Toward an Architecture of Place: Moving Beyond Iconic to Extraordinary
We all realize that a “sense of place” is of fundamental value to people everywhere — in every city, every town, every neighborhood, and every culture, for all ages.
Society
The hour is darkest just before dawn: crisis as opportunity
As I look back from the year 2033, I would like to be able to tell you that the transition to our low-carbon society was smooth and rational. I would like to be able to tell you that, as a democracy, we shaped our nation with sensible, evidence-based decisions, and built a just and sustainable world through intelligent planning and bold leadership.
Postcard from the frontline: a Canadian family physician on peak oil
A Canadian family physician’s take on peak energy, peak food and peak population: "I became aware of peak oil five years ago, and since then I have been struggling to integrate this knowledge into my medical practice and family life."
The flight to the ephemeral
The unavoidable tradeoff between efficiency and resilience can be understood easily enough by considering an ordinary bridge. All bridges these days have vastly more structural strength than they need in order to support their ordinary load of traffic. This is inefficient, to be sure, but it makes the bridges resilient; they can withstand high winds, unusually heavy loads, deferred maintenance, and other challenges without collapsing.
Civil resistance as deterrent to fracking: Part One, They shale not pass
It’s win before you fight. Using an innovatively designed civil resistance campaign as a nonviolent deterrent, the people of Quebec have so far been successful in defending their land against hydraulic fracturing.
Fingers in the dike
Three dams are about to break, and in each case a calamity is being postponed—though not, in these cases, by the heroic digits of fictitious Dutch children.
Light posting
Due to editor vacation, there will be lighter than usual posting at Resilience.org from 1 to 10 October. Regular posting will resume on 11th October.
Tina Clarke on the Joys of Discovering Effective Collaboration
Are group problems the result of the “wrong” personalities? Or of communication problems? Or of lack of information or skills?
The Arrow of Evolution
If we know what traits can’t cross over this evolutionary boundary—a domineering and rapacious relationship with the earth, for instance—then what will replace them? What does a more evolved human look like?
When Ephemeralization is Hard to Tell from Catabolic Collapse
My main problem with the Jared Diamond/John Michael Greer/Jim Kunstler theory of “catabolic collapse” is that it ignores one of the most central distinguishing characteristics of our technology: ephemerality.
David 5, Goliath 0 (and Counting)
In one multi-billion dollar mega-project after another, David is standing up to Goliath—and winning.
Which Way Is Heaven?
The religious sensibilities I’ve been discussing in recent posts here on The Archdruid Report have an interesting property: they’re hard to define with any degree of precision, but remarkably easy to recognize in practice.
