Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
If we are to make by necessity or desire, a shift to a lower input society, it is necessary to take the lessons learned in other lower-input societies and ask the question: what are the major food security issues likely to be?
In the sphere of disaster recovery there is a term that we can expect to hear a lot in the coming months, even years — “build back better”.
The near-religious belief that economic growth depends not on energy and resources, but solely on increasing innovation, efficiency, trade, and division of labor, can sometimes lead economists to say silly things.
This week, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed one of the most progressive pieces of legislation for urban agriculture in the nation. The new legislation has amended the zoning code to allow agricultural activities in all parts of the city, as well as defining the parameters by which urban agriculturists can sell their products.
Despite soaring rhetoric and some promising proposals, President Obama is repeating the same mistakes that have doomed U.S. energy policy to failure for 40 years. Until Obama and Congress finally put a true price on the fossil fuels America consumes, the U.S. will continue its addiction to foreign oil and domestic coal.
One question that needs to be asked is – do the happiness proponents and their public spokespersons know what they’re doing?
– Peak oil special on ABC (Australia) with IEA’s Fatih Birol, Chris Skrebowski and Jeremy Leggett
– What’s Driving Gas Prices (interview with ex-CEO of Shell John Hofmeister)
– A short history of oil: 1900 to 2010
A recent investigation reveals that the world’s plants and animals have adopted a bold but risky strategy to save themselves from the ravages of global climate change. They have joined forces with the world’s climate change deniers.
Local initiatives like the Oakland Energy and Climate Action Plan aren’t enough to tackle the climate crisis. We need national and international regulations requiring deep, scientifically grounded emission reductions, and we need strict systems of enforcement. But before that can happen, people need to see that getting off fossil fuels isn’t a dour punishment. Done right, it can be a kind of gift. Oakland, once again, is leading the way.
A new law expected to pass in Bolivia mandates a fundamental ecological reorientation of the nation’s economy and society.
– Is the Tide Turning Against Arab Freedom?
– Lester Brown: This will be the Arab world’s next battle (water and population)
– Iraqi Oil: What is hidden inside the Oil Contracts from the 1st and 2nd Bid Rounds?
It’s funny to think now — in this odd time when our energy-surplus-fueled American lifestyles elevate us so dizzyingly high above the hand-to-mouth existence of ‘the beasts’ — that we will again soon join them. We will again be living our lives as close to the edge as a squirrel, a deer, a bear, a turkey, a raccoon.
