Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
When talking of security, we must first understand that security does not necessarily equate to military solutions. Community (or National) security includes many different aspects, the most significant of which are economics, diplomacy, information, and military power.
If we’re going to understand the problems that the modern megapolis will face in the coming decades, we need to look past the usual distinctions, to the design flaws that now lie behind not just suburbia but cities and even “rural” communities (a depressing number of which have been Walmartized).
Netherlands Plans Massive Road-Pricing Scheme
The transportation story at the heart of a history-making crisis
Traffic Accidents Top Cause Of Fatal Child Injuries
The passive house could play a major role in cutting energy consumption and offers the best way to radically alter our building practices.
Following on last week’s discussion of the lessons of evolution, the Archdruid explores the need for organic processes in preparing for the end of the industrial age, and the value of dissensus — the deliberate avoidance of consensus as a way to broaden options and foster creativity.
One widespread claim about the current crisis of industrial society holds that it sets the stage for an “evolutionary leap” into a more Utopian world. Does this hope make sense of our predicament, or does it simply wrap the borrowed prestige of Darwin’s theory around belief in a miracle?
Although I admire the Voluntary Simplicity movement, when I was asked to write about simplicity and the economy, I was at first stumped. I can certainly see the grace and benefits of living a simpler life. We already grow much of our food, buy most of our consumer goods used, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without,” try and keep our energy use down to below 1/5 of the average American’s, and depend heavily on community, barter and sharing. At first glance, although we’re Jewish, not ”Plain” our life evokes a simpler past with the wood cookstove that heats our house, the jars of home canned food, the milk goats and our carefully managed budget.
In the midst of a crisis there are always a ton of voices to listen to, highly qualified voices to give you an in depth analysis of current trends and economic forecasts. For my part, I just see the world through the eyes of the families I work with. Many of these families are scared at the moment, perhaps more scared than they’ve ever been.
Fuel lost while sitting in line?
Whatever happened to the hydrogen economy?
Boris Johnson axes London congestion charge extension
It seems that many of the peak oil heavyweights, including Richard Heinberg and Dmitry Orlov, in particular, despite their own ingenious contributions to analyzing our current predicament, seem to blithely dismiss survivalism. They apparently do not understand the basic technical constructs of survivalism…
From the village green to the village blue
Homes and offices should take ‘green MoT’, says thinktank
Wasted opportunities
Many proposed responses to the crisis of industrial society focus on drafting plans for a new society in advance. Is this as sensible as it seems, or do we need to approach the future before us in a more improvisational way?
