I sat down for an interview with Scott Johnson of the Institute from my home in rural Ireland; we chatted about the Irish elders I’ve talked to, and how their close communities and traditional culture allowed them to survive crises like the bank strikes of the 1960s and 70s.
The Low Technology Institute, in Wisconsin, USA, researches ways of adapting to the difficult future we see ahead — they do a blog, podcast, and videos, and offer regular workshops and memberships, and they’re well worth your time
Top photo: Eviction scene in Ireland (ca 1888) by Robert French. The Lawrence Photograph Collection via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eviction_scene,_Ireland_(23426826123).jpg
Former newspaper editor Brian Kaller wrote his first magazine cover story on peak oil in 2004, and since then has written for the American Conservative, the Dallas Morning News, Front Porch Republic, Big Questions Online and Low-Tech Magazine. In 2005 he and his family moved to rural Ireland, where he speaks to schools and churches, and writes a weekly column for the local newspaper.
Tags: Ireland, traditional communities
Related Articles
'SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS wp_posts.ID
FROM wp_posts LEFT JOIN wp_term_relationships ON (wp_posts.ID = wp_term_relationships.object_id)
WHERE 1=1 AND wp_posts.ID NOT IN (3492035) AND (
wp_term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id IN (5,8988,9001)
) AND wp_posts.post_type = \'post\' AND ((wp_posts.post_status = \'publish\'))
GROUP BY wp_posts.ID
ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC
LIMIT 0, 3'
At the time, I was learning engineering methods for controlling systems and optimizing outcomes, powerful techniques that I thought could alone solve society’s mounting problems. But I quickly realized my team with Fathom was a system that belied ambitions of control.
We need a plan B. In case society starts to, erm, collapse… We need to be prepared…It won’t do to plan to WAIT til we win intellectual debates such as that around growth/degrowth before we get together to prepare…Theo Cox, Liam Kavanagh and Rupert Read outline their new OSF-funded report, just launched this week…
In this episode, Nate speaks with primatologist and author Dr. Christine Webb about human exceptionalism – the deeply embedded belief that humans are separate from and superior to the rest of nature. Webb argues this worldview is not a universal human trait but rather a product of a few dominant cultures, and that it lies at the root of many of our most pressing global challenges.
March 12, 2026
Become a monthly donor to ensure that articles, podcasts, and events stay free for everyone in our community.
