Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Staff – The Economist: Leaderless, consensus-based participatory democracy and its discontents
– Intellectual Roots of Wall St. Protest Lie in Academe
– Athenian Democracy
– A brief history of consensus decision-making (Quakers and pirates)
– Naomi Wolf:The First Amendment and the Obligation to Peacefully Disrupt in a Free Society
– New York Times: The Arctic and the Lessons of the Gulf
– Sen. Murkowski: U.S. Must be a Leader in Offshore Oil Production
– Putin’s Russia will lead a ‘new era of Arctic industrialisation’
My grandfather loved to gamble. So, it is no surprise that my father likes to gamble. I confess that even I enjoy the occasional challenge of facing an opponent when both us have a little skin in the game. But my grandfather–who didn’t always follow his own advice–gave my father some advice which he has taken seriously and passed on to me, to wit: Don’t gamble with the grocery money.
– Twenty-four hours at Occupy Wall Street (video)
– Occupy: protesters in their own words (slideshow)
– Everything The Media Told You About Occupy Wall Street Is Wrong (photo essay)
– Ugo Bardi: The Club of Rome is back
– UN report: Population of world ‘could grow to 15bn by 2100’
– Independent (UK): Western nations are now ripe for revolution
– New Scientist: Study reveals – the capitalist network that runs the world
– How to cook a pacific #revolution (from Spain)
– Consensus (Direct Democracy @ Occupy Wall Street)
– #occupywallstreet general assembly facilitation
– Quick guide on group dynamics in people’s assemblies
– HowToCamp / HowToOccupy
– Ketchup’s description (via Chris Hedges)
– How Occupy Wall Street Really Got Started
– From Protest to Disruption: Frances Fox Piven on Occupy Wall Street
– What ‘Diversity of Tactics’ Really Means for Occupy Wall Street
– Could the Occupy Movement’s General Assemblies Replace Today’s Parliaments and Legislatures?
– What can OWS learn from a defunct French avant-garde group? (Situationists)
– Video of modern dance piece inspired by John Michael Greer’s The Long Descent
– Design for an amphibious house enables occupants to cope with rising water levels in Thailand
– Drive a Car in the City? Time to Embrace Bike Infrastructure
– Design with the Other 90%: Cities
Depending on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for 90% of the growth in global oil production between now and 2020 seems unwise. What the world really needs is a rising supply of low-priced oil, if we are to avoid long-term recession. But MENA is unlikely to supply this. The Middle East claims huge oil reserves and Iraq offers high production targets, but in the end, we are likely to be kidding ourselves, if we believe that these will fix world oil problems.
In its purest form, politics in a democracy is about the contest for power. The best ideas don’t always win, nor do the most deserving candidates or causes. It is the side that organizes the best and mobilizes its voters most effectively that carries the day and takes power.
This is a lesson we learned in 1981, and it is lesson that is being learned in the Arab Spring states of Tunisia and Egypt where elections will soon decide which side initially takes power and reaps the benefits of the popular mobilizations that led to the downfall of the regimes that governed for decades.
We don’t talk much about what we do for a living in Transition. So today I was going to write about the “real world” work some of my fellow Transitioners are engaged in, about being a cook, or market gardener or librarian. Then I thought: why am I not writing about myself trying to make a sustainable livelihood from writing?
– There Will Be Oil, But At What Price?
– Alms for the Rich: How policies meant to promote alternative energies are actually hurting the middle class
– What Will Turn Us On in 2030? Fossil fuels vs ???
– Australia beats them all – in oil imports
