Managing Water Differently: Algeria Facing Hydrological Extremes
What if, in Algeria, water were no longer seen solely as a scarce resource to exploit or a threat to control, but as an ecological and economic capital to preserve and develop?
El Habib Ben Amara
The tyranny of beer
Even among those that seem to agree that this growth-addicted system is doomed to fail and collapse, there seems to be quite different perspectives on how fast that will happen. Equally important is of course how deep the collapse will be and what will collapse.
The end of 2025 must be the end of the inane rule of climate ‘optimism’
We should admit that widely-mandated climate optimism has been actively harmful to the needful acknowledgement of reality – and to the active collective self-protection that we now desperately need to get serious about making happen.
Mutual aid in motion: One participant’s story
Mutual Aid 101 taught me that success is not marked by a group’s size, nor its productivity; those are the vestiges of capitalism. It’s about community, collective decision-making, and taking care of each other, no matter how small the circle.
Winter Solstice 2025
I have seen many people, usually those under the influence of a belief in modern exceptionalism, claim that our ancestors were frightened of this time of darkness, that sacrifices were offered to sky gods so that the sun would rise again after the longest night of the year. To that I say: Nonsense!
The Future of Humanity’s Past: U.S. Archaeology Confronts a Research Hinge Point
Archaeology’s singular contribution to understanding people and their interactions with each other and the natural environment has always been its worldwide documentation of past lifeways over long time spans.
The challenge of food ecomodernism: a puzzle outlined
Ah well, the urgency of staving off as best I can the disaster capitalism that Philip Loring mentions keeps me going, even if it feels like a dispiriting and unequal battle sometimes. Cheers!
The Tehran snapshot
Climate abandonment can be avoided, or put off, in only so many cases. The culprits of this crisis may be water barons, but it is just one early punctuation point on a much longer, much steeper trendline.
Wresting Peace from the Polycrisis
Thus, adaptation to change is essential. We are in new, unfamiliar territory, and how we negotiate this is the challenge, or the journey’s course will be taken out of our hands.
Kali’s Totem: The Anthropocene
Considering all that is at stake, science would call this a quintessential Anthropocene moment. Kali’s dance will either awaken us from delusion to oceanic devotion, from destruction to all-inclusive mutual protection, or her merciless hand will turn us to ash.
End of Year Reflections: Four Years of The Great Simplification
In this week’s episode, Nate reflects on four years(!) of the podcast by answering listener-submitted questions, which cover a broad range of topics related to The Great Simplification.
A New Oilsands Pipeline? What Politicians Won’t Admit
Instead of floating grandiose export pipeline projects as solutions to a rising tide of problems, the Canadian government might want to change course.
