Urb-i was founded initially by four urban designers. Dealing with urban projects, creating new quality public space was imperative to our projects, however we felt that we could not influence or change existing public spaces, which were relatively easy to transform into better spaces for people and not only car oriented. That is when we decided to create Urb-i.
On the Relation between Designing and Implementing in Permaculture – Part 1
In this second Making Permaculture Stronger inquiry, I consider the relationship between designing and implementing within current understandings of permaculture design process.
Reaching Trump Supporters with the Promise of Vision
If these were ordinary times, progressives might get away with casual images of our political opponents. Those who disagree “lack information,” or “remain prejudiced,” or are “gripped by an emotion like hate.” Reassured, we can return to informational outreach or protests or confrontations and hope that makes a difference.
