Act: Inspiration

From Copenhagen to Port-au-Prince

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This is the story of two very different cities. One is a city whose past is steeped in historic achievement, and recent failure. The other is a city whose horrific past has gotten desperately worse, but whose future… well, who knows? Though world’s apart, these places embody a common metaphor for an elusive global possibility.

Energy Transitions and the Next “Paradigmatic Image of the World”

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The history of modern humankind has undergone two major energy transitions, marked by the invention and development of agriculture and the discovery and exploitation of oil. The two energy transitions partition human history into three phases: hunter-gatherer, agricultural, and industrial. Faber et al. (1996) refer to these phases as “Paradigmatic Images of the World,” because they describe the common structure of societies throughout the world. The most important question is “what is the next paradigmatic image of the world?”

Tales from the riverbanks

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The transition to a sustainable economy requires that we lock horns with the beasts that stalk the corporate jungle, if only to replace their world of testosterone and risk with one of stability and mutuality, argues green economist Molly Scott Cato. So what can we propose as our vision for the banking system?

Family values

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Every debate has its blind spots and the one about community in peak oil circles is no exception. It is fascinating to see how little discussion there is about what is, after all, the most basic community in all human society : family. There are, of course, good reasons for that. Few among us have any sympathy for the family values crowd, a species unfortunately every bit as widespread and nefarious on this side of the Atlantic as on the other one and we certainly don’t want to be put in the same basket as they. This is however unfortunate, for, no matter how polluted it is by religious non-issues, the family question and its evolution is of the foremost importance if we want to make sense of the post-peak world.

Food & agriculture – Feb 12

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-Children ‘believe sheep lay eggs’
-Red wigglers could be the new black gold
-The GM tomato that stays fresh for SIX WEEKS – but would you want to eat it?
-India bans planting of first GM food crop
-Another Assault on the SOLE Food Movement
-Legislation intended to help orchard companies
-Demand for food “staggering”

Leading the way to a low-energy future

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My disappointment in government leaders is matched by my admiration for a new influential group of Americans, whom I call lifestyle leaders — those who take matters into their own hands, by building gardens, weatherizing their homes, getting rid of their cars… Believing this group may hold the key to the rapid dissemination of low-energy lifestyles, I conducted an online survey of 2,005 of them in late 2009.

Beyond Copenhagen – Now what?

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Are current corporate-dominated international institutions inadequate to the task of meeting the multiple planetary survival challenges they themselves have helped create?…Richard Heinberg of the Post Carbon Institute (postcarbon.org), talks about the factors contributing to the stalemate in the Copenhagen climate summit, the other ‘game ending’ challenges confronting the current economic system, and the bottom-up steps necessary to move to a post-carbon economy.

Deconstructing Dinner – Speerville Flour MIll

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The Speerville Flour Mill is a locally-owned and operated business in New Brunswick that has for over 25 years been supplying the Atlantic Provinces of Canada with local, organically grown grains and foods. The mill supports dozens of organic grain farmers in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. One of those farmers is Andrew Kernohan of Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. In September 2009, Deconstructing Dinner visited Speerville and Andrew’s farm while touring throughout the provinces.