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
Society
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.
Dysfunction – May 17
Obesity contributes to global warming
Why puberty at an ever-younger ages?
Environmental results of the Gold Rush
Not as green as they claim to be
Visible hands
As “The Long Emergency” begins to unfold, it’s becoming evident that we’re going to need to relearn to use our hands to do immediately useful work, become more self-reliant and less dependent on the marketplace to sort things out.
Dammed, displaced and democratized
As founder of the earthen building movement in Thailand, Jo Jandai has contributed much to the concept of living sustainably. … We later stopped at a mountain community that had formed in the wake of a ten-year protest. I had been intrigued by this band of villagers that had set up camp on the lawn of the elegant parliament building in Bangkok. The villagers had lost their homes due to a large dam project (funded by the World Bank) flooding their land.
Deep thought – May 16
A leftist critique of Transition Towns – review by Rob Hopkins
Malthus, the false prophet
Are there just too many people in the world?
Urban design & transport – May 16
Heinberg: Saying goodbye to air travel
Peak-oil spike reshapes the suburbs
Bicycles pedaling into the spotlight
Calculating commuting costs on Vancouver Island
Ready For anything (but reality)
Metals – May 14
Military cracks down on scrap-metal scavengers
Metal theft plagues troubled neighborhoods
Some homes worth less than their copper pipes
Copper theft could have been deadly
Preventing home copper-tubing theft
Steel once again a hot commodity
Transport – May 14
Paul Krugman: Stranded in suburbia
Nissan plans electric car in U.S. by ’10
Diesel cars – promises and problems
