Sharon Astyk

Regulating the disaster

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We still don’t have the faintest idea how much oil is spewing out of the well in the Gulf. Nor do we have the faintest idea what the full environmental consequence of what may well be the biggest single-event human-caused. ecological disaster of all time (the very fact that I have to add the word “single-event” to that statement should tell you something). We know that it is almost certainly more than all the low estimates to date, and we know that the ecological consequences will be huge, lasting and we do not understand them.

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.

British Petroleum vs. a sustainable planet: time to ban BP from doing business in the United States

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British Petroleum (BP) portrayed itself this past decade as an oil company investing in renewable sources of clean energy for a “Beyond Petroleum” future. BP had many people convinced that it was a very different kind of oil company, but the catastrophic spill this spring in the Gulf of Mexico is shedding light on the true nature of this transnational corporation.

Saving the casino: America’s economic recovery strategy

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There is a much larger casino operating in the United States. It variously goes by the name banking, stock and bond investing, commodities speculation, asset-backed securities, and myriad instruments classified as derivatives which get their value from some underlying security or commodity. So much of this casino-like activity is now embedded in the American economy that the so-called FIRE sector–finance, insurance and real estate–makes up more than 20 percent of the gross domestic product as of 2008 and 31 percent of corporate profits in 2009 excluding real estate.

Eight principles of uncivilisation

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We live in a time of social, economic and ecological unravelling. All around us are signs that our whole way of living is already passing into history. We will face this reality honestly and learn how to live with it. …. This age of collapse – which is already beginning – could also offer a new start, if we are careful in our choices.
[Manifesto of a new group of writers, artists and thinkers in the UK]

Open letter: How to get to 350ppm

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In your widely publicized May 2010 letter to Bill McKibben, you ask for specific strategies to achieve a global CO2 reduction down to 350ppm. Here’s how, from the United States arm of the international Transition movement:

  1. Understand the full magnitude of the problem.
  2. Think “radical system change.”
  3. Plan for resilience.
  4. Begin the Transition today.
  5. Use teamwork.

It’s the end of the world (as we know it)

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This article concisely summarizes most of what has been discussed in Energy Bulletin over the past few months regarding Peak Oil. Reading all this news, I realized we are now actually facing The End of The World (As We Know It). I struggled for awhile with how to write about this. Despair is not the answer.

Virtual living

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No mass media is as pervasive or intrusive as the American one. Now that we’ve stopped making stuff, more or less, we’re still super prolific at selling our own image. This hypnosis works even on Americans, who should know better. But we don’t live here so much as inside media. The average American watches four hours of television a day, listens to constant music, and there’s also the internet with its Facebook, texting, twitter and email, etc, to distract him.

Barbarian invasions

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Many authors have predicted the energy descent will result in mass migrations, leading to large scale population replacement. John Michael Greer has thus stated he considered an Arab conquest of Europe as a distinct possibility… There is certainly an American bias here. America certainly experienced a large scale population replacement in the last three centuries, with natives being progressively swamped out by immigrants from the other side of the sea. This hasn’t happened in Europe for five millenniums.