Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
That’s not a typo in the title. Emergy is a term coined by famed energy and ecology researcher Howard Odum. An analysis underpinned by the emergy concept explains why importers of Canada’s natural resources such as crude oil, natural gas, unfinished wood, grains and metal ores are getting a bargain as much of Canada’s emergy endowment is given away for free.
Book Review: The Transition Timeline
Insights on Resilience from the Recent History of Totnes. 1: Back garden food production
Tooting Catches Carnival Cash
This morning as I was gathering news for Truth to Power’s Daily News Digest, I opened Sharon Astyk’s blogspot, one of my very favorite, to find her caustic commentary on the death and funeral of Michael Jackson. As her comments distilled in my mind and body, I realized that I have even more to say about this cultural phenomenon-no desire to say it better than Sharon because who could (?), but hopefully to embellish her inimitable incisiveness.
While living modestly, these peoples’ lives were filled with sumptuous dreams they worked to transform into reality. While they certainly suffered from bouts of frustration and dismay over the years, none of these greats surrendered to what we call today ‘political burn-out’—or worse, just plain jadedness. … If environmental activists evaluate their work in terms of immediate efficacy and pragmatic ‘do-ableness’, they often collapse after five to ten years (sometimes far less) under the weight of abject disappointment. They resent themselves, their movements, and the world, for not changing fast enough.
The dark, wet days of early summer in the northeastern U.S. are fitting for how it seems many are feeling these days. As we’ve transitioned into a new season on the calendar, the weather hasn’t followed suit. And as we’ve entered a new era after the economic crash of 2008 and the looming threats of climate change and peak resources, much of the world speaks not of these issues but guardedly anticipates a return to normalcy [sic]. I don’t believe that’s going to happen.
The long-term consequences of young children already taking their gaze away from living people and constantly-changing nature to look down into and be captured by static machines concerns me. Who benefits and what is lost? What is appropriate technology use? What induces obsessive/compulsive/addictive behavior?
For a European website I attempted to write a concise, blunt assessment of our ecological predicament in hopes that perhaps at least one person of influence might read and understand what I believe we face: “We are in overshoot. Failure to recognize this fact and act on it will ultimately condemn humans worldwide to nature’s cure for this condition: collapse.”
Sharon concludes: “All that matters is that the work gets done, as well as possible, that the floods are as small as we can make them, and that the suffering is as little as possible. That’s honestly all I care about.” Indeed. That is the task to which we all dedicate ourselves, whatever we choose to call this work.
Handwork is not and should not be a gendered province – all of us have time when we must sit and listen, or time when we want to converse. As times get more stressful, we may find that we have more of this time, not less – for all that we have more work to do when we must make do with less money and energy, we also often have more of this time. That is, unemployment, a more seasonal life, less television, fewer nights out and fewer long car trips may mean more reasons to sit, and be quiet together. If the power does go out, or get too expensive, handwork makes the evening hours productive, artistic, graceful – and the movement of fingers enables conversation.
The Amish ran privately-owned family farms for centuries until the latter part of the 20th century when they began taking jobs off the farm where they made good money, but many also became seduced by consumerism. They gradually spent more money, allowed themselves some of the conveniences previously shunned in order to live more simply, and found themselves caught up in spending more money and buying things they didn’t need … One Amish man comments on the need to return to basics: “We were all going way too fast. This has made everybody stop and realize we’re just pilgrims here…”
We can still hope for unprecedented cooperation to manage the coming decline. But Jay Hanson (dieoff.org) may be right that if that cooperation doesn’t emerge, we may be faced with a decision about making preparations for an all-out and probably violent scramble for the world’s remaining resources–a contest in which a disciplined, cohesive and militarized society has the best chance of survival. Is he missing a viable third or fourth way?
Bike carts, sailboats, Convergence, and the naked (bike ride) truth
Sailing vegetables in Puget Sound
Time to take the gloves off with Obama
Germany at a more real climate crossroads
