People get ready – May 25
Kunstler in Washington Post: “Wake up, America. We’re driving toward disaster”
Ben Stein in NYT: “Running out of fuel, but not out of ideas”
Energy fears looming, new survivalists prepare
Society
Co-founder of sustainable design movement illuminates our uncertain futures
The Australian co-founder of the permaculture concept David Holmgren has today launched a new global scenario planning website, Future Scenarios. Holmgren says his future scenarios will help both policy makers and activists come to terms with the end of the era of growth. “The simultaneous onset of climate change and the peaking of global oil supply represent unprecedented challenges for human civilisation. Each limits the effective options for responses to the other,” writes Holmgren.
Gas prices got you down? Conference explains it all
If your jaw still is on the ground after paying $4.19 for a gallon of gas, an upcoming conference in Michigan is calling your name.
Environment – May 23
Study: climate inaction could cost trillions
Oceans turning acidic decades earlier
A sea of synthetic trash
China’s energy and environment (interview)
Air travel – May 23
Airlines face battle for survival
9 airlines face threat of a credit downgrade
Airlines and alternative fuel
Byron King: Silent spring for aviation
Cultural Conservers
Among the most challenging dimensions of the crisis of industrial civilization is the task of preserving its immense cultural heritage into a future where today’s technologies of communication and information storage will likely no longer be available. The emergence of cultural conservers — individuals who make the preservation of some part of our cultural heritage a personal mission — offers one option for dealing with this challenge.
Energy producers – May 20
Bush to Arab nations: You’re running out of oil
Russian energy chief urges gas export rethink
Saudi Arabia: The king versus the radicals
Chasing solutions – May 20
Jamais Cascio: How many Earths? (the real key to sustainability)
Chasing utopia, family imagines no possessions
Symbols can overshadow substance
Get ready to rethink what it means to be green
Gasoline, oil prices focus of Michigan sustainability conference
“A good place to learn about peak oil, energy conservation, energy efficiency, global warming—get it all in one spot.” (U.S. Rep. Vern Ehlers) The conference is scheduled for Friday, May 30, through Sunday, June 1 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Suburbia and cars – May 20
Paul Krugman: Stranded in suburbia
Jamais Cascio: The suburban question
The American car culture is running out of gas
Don’t buy that new Prius! Test-drive a used car instead
To teens in the first decade of the 21st century
While hard work and discipline are essential to the successful life, true success is not in an award, or bank account balance. It’s in the number of real friends you have, and intangibles such as your ability to enjoy life in deep and profound ways, and to have stood for something far greater than your own comfort, convenience, and bank account.
The same new ideas
A crucial role in shaping the future will be played by cultural conservers – individuals who choose to take on the task of learning and preserving some part of the cultural legacy of the past, and passing it on to the future.
