Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Richard Heinberg Post Carbon Institute’s Richard Heinberg briefly summarizes some of the major environmental and societal crises humanity (and other species) faces as the consequences of a fossil-fueled, growth- and consumption-based capitalist economy that’s been built on the exploitation of people and the planet.
Ecologists have been telling us that “small is beautiful” since the 1960s, but trends have gone in just the opposite direction, resulting in the flourishing of the Superorganism. Nobody designed this vast, intricate web of global interconnectedness, and no one can control it.
If we are indeed in an overshoot phase, we must do what we can to avert or minimize a die-off event.
Power is essential; without it, we would be literally powerless. But one can have too much of a good thing. How much power is enough? How much is too much?
With fossil fuels and electrification, and thus greater mobility and instant communications, we have indeed become a human “hive.”
Whether in family, school, work, or politics, we’re all immersed in the pathologies of power. If we’re lucky, we learn to navigate these waters without being harmed irreparably, and without harming others. Many are not so fortunate.
The power to communicate aesthetic pleasure and thereby to feel profound affinity with other people, including individuals of other species, propel human culture forward in ways that are hard to measure, but that are impossible to ignore. These are powers that provide hope for our future.
There are probably downsides to humans’ specialized powers (extreme intelligence, a highly developed ability to communicate, and proficient tool use). We humans tend to emphasize the advantages of these traits, but it’s always important to look for hidden costs.
Climate Sabotage with Tim DeChristopher (Season 3 – February 24, 2022) Stop Saving the Planet with Jenny Price (Season 3 – January 26, 2022) Holiday Guide for the Perplexed (Season 3 – December 15, 2021) It’s All Paradox with Douglas Rushkoff (Season 3 – November 24, 2021) Oceans of Knowledge with Sylvia Earle (Season 3 … Read more
One might think that everything that could possibly be written on the subject of power already has been. There are thousands of tomes that discuss subjects related to power in one or another of its many manifestations, and hundreds with the word power in their titles. But no book that I’m aware of has systematically examined the sundry forms of power, and investigated how they are related, how they arose, and what they mean for us today.
Green Dreamer with Jason Bradford (Season 2 – September 14, 2020) The Practical Stoic with Richard Heinberg (Season 2 – August 10, 2020) Decolonizing the Mind with Sherri Mitchell (Season 2 – July 13, 2020)
Futures posted their first back-to-back weekly loss since April’s rout with the end of the summer driving season and concern about OPEC’s production compliance weighing on prices.
