Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Chuck Collins’ new book “Altar to an Erupting Sun” may be fiction, but it poses a very topical, real-world challenge for readers: What’s the right way to act when facing an existential challenge like climate change?
Peter Turchin’s latest book, End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration, is receiving glowing reviews. Its message is highly relevant to our collective understanding of the emerging global polycrisis and what needs to be done to minimize it.
Godzilla and this film can both be seen as modern-day parables warning of the consequences of unchecked scientific hubris and heedless meddling with nature.
Increasingly, with the never-ending burning of fossil fuels, Ground Zero is no longer a single city of any sort, but this planet itself and, whether we’ve already found a third way to destroy ourselves (and so much else) or not, there is something awesomely ominous about our urge to destroy so much with our multiplying versions of fallout.
What makes Vermont so resilient? Undoubtedly, the most important thing is the people. This is a state of small towns and strong bonds.
These “culture war” laws don’t directly address climate. But unless they are struck down, they could permanently limit society’s ability to deal with the climate emergency.
12% of Americans live in California – but 30% of homeless Americans, and 50% of unsheltered Americans, call California “home.”
The idea of Land Back — a growing movement to return occupied land to the Indigenous people that it rightfully belongs to, often exists as a metaphor for us.
The role and success of governance and institutions in facing and meeting the challenges of the past unlock a treasure trove of information that just may guide us toward better futures.
I had a letter from a young reader last week, asking what I thought about concrete steps that we might be taking in place of what passes for activism in our present culture.
So let’s make Vermont everywhere. And Brooklyn. And Albuquerque. Let’s occupy our own lives wherever we are. And maybe, when we stop supporting the overburden, we can all work out how to build that hearth.
When confronted with a choice between building a society based on communitarian values or expanding to dodge the difficulties that would have entailed, the U.S. consistently chose imperial expansion.
