Chris Martenson

Bunkers ‘R not us: Correcting Boston Magazine’s take on this movement

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The irony here is that Boston Magazine intended this to be a positive piece on the impact of my message and the large audience it’s resonated with to-date. But in relying on easy “survivalist” stereotypes to frame the story (bunkers, Mad Max references, etc), they’ve succeed in missing the forest for the trees – conveying an image in polar opposition to what we actually stand for. … The most unfortunate thing about this is that Boston Magazine missed out on a really big story.

Could a new “Manhattan Project” produce radically new energy sources?

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Comparing the cost and results of the Manhattan and Apollo projects with that of US energy research since 1975 — it’s not a pretty picture. There is widespread confidence among Americans that we need not prepare for peak oil because a crash program will produce a breakthough solution. This appears unrealistic, unless we wish to trust our luck.

Back to our roots

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Last September I attended the Prairie Festival at The Land Institute in Salinas, Kansas. At the institute, Wes Jackson and his colleagues are undertaking one of the most important agricultural research projects in the world. They have gone back to first principles and are breeding new grain crops that are perennials rather than annuals…They have taken the long view.

Giving care

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For a whole host of reasons – demographic, economic, energy-linked and environmental, giving care is going to be a more important job in the future. More of us will have to care for one another, where institutions could once do so. More of us will have to rely on people we know, rather than our savings. More of us face the terrible fragility of those questions – who will care for me, how will I manage to care for them?

ODAC Newsletter – July 2

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Hurricane Alex, the first hurricane of the season, hampered the Macondo oil well disaster clean-up efforts in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday and resulted in the precautionary closure of 25% of crude oil production in the area. Reports indicate however that it didn’t cause any delay to the drilling of relief wells on which so much hope rests…

If thou wouldst what true freedom is thou shalt see it lies in… take the Big Society in good faith

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On the morning of the 18th of May, the prime minister and deputy prime minister held a meeting in the cabinet room of 10 Downing Street. This event – occurring as it did on the morning before Parliament re-assembled following a government-changing election – brought together state and community leaders to discuss the new coalition’s Big Society programme.

Merlin’s time

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People in the Dark Ages filled in the gaps in the very limited knowledge base available to them with the help of wizards and soothsayers. As we close in on a future for which most people are hopelessly unprepared, a new kind of wizard — a green wizard, adept in the forgotten arts of appropriate tech — may be one of the things that a deindustrializing world needs most.