Staff

An introduction to green governance

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It is our premise that human societies will not succeed in overcoming our myriad eco-crises through better “green” technology or economic reforms alone; we must pioneer new types of governance that allow and encourage people to move from anthropocentrism to biocentrism, and to develop qualitatively different types of relationships with nature itself and, indeed, with each other. An economics and supporting civic polity that valorizes growth and material development as the precondition for virtually everything else is ultimately a dead end—literally.

ODAC Newsletter – June 1

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Fears that Spain may be heading for a bailout, weaker than anticipated US growth, and signs that China is not about to embark on any major fiscal stimulus saw oil prices drop again sharply on Wednesday. May has now seen the biggest monthly oil price drop since December 2008. Should the decline continue we will soon be in territory which makes the marginal, more costly to produce barrel uneconomic.

Sustainable living as religious observance

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I do not have an awful lot to say on the subjects of mysticism or spirituality, but since these were on the agenda at this gathering, at which I was invited to speak (the Age of Limits Conference), I had thought that I could add something to the proceedings by holding forth on the (possibly) related topic of religion and the (potential) usefulness of religious institutions in helping us adapt to the unfolding deterioration and collapse of industrial civilization, all the while steering well clear of any mystical or spiritual matters. What follows is a summary of my talk, based on the notes I had scribbled on some index cards.

Goodbye to Bad Knowledge

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A year ago I asked, “How to understand health care’s inability to recognize that modern society has reached the limits to growth?” Since then I’ve unsuccessfully attempted to write on the urgent and bedeviling question, “What are the nuts and bolts of organizing a “small is beautiful” health system?” Here I want to lay the ground for exploring this second question while weaving in final comments on the first question.

The Rumbling of Distant Thunder

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After well over a decade of peak oil events, it may come as a surprise to see one break new ground. Still, last weekend’s “Age of Limits” conference managed that, by focusing steadfastly on what happens when current efforts to evade the limits to growth inevitably fail — and in the process, it allowed a glimpse at certain unexpected realities in and around the peak oil movement. With an uneasy eye toward dark clouds, the Archdruid explains.

Reversing desertification with livestock

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Robert Blasiak from the UNU Institute of Advanced Studies had the opportunity to interview Allan Savory during several bus rides in Nairobi. Savory is a Zimbabwean-born biologist, farmer, game rancher, politician and international consultant and co-founder of the Savory Institute. He is credited with developing the “holistic management” framework back in the 1960s and has been leading anti-desertification efforts in Africa for decades now using a rather unorthodox approach of increasing the number of livestock on grasslands rather than fencing them off for conservation.