Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Sandy Smith-Nonini While climate change has dropped out of the news in our new corona-verse, in this column I argue that the COVID crisis is indeed a climate crisis, and that the United States needs a Green New Deal approach if we are to reopen our economy safely, without incurring waves of new COVID-19 infections that will force future lockdowns.
Covid is giving us a golden opportunity to grow a bit more beyond “my way or the highway” – whichever side of whatever wall you are on. Hopefully this crisis will be like a teething ring, giving teeth to our ideal of liberty and justice for all.
When major systemic events like this occur, are they singular in nature or do they combine with existing forces? One of the best prehistoric case studies is the ‘Bronze Age Collapse’ which occured in the decades of approximately 1150 BC.
If you know something about Basic Income, you may be aware that one of the first proposals for a Basic Income came from Thomas Paine, hero of the American and French revolutions.
No anarchist should be surprised that the government has failed us during this time of crisis. But every anarchist should be given hope by the selfless actions of individuals and communities in this time of need. The lesson is clear. We can, and should, provide for ourselves. Now, where did I put that spade?
The global demand for oil is expected to be down by nearly 30 million (or maybe even 40 million) b/d in April, according to the latest estimates. Some forecasts still optimistically assume that demand will bounce back in the second half of the year in a “V-shaped” recovery.
“Eco Vista” was the name chosen in 2017 by a group of students at the University of California, Santa Barbara acting together with long-time community members to describe their vision of turning their rather unusual community of Isla Vista into an ecovillage in the next ten years. Unusual because 23,000 people live together in an area of just .54 square miles, with eighty percent of them between the ages of 18 and 24.
Rob, Jason, and Asher explore why squelching discussions about limits might actually backfire and fuel ecofascist views instead, while wrestling with some of the skeletons in the environmental movement’s closet.
For years, normality has been stretched nearly to its breaking point, a rope pulled tighter and tighter, waiting for a nip of the black swan’s beak to snap it in two. Now that the rope has snapped, do we tie its ends back together, or shall we undo its dangling braids still further, to see what we might weave from them?
The finances of the oil and gas industry are so dismal that the major banks that have funded the money-losing fracking boom are now exploring taking the unusual step of taking over the oil companies that cannot afford to pay back the banks’ loans.
These are simple things with only a few steps. The microbial communities are robust and resilient, so they can be neglected for days or weeks and then brought back to life. They yield more than one product we find useful. In short, perfect ferments for beginners.
What better time to step back and consider alternatives, to review those hidden assumptions about success, happiness and work-life balance, and to do some of the deep thinking that philosophy is famously known and occasionally ridiculed[2] for?
