Spain’s Irish Spring
“Spain is now as forked as Ireland. It not only has all the problems of a crumbling paradigm–the religion of endless growth–but it has elevated the high priests of that paradigm to its seats of power.”
Albert Bates
In The World After Abundance
Most discussions of the future of electric power start from the assumption that maintaining a grid of the modern kind, designed from top to bottom around ample supplies of cheap fossil fuels, is the only option there is. It’s long past time to revisit that notion. Are our current ways of electricity production, distribution, and use merely the extravagant habits of a temporary age of excess, and what might an appropriate system for producing and using electricity look like in an age of scarcity?
The Simpler Way perspective on the global predicament
For more than fifty years there has been gradually accumulating an overwhelming case that the global predicament is a) far too deep to be remedied without abandoning the fundamental structures, systems, world views and values of consumer-capitalist society, b) is being generated by those foundational structures and commitments, and therefore c) can only be solved by transition to a very different kind of society…
ASPO-USA Asks: “What Are We Missing?” – Part 2
There are so many challenges facing us as a result of Peak Oil and related issues that it is easy to miss something important. ASPO-USA asked more than 50 leaders on Peak Oil to share what they felt was the most critical issue we’ve all been missing>, the thing every one of us should be talking about – but aren’t. The answers were eye-opening, and have started a discussion that continues. This is the second in a three part series.
The China Bubble: Demographics: Old/Young, Rich/Poor, Urban/Rural
One of China’s leaders’ biggest fears, expressed repeatedly in public pronouncements, is that the nation will grow old before it grows rich (Japan, in contrast, got rich before it grew old).
The perennial imperative: Breaking the land-abuse spiral of annual agriculture
As the primary energy source for human civilization, annual crops are an inappropriate technology. We can’t HELP but misuse them, and the consequences of their inevitable misuse are dreadful, essentially permanent, and morally unforgivable. We must find a better way.
Off the pedestal: creating a new vision of economic growth
The idea of economic growth as an unquestioned force for good is ingrained in the American psyche. But a longtime environmental leader argues it’s time for the U.S. to reinvent its economy into one that focuses on sustaining communities, family life, and the natural world.
Vandana Shiva x3
In this interview for CSSC Encounters, Dr. Vandana Shiva gives the history of her engagement and explains the situation we are in now, facing a new fascism as corporations and governments merge. Still, she is always using an optimistic tone, in spite of corporate grabs of our common heritage, the natural world — a world caught in a system where the ecology and the economy are fierce enemies, when they should have been best friends. How to reunite them? Vandana gives the answer, through true community! (plus two more talks).
Peak oil review – May 31
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-China
-Venezuela in the news
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
A Pigpen for the Backyard
Loose talk about pigpens in the yard will send the blood pressure soaring in the veins of local zoning officials, if not your neighbors. It’s perfectly all right in our culture to keep a dog half the size of a cow in the yard, letting it bark all night and running all over town dropping manure in its wake. But a quiet, clean hog producing something useful like pork chops? Heaven forbid.
From the bottom up – A DIY guide to wicking beds
Wicking beds are a unique and increasingly popular way to grow vegetables. They are self-contained raised beds with built-in reservoirs that supply water from the bottom up – changing how, and how much, you water your beds. In this article, we’ll talk about how wicking beds work and why we love them. We’ll also show you some great examples and leave you with ideas and instructions for creating your own.
Weather will never be weird enough to end climate denial
Since the failure of cap-and-trade in Congress last year, many environmentalists have despaired of success in politics until a really destructive natural disaster wakes up Americans to the reality of climate change. This year’s tornadoes, floods and droughts in the US sure seem to fit the bill for climate disaster. But if you’re expecting any kind of national turnaround on the climate discussion, you’re underestimating the power of the big polluters who spread denial.
