Staff

The need for growth

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Yesterday, a friend sent me over this graph, which shows the levels of carbon dioxide emitted by the USA over the last twenty years. As the accompanying report explains, it shows that 2009 was an “exceptional” year – exceptional in that emissions levels fell by more than they had fallen in a single year since 1949. The reason? The economic crash.

The post-apocalypse movies we’d like to see

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Hollywood could easily help people imagine a more realistic future, and there are many models they could use. Small-town America, Irish village life, post-war Britain, modern-day Mexico or India – since people in every time and place used and wasted less than we do today, almost any such model would probably look more like our future than the latest Zombie Apocalypse movie.

Is there rehab for this oil overdose? Black tar has just taken on a whole new meaning

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It’s been almost a month since the sirens of the Deep Water Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico lacerated the night with tortured warnings of impending doom. Chief electronic technician Mike Williams, who nearly perished in the catastrophe, recounted in excruciating detail on CBS’s 60 Minutes on May 16 the horror of that night and the appalling negligence that contributed to the worst human-made disaster in recorded history.

How green are the ‘childless by choice’?

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Laura S. Scott has surveyed and interviewed more than 170 people for her Childless by Choice Project. “I’m keenly interested in the process of decision-making,” she says. “How do we get from assuming parenthood for ourselves to the point where we’re saying, “No kids, thank you!’?” She shares what she’s learned in a new book, Two Is Enough: A Couple’s Guide to Living Childless by Choice, and in a forthcoming documentary.

Deepwater Horizon Could Result in 2nd Largest Oil Spill in History

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Sometime within the next two weeks the free-flowing Deepwater Horizon well could surpass the second largest oil spill in history. Indeed, if we assume the highest independently measured estimates of the leak’s flow rate, Deepwater Horizon may have already released 84% of the total petroleum that was dumped into the Gulf of Mexico by the Ixtoc I, a similar rig blow-out that occurred in 1979.

Exclusive interview: Chris Johnstone on inspiration, finding your power and Transition

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Chris Johnstone’s ‘Find Your Power’ has just been revised and republished, this time by Permanent Publications. ‘Find Your Power’ is a book that many peobple involved in Transition initiatives have found very useful. Chris is a medical doctor, an addictions specialist and an empowerment coach. He has pioneered the application of positive psychology within the NHS, and is renowned for his workshops and his talks to Transition groups.