Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
I predict the lineages of people alive 1,000 years from now will count among their ancestors people who transcended today’s collapse mythology and got to the real work of self and community development, inner work and adaptation.
A common criticism I receive in my analyses of the energy intensity of food production is that I’m comparing input and output energies that, despite both being measured in calories, are not comparable. I think it worthwhile to explore this critique in greater detail.
I believe it was Oscar Wilde who said: “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”
There are times when the deindustrial future seems to whisper in the night like a wind blowing through the trees, sending the easy certainties of the present spinning like dead leaves.
While buying food produced nearby can reduce the amount of fuel burned in food transport, another wrinkle worth adding to food distribution discussions revolves around what type of food is being transported, particularly whether it’s calorie dense, animal-derived food or more calorie diffuse foods such as vegetables and fruit.
With diminishing returns, the economy is, in effect, becoming less and less efficient, instead of becoming more and more efficient.
Arizona, the sunniest state in the U.S., is 3.2% solar and 40-50% coal…what?! It’s a shining example of how broken the electricity system is…
The question of whether locally distributed food requires more or less fuel in its delivery revolves around how we define local.
An important part of many worldviews are key words that embody guiding principles. Freedom, liberty and justice represent three such words in the US, and in this post I’d like to explore a few that act as guiding principles in more limited contexts: sustainability, resilience and adaptability.
Before 1900 the US food system likely delivered more calories of food than it required as energy inputs in the form of fuel and labor. Only as our food system industrialized did today’s energy deficit emerge.
During the time just past, I’ve had several reminders of the power of stories to shape the world of human experience, and the way those stories can get out of step with the facts on the ground.
Modern society celebrates the suicidal consumption and despoilment of the earth by the rich, which will also kill countless others outside their ranks. As a society, we must learn to despise such acts.
