Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The entire country of Greece is currently facing economic ruin…Right now, Greece’s debt is bigger than it’s economy. That should sound pretty familiar to readers in the United States…As Greek political leaders toss around the pros and cons of a European bailout of their country’s entire economy, the people of Greece have found their own cashless way to cope.
Last week’s post on the problematic nature of binary thinking went out of its way to sidestep the most explosive of the binaries in contemporary industrial culture: the binary between society as it is and society as we want it to become.
That’s become a hot issue in the news of late, and a significant part of that unfolds from the presence of the Occupy protests in various downtowns. There’s a complex magical context to that fact. The vast majority of Americans these days believe that something has gone very wrong with their country, but there’s nothing like a national consensus about what has gone wrong, much less how to fix it. By chance or design, the Occupy movement has capitalized on this by refusing to be pinned down to specific demands or specific critiques, mounting a protest in which protest itself is the central content. Tactically speaking, this is brilliant; it’s created a movement that anyone with a grievance can join.
– Vandals hijack Occupy Oakland protests
– 99 Percenters stop ‘Black Bloc’ vandals from trashing grocery store
– Self-Policing: Another Part of the Occupy Story We’re Not Getting
– Occupational Hazards
– So Goes California, So Goes the Nation?
– OWS – What We’ve Been Waiting For
-US to require details of fracking on federal land
-When Transition meets fracking, and wins. The story of Transitions Cowbridge and Llantwit.
-Exclusive: Fracking company – we caused 50 tremors in Blackpool – but we’re not going to stop
-Fracking protesters storm shale gas exploration site
In two previous articles, I detailed seven of 10 ethical challenges Canada faces given the way it is exploiting the oil sands…I wrap up here with the final three.
How our economy will be organised in the future relies heavily on how our future economists understand the world and its workings, as well as their values. Economics education is obviously, therefore, of fundamental importance. The movements to reform economics education, shifting it from the realm of theology into one of pluralism and genuine debate, have been followed with interest by this blog.
Sonoma County can have both green energy and lower rates. The key is to focus on building local solar, wind, geothermal, and other renewable resources, and focusing on making all aspects of the energy system, from generation to con sumption, more efficient.
A midweekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
-Nuclear troubles
Once upon a time, no one imagined that an American world of home ownership and good jobs, of cheap gas and cheaper steaks, would ever end. Nonetheless, it was kneecapped over the last few decades and it’s not coming back. Not for you or your children, no matter what happens economically. So don’t kid yourself: whether you know it or not, young as you are, you’re in mourning, too, or Occupy Wall Street wouldn’t exist. Unlike the Tea Party, however, you are young, which means that you’re also a movement of the unknown future, which is your strength.
As participants in the Occupy Wall Street movement continue protesting the record profits made by banks bailed out by taxpayer money, a group of grassroots activists are hitting America’s largest banks—including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo—where it hurts most: the wallet. Dubbing this Saturday, Nov. 5 as “Bank Transfer Day,” activists are urging people to move their money out of the banks deemed “too big to fail” into local community banks and credit unions.
Could this film play an important role in turning our culture in a new, positive direction? I’m driven to try.
The debt we accumulate as individuals, companies and governments is instrumental in depleting the planet and deepening the rich-poor divide. This “value-led” critique is powerful and compelling to those wishing to listen, but it is not enough, of itself, to procure any meaningful systemic/ structural change in the monetary regime. We need to communicate widely about the side-effects of debt-based money, and to help people to imagine non-debt based alternatives.
