Year: 2012

Seneca’s cliff goes iPad

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I am certainly aware of the irony of porting a model for the simulation of economic decline to the flagship of techno-narcissistic consumerism, klickibunti self-distraction, and perpetual remote controlling of human resources. But, you know, the spirit speaks in many tongues.

There is certainly something to gain by playing with the model rather than merely studying formulas or staring at static graphs. Just like the Pythagoreans presumably played with pebbles to gain a feeling for the relation between triangles and squares, you may develop a feeling for the precariousness of stability and, perhaps, understand how inevitable and fierce a destiny is able to fulfill itself.

The parting of the ways

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Over the last few months, the effects of peak oil — and the broader predicament of industrial civilization — have become steadily more visible; over the same time period, claims that peak oil and the predicament of industrial civilization don’t matter, and everything is just fine, have become steadily more shrill. Counterintuitive though this relation of stimulus to response may seem to be, it’s anything but accidental, and may foretell a significant cultural shift in the offing. Despite a lack of psychic antennae, the Archdruid explains.

Climate hell and saving energy: A few words to the wise

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Einstein used to quip that you can’t solve a problem from the mindset that created the problem. “It shall require,” he said, “a substantially new way of thinking .” We’ll be lucky if our kids don’t put two and two together while we’re around. There are signs that they’ve already figured out that we’re screwing things up badly.

Little Boxes on the Hillside

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No developments evince joy in people. No one celebrates when green fields are torn up, trees are felled, creatures are driven out of their homes, and the little boxes chew up the green hills and shut out the view. No one likes it when Lego land encroaches on the familiar neighbourhoods, brings traffic and supermarkets and alienation in its wake. Although people do go and live in these places, nevertheless.

Survival of the fittest?

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The disabled and the elderly have been thrown onto the scrap heap by the current contraction, and the lack of empathy from the rest of Britain has been staggering – hate crime is up 75%, and for the first time since I’ve been in the UK I feel uncomfortable stepping out of my house with my cane. Invariably in debates online, when disabled people have tried to advocate for a return of dignity and independence, someone will quote “survival of the fittest” as a reason to discard disabled people, children, and pensioners who are unable to care for themselves. But is discarding the “useless eater” (as Germany put it in propaganda posters during the 30’s) a true sign of survival, or is it a further symptom of socio-collapse?

Peak oil – June 14

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-The future of oil prices – Chris Nelder
-World Economic Financial and Political consequences of the Post Peak Oil Era: Chris Sanders [video]
-‘Oil shock’ hitting consumer demand former Tesco CEO warns
-World oil reserves up 8 percent, supply fears persist

Food & agriculture – June 14

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-The future of ‘famine foods,’ unconventional edibles in the garden
-New report highlights absurdity of G20 stance on biofuels and food prices
-Super farms are needed in UK, says leader of National Farmers Union
-Retailers display appetite for tackling food waste
-How to Start an Urban Farm in a Post-Industrial City
-Graying farmers force Japan to rethink food system
-To Truly Fix Food System, the Farm Bill Should Restore Fair Markets

Is ‘conspicuous consumption’ destroying the earth? (book review)

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From the beginning, Climate and Capitalism has been devoted to “making the greens more red, and the reds more green.” So it was with great anticipation that I picked up a book that makes “a double appeal upon which the future success of everything depends: to ecologists, to think about social arrangements and power relationships; to those who think about social arrangements, to take the true measure of the ecological crisis and how it relates to justice.”

More on Plan C: A Clear, Actionable Platform for Those Who Care About Earth’s Future

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What can we, the people, do to create a political movement that has Plan C as its core economic platform? While it is radical, it is not at all difficult to do. Of course it will be opposed by the 1%, but why are we so afraid of that, and so cynical that any political group could stand up to the 1%?