Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Following on last week’s discussion of the lessons of evolution, the Archdruid explores the need for organic processes in preparing for the end of the industrial age, and the value of dissensus — the deliberate avoidance of consensus as a way to broaden options and foster creativity.
The Age recently had an article on the emerging practice of “guerilla gardening”, taking a look at the “Gardening guerillas in our midst”. This concept seems to have steadily increased in popularity in recent years (admittedly from a very low base) as the permaculture movement’s ideas have been propagated through the community.
Unlike the usual approach taken when trying to grow food in the suburbs – converting spare land on your own property (as discussed by aeldric previously and, more recently, in Jeff Vail’s series on A Resilient Suburbia) – guerilla gardening involves cultivating any spare patch of urban land that isn’t being used for another purpose, which could provide a substantial addition to the food growing potential of suburbia.
Bolivian president: Save the planet from capitalism
Liquefied Natural Gas and Fossil Capitalism
Where Are All The Socialists? Here, There and Everywhere
Energy Department, change is coming
Obama quietly drops windfall tax proposal
A sad day for Canada
Outside Agitator: Naomi Klein and the New New Left
How McDonald’s finally got green
Millennials: are you mad enough yet?
Monthly Review: Getting to the root of environmental crises
And now for some refreshing revolutionary anarcho-leftism
Many proposed responses to the crisis of industrial society focus on drafting plans for a new society in advance. Is this as sensible as it seems, or do we need to approach the future before us in a more improvisational way?
How the new racial landscape of America meets the Green movement, increasing the visibility of both.
With Transition, many people encounter the model, the tools, the Network, and enter what we might call ‘Super Exuberance Mode’, where they feel they have found the One Thing That Will Save Us. Over time, this then calms down, and they become more realistic and grounded, but although that early stage is a powerful experience for many, it also has its inherent dangers.
If President-elect Obama’s team does not get a hefty dose of energy reality, they are likely to make very poor strategic decisions. For instance, in the light of peak oil, is bailing out the dinosaur US auto makers the right thing to do?
With significant Democratic gains in Congress, Obama will have an opportunity to sign more significant energy-related legislation than we’ve seen since Jimmy Carter’s presidency. Will it be enough to prevent an energy-driven depression following the present economic turmoil?
We are facing a deep crisis – our economy is simply falling apart, while our ecology and the underlying source of our economic power – our energy supply – is threatened. And Obama is coming to us, like Lincoln, like Roosevelt, at a moment in which the easy solutions to these crises are no longer possible.
