Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The world of In the Mother’s Land is one of the few credible descriptions of what a realistic ecotechnic society could look like, and this description does ask hard questions about our future and our vision of it.
Over the coming few months I will be sharing with you the ongoing work in developing the patterns-based model of Transition that will form the centrepiece of the second version of the Transition Handbook, starting on Monday.
After spending two days on the Empire Builder, the long-haul Amtrak line from Chicago to Seattle/Portland, I quickly realized that our investment in trains should be readily and heartily embraced.
Tips for personal resilience from conversations I’ve had with indigenous people:
I may have left the impression in Part 3 that because Greer’s narrative is broader than Hopkins’, because it encompasses it, redescribes it, puts it into a wider context, because it doesn’t follow a simple and linear structure or have even a hint of a fairy-tale air about it—that because of all this it is superior or more realistic.
Being mindful of the word-pictures we paint for ourselves is good thinking, no matter where you fall on the Kübler-Ross scale. To tell you why, I will leave the cliff vs. crossroads analogy for now, and turn to something I know a little bit about: martial arts.
I’m a homeschooler, but it isn’t only homeschoolers that struggle with the question of how you frame our ecological situation for children in ways that are honest, not too frightening, engaging, and age-appropriate.
As Scotland asserts its identity and its autonomy, environmentalists are working to restore its denuded landscape – planting native forests, creating wildlife corridors, and reintroducing species that were wiped out centuries ago.
-Rail Freight Revolution – A Possible Solution to Europe’s Clogged Roadways
-Nottingham named England’s least car-dependent city
-Recap of the Better Block 2 (Dallas DIY street upgrade)
My voluminous fan mail has made me aware of a curious fact: many of my readers seem persuaded that the future is either Mad Max or Waterworld. As far as they are concerned, there just aren’t any other options. What’s more, some people have even tried to venture a guess as to which of the two it shall be by watching what I do. I live on a boat, and that is apparently an indication that the future must be Waterworld-like. But I have also been seen rattling around town on a rusty old motorcycle, and that is taken as an indication of a more Mad Max-like future.
I would like to see EcoReality serve as a pool of knowledge and resources that can out-live a long, slow decline as well as a quick, chaotic one. The former is actually much harder to cope with than the latter! Fear is certainly a bigger enemy than anything tangible that may come down the road.
(Group interview with John Steinman, as well as Rachel Kaplan, Catherine Walker, and Pride Wright of Daily Acts )
Many of us are discovering the joy of being able to make something ourselves, instead of just buying it. We know how a fruit grown from seed in our own yards tastes different than one purchased at a supermarket. We ascribe meaning to a gift beyond its material value and focus on the nature of the exchange itself.
