Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Freedom and the price of oil
Disease in the land of plenty
Vaclav Smil’s book: the worst is yet to be
Dr. Lin Jiabin on sustainability in China – an alternative to consumerism?
Autonomist essays: there’s an energy crisis (among others) in the air
Iceland: “It will fix itself”
‘Food Security’ in Boise
Top 7 alternative energies listed
Mr. Obama’s first task taking stage in the lonely Oval Office should be to get right with his own credo of “change,” meaning he’ll have to persuade the broad American public that the “change” required to salvage this society runs much deeper, colder, and thicker than they’d imagine in their initial transports over hallelujah-Bush-is-Gone. Many of the familiar touchstones of the recent American experience have got to go.
Few have been more enthusiastic about Obama’s recovery plan than the Apollo Alliance, which sees it as the culmination of their hopes to re-energize the US economy through “green” technology. Will they be rewarded? The Alliance channels a vision of restoring growth and world leadership to the US by investing in technology which is less polluting and less dependent on fossil fuels. The Apollo does not acknowledge a crisis in energy based on resource depletion, although they do acknowledge a crisis based on global warming.
Eastern Europe braced for a violent ‘spring of discontent’
Study looks at mortality in post-Soviet era (importance of community)
Military report raises concerns about social unrest fueled by globalization, urbanization
The new ecology of war (Mike Davis interview)
Capitalism Freezes in Worldwide Winter of Discontent
Britain loses faith in economy
Financial system “could yet collapse”
The financial crisis sweeping the world has led many to reconsider the neoliberal premises of the U.S. government. Jae-Jung Suh sits down with sociologist and world systems theorist Immanuel Wallerstein to consider the paradigm shift in global thinking on economic policy and the future of capitalism.
Activist and professor Del Gandio entreats his fellow radicals to recognize the importance of effective communication, and then proceeds to outline the basics of writing, public speaking, body rhetoric and other rhetorical mainstays.
As a practical matter, failing at capitalism does not automatically make you socialist, no more than failing at marriage automatically make you gay.
Interview with the geologist-authors of The American West at Risk, a recently-published tome that details how ongoing environmental issues are destroying the general livability of Earth for all species, including humans. This book shouldn’t just be on every wannabe Greenpeace activist’s nightstand. Each of the 13 chapters explore one subject in depth — forestry, mining, military operations, road building, to name a few — and balances science with politics and reality to sharpen the argument for preservation of natural resources.
For several months I have been meaning to write a review of Rob Hopkins’ The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience, but other things got in the way-like a planetary economic meltdown and out of control climate change that exceeds some of the most dire predictions by climate scientists. I should have spoken out earlier in support of this movement, but I didn’t. Now, as we commence this new year, I am.
I will begin this book “review” by telling you that I find nothing-absolutely nothing wrong with The Transition Handbook. If that then makes this article into a commercial for the book instead of a review, so be it.
WSJ: Russian professor predicts end of U.S.
The upside of downward mobility
Obama for America 2.0? (Net Movement)
Drillers eye oil reserves off California coast
