Retrotopia: A Visit to the Capitol
“Excellent. I’ll offer just one correction: we haven’t succeeded as well as we have despite ignoring the economic advice of the World Bank and so forth. We’ve done so precisely because we’ve ignored their advice.”
John Michael Greer
Feeling the Elephant
Most people have heard the Indian tale about the blind men and the elephant.
Retrotopia: Inflows and Outputs
Our narrator visits a city power plant that runs on an unexpected fuel source and a stock market subject to even less familiar rules…
Globalization and Terror
To understand the rise of religious fundamentalism and ethnic conflict we need to look at the deep impacts of the global consumer culture on living cultures across the planet. Doing so allows us to better understand ISIS and similar groups, and see a way forward that lessens violence on all sides.
What Does Climate Change Look Like?
Extreme weather events will, of course, become more common as the planet warms. But the disruption and suffering of climate change will be largely hidden in the form of events like the war in Syria, the rise of extremists, even civil unrest like that of the “Arab Spring” which we, in the West, view favorably.
Keeping heat in and near your body in a cool residence
In which I look at how to eat, drink, move around, and use blankets and bedding to keep yourself warmer in winter.
The Patience of the Sea
America just now, after all, has more than a little in common with an October day in Ocean City.
Current trade treaties: “a revolution against law”
A respected human-rights expert at the United Nations, Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, has joined the global movement opposing trade treaties like TPP and TTIP. And he has novel and powerful legal arguments.
Retrotopia: A Question of Subsidies
It was an interesting ride, in an odd way.
Baubotanik: Botanically Inspired Biodesign
In Germany, architect Ferdinand Ludwig has incorporated the ancient process of tree shaping into urban design through Baubotanik, or Living Plant Constructions.
A Landscape of Dreams
One of the core themes of the Retrotopia narrative I’ve been developing here over the last month or so is the yawning gap between the abstract notion of progress that we all have in our heads and the rather less pleasant realities to which this notion has been assigned.
Review: The Sea Gypsy Philosopher by Ray Jason
The Sea Gypsy Philosopher is the first title to be released by Club Orlov Press, a small publishing company recently started by beloved peak oil author Dmitry Orlov.
