Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Kurt Cobb We modern folk are in a bind. We embrace what the sciences and the technology that flows from them have to offer, but we refuse to believe that we live in the world described by those very sciences. Here I’m not merely talking about climate change deniers who, of course, fit this description.
It defies our normal modes of thinking that natural entities such as trees, rivers, mountains, lakes, and glaciers should be given legal standing in courts and public life. And yet we take as a matter of course the legal rights of other inanimate entities.
Conversations that seek genuine understanding by all sides ultimately require a common frame of reference. If we aren’t talking about the same things, how can we understand one another? We usually refer to this as talking past one another. Sometimes this happens because we haven’t taken the time to understand what our conversation partner is … Read more
Why are the Saudis content to allow oil prices to remain this low and possibly drift lower? I believe it’s because their war on shale never ended; they mean to destroy the long-term financial viability of oil from shale deposits–and that job won’t be finished until investors say, “Never again!”
In his book “The End of Normal” economist James Galbraith makes a compelling case that our search for a return to the fast rate of economic growth experienced in the United States from 1945 to 1970 has led to fraud–fraud enabled by government actions that sought to “free the economy” from the shackles of “overregulation” and update the regulatory framework to meet “new challenges” such as globalization.
Americans may not be as dependent on natural gas as the Dutch. But they have rushed into their own torrid love affair with natural gas and lost sight of the fact that affairs which start out torrid are the same ones that tend to flame out quickly, surprising everyone with their sudden demise.
A foolish energy policy gives away Australian energy resources at bargain prices to foreign countries, according to critics.
Those who can imagine the worst ought to be regarded as prudent planners rather than overwrought Cassandras. After all, Cassandra turned out to be right. Her curse was that no one would believe her.
The wall signifies a desire to reduce the number of newcomers and to preserve a way of life that is threatened economically and culturally by the globalism embraced by the country’s bi-coastal elites. Stop the invasion of newcomers and you will stop the forces bearing down on a threatened way of life in flyover country; so goes the visceral logic.
As a new administration takes over in Washington, both houses of Congress and the presidency will be in the hands of one party. As it turns out, that party, the Republicans, want to curtail the protections of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Many Republicans complain that the act hinders ranching, logging, oil and gas exploration and water projects.
My father likes to say that some people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. The same could be said of the neoliberals of the world, who–in case you missed my previous piece–are now transcendent in most policy circles across the world.
If you care about sustainability, if you care about social stability, if you care about the poor, the power you are up against is the neoliberal ideology as expressed on both the right and the left. If you don’t understand that, then you will end up shadow boxing against a shadowy and ill-defined opponent.
