Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
It’s tough to convince people that there is a need for radical change of their attitudes and behavior in relation to energy issues. Cognitive mechanisms that produce beneficial results under most circumstances can lead to an irrational resistance (if not immunity) to any kind of argument aimed at our own set of beliefs about peaking global oil production, renewable energy resources, and the continued viability of nuclear power.
Among the sources of the pervasive cynicism of contemporary America, especially but not only displayed around energy issues, is the belief that the United States is a sham democracy controlled by a malign elite. It’s hard to think of a bit of conventional wisdom more widely held, on all sides of the political continuum, but like a great deal of today’s American credos, it deserves a hard second look, for there’s more going on here than meets the eye.
Let me make it clear at the outset. I too believe in American exceptionalism, although I don’t think God has anything to do with it. But I suspect my perspective will find little favor among Republicans in general and Tea Party members in particular. For I believe that America is exceptional in the advantages we’ve had over other nations, not what we’ve done with those advantages.
The worst environmental disaster in history isn’t the oil that gets away. It’s the oil we burn, the coal we burn, the gas we burn. The real catastrophic spill is the carbon dioxide billowing from our tailpipes and smokestacks every second, year upon decade. That spill is destabilizing the planet’s life-supporting systems, killing polar wildlife, shrinking tropical reefs, dissolving shellfish, raising the sea level along densely populated coasts, jeopardizing agriculture, and threatening food security for hundreds of millions of people.
-Why Food Is Still Cheap In America
-Vision — Urban Roots: Detroit’s Industrial Collapse Gives Birth to Flourishing City Gardening Movement (video)
-Nourish: Teaching About the Food System
-Food Now on Plate for All Federal Parties
– The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science
– Multi-tasking: It’s Not Just Rude, It’s Ruining Your Brain
– Mark Morford: Please Step Away From the Fear
– Japan: Out of Disaster, a Burst of Enthusiasm for Bicycling
– Nature to Get Legal Rights in Bolivia
– Open-sourced blueprints for civilization (video)
– Leaving It In The Ground
-The Ghost Park
-Emotional Resilience In Traumatic Times
-Let No Man Say It Cannot Be Done
-What Makes Life Good?
How do you do all this and still conduct a “normal” life? That’s exactly the point: You don’t. At some time within the next few months or years, circumstances will be such that you will relinquish the feeble attempts to hang onto that gluttonous consumption, compete-with-the-Jones’s (or “keep the kids competitive” with the Jones’s kids), go-go-go life rhythm. You’ll begin to get real.
Once the property of nobility, then a consecrated sanctuary with questionable links to a common dice game, then a cloister for nuns and a family base for a member of the judiciary, my home of fifteen years now owns me.
Scientists talk about climate change with studies on pollution and toxins where the Inuit discuss the effects as they occur within our lives. Our whole world is changing. On the topic of environment southerners focus on borders which prevents them from getting connected. When Inuit talk about environment we are one.
Knowledge stands at the beginning of everything purposefully created. It takes knowledge to build farms and machines, to build firearms, or to steward the land. Having knowledge often means having power. Inequalities in access to knowledge often lead to power-inequalities.
