The Anti-Ecology of Money

Central to the crisis of our time is a rarely recognized mismatch between the economy of tangible goods, on the one hand, and the economy of money on the other. Nonfinancial goods are available in limited supply, but financial goods are limited only by demand – a source of positive feedback that makes timely response to the limits of the real world almost impossible.

Life in a dead culture

Authenticity comes when your thoughts, your words, and your deeds have some relation to each other. It comes when there’s a real organic relationship between the way you think, the way you talk, and the way you act. You have to fight for authenticity all the time in this world, and if you don’t fight for it you will get derailed. But when you have it, when you feel that surge of recognition—that I’m saying exactly what I’m thinking, and I’m ready to do something about it—well, that’s an intellectual and emotional orgasm that makes sex look like nothing.

Is business-as-usual likely in a peak oil scenario?

If world oil production peaks, I predict most people will forget about terrifying business-as-usual climate scenarios. Instead, they will get down to the hard business of replacing oil by any means possible. If the economy is shrinking, any means necessary will be used to jump start growth. I am not so much interested in what should happen. I am interested in what will happen.

The big question

Every human prefers the present over the future. And, that’s as it should be. One can’t live for the future if one fails to protect oneself from destruction or ruin today. This balancing act is one that every person concerned with sustainability is called upon to endure

The Two Sides of An Organic vs. Chemical Story

The photo of stunted corn tells why grain farmers don’t like trees in their fence rows. Don’t like fence rows at all, in fact. The trees suck the moisture away from crops, as you can see. But what’s going on here? The corn in the other photo, just across the fence, growing the same distance from the same trees, is tall and healthy. Why aren’t the trees robbing moisture from this corn?