Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
As a gardener, Winter Solstice holds much more meaning for me than the conventional new year marker of January 1. Even here in Southern California’s year-round growing season, we observe the slowing of plant growth into semi-dormancy as the Solstice approaches. We witness the acceleration into new growth once the Solstice is past. Animals know it too — my chickens are resuming laying. The Winter Solstice is the crossover point, the planet’s annual marker of change.
– Which (Mid East) tyrant will fall next?
– Juan Cole: 2011 Revolutions and the End of Republican Monarchy in the Arab world
– Guardian: US military retains global reach, but role as world leader is gradually ending
– Immanuel Wallerstein: The United States versus Everybody
– Noam Chomsky: The Decline Of America (but no competitiors in sight)
A great many of those who insist that we can afford to ignore the head-on collision between industrial civilization and the limits of a finite planet justify that claim by talking about hope. As millions of people turn their eyes heavenward, waiting for the end of the Mayan calendar or some other prophesied event to bail humanity out from the consequences of three centuries of our own mistakes, it’s arguably time to ask whether everything that gets labeled “hope” deserves the name.
– A Village in Revolt Could Be a Harbinger for China
– Todd Gitlin on Occupy
– Eric Hobsbawm on 2011: ‘It reminds me of 1848…’
The conclusion of the 1972 Limits to Growth study by the Club of Rome still stands 40 years later. The environmental and social costs of increased production are growing faster than the benefits, increasing “illth” faster than wealth, thereby making us poorer, not richer.
An editorial written by members of Transition PDX regarding the draft Portland Plan, which is intended to guide the city’s development to 2035.
The story of the Empress Galla Placidia deals with such things as system dynamics, the fall of empires, resource depletion, controlling complex systems and, yes, also a little about Christmas.
Her story seems like the plot of an adventure movie. She started as a princess, then she was prisoner of the Goths, then she became their Queen, then she was again their prisoner.
In the 5th century, when she came to power, the Roman Empire had been running out of reactants. It had been growing on the profits made from military campaigns but, at some point around the 2nd century, it had reached its limits. With no more easy conquests in sight, the Empire had to live on its own resources and it never really learned how to do that.
During the 5th century, what an emperor (or empress) could have done was to give to the events just a little push in the right direction. Don’t fight the change, ease it. It is the way of pushing the levers in the right direction. Could Placidia have done just that? Incredibly, perhaps she did.
(Some posting continues … see below and to the right.) We will be taking some time off and posting lightly over the next week between Christmas and New Year.
Regular postings will resume on January 3, 2012. In the meantime, why not enjoy some of the many and varied articles that we have posted during the last year and review some of the highlights of 2011? (Maybe even have a peek at some editor’s picks?)
We’d like to take this chance to say a big thank you for all of your support. If it weren’t for our amazing community of readers, contributors, and supporters, we wouldn’t be here. Happy Holidays!
– Faces of Russia’s protest movement
– What If We Occupied Language?
– The ‘Arab spring’ and the west: seven lessons from history
– Occupy Y’All Street: Three Generations Try To Escape Poverty Through Occupy Columbia (South Carolina)
– Egyptian Military Advisor: Protesters Should “Be Thrown Into Hitler’s Ovens”
– Krugman: Will China Break?
– China’s epic hangover begins
– China’s top paper praises settlement of village dispute
– Greek woes drive up suicide rate to highest in Europe
– Fragments of a Defunct State (haves vs have-nots in Russia)
As people ask critical questions about more and more technologies at the very same time that Occupy Wall Street has drawn attention to the dangers of extreme economic inequality, the moment is perfect for a book like Techno-Fix: Why Technology Won’t Save Us or the Environment.
Some of you are aware that I have been working on a cooperative board game called Collapse! designed to help people learn and practice grassroots community-building and preparing locally for the various crises that may precede civilization’s collapse. I’ve finally got a first outline draft of the game, and decided to share it with the world before I go any further. Here are the rules and some images of the game equipment that I have developed thus far, along with a list of what I still have to do to complete the game’s development.
