Hearing Wendell Berry
Berry didn’t want to talk about “the environment,” though he mentioned it; he wanted to talk about the natural environment of Kentucky, the place he’s knows best.
Building Community
Clown fest (updated)
Given the prevalence of high quality content and thought of a few years ago, the blending and parroting of the major themes that a casual perusal of the resource/energy/finance blogosphere reveals today reminds one of the time shift in the movie Idiocracy. A psychiatrist might label this phenomenon ‘information anhedonia’. An economist would say we’ve reached ‘decreasing informational returns from the marginal blog entry’. I’ll just call it ‘clown-fest’.
What happened when the oil ran out
Transition was no longer a local initiative or a movement — it had become a way of life. The world had become much smaller again, as globalization abruptly ended and society once again began to revolve around local communities. We had prepared. We lived in a paradise. We were small enough to be agile. We had an exceptional citizenry, with extraordinary talents, knowledge and creativity. And we had each other.
Could peak oil save the human species?
When Guy McPherson discovered peak oil, it became a cause for optimism, not pessimism.
Food & agriculture – Sept 26
– Watch Colbert’s statement before Congress on migrant farmworkers
– Colbert annoys press corps … again
– Food fight: a Kol Nidre call for sustainable consumption
– From vacant city lots to food on the table
Twilight in the U.S. – Sept 26
– America is suffering a power outage (and the rest of the world knows it)
– 15 shocking facts show that the middle class is being wiped out
– In New Orleans, kindness trumped chaos
Crash course in resilience
We can strengthen our communities and ourselves to prepare for the uncertain world of failing economies, climate change, and oil depletion.
A great future is in store for us when we take the power
Richard Heinberg came to Kalamazoo recently and his talk was the first peak oil discussion I’ve heard that didn’t discourage and depress me. Actually, I felt both inspired and energized to help create the next major era in our world’s history.
An open letter to MoveOn
It’s time to transcend issue-oriented politics and build community… “I felt that I was glimpsing the future of community organizing in America—organizing based not on hot-button issues, but on building relationships through deep personal sharing and active listening. “
A green school with a view…of dignity
“A school has to be more than beautiful and ‘green.’ It has to respect students’ dignity, and feel like a safe and peaceful place where people care.”
Transition as a pattern language: visioning
The future can be a scary place. For many people, not being able to imagine a lower carbon world is a huge impediment to designing and realising it. If our communities suffer from a similar collective failure of the imagination, Transition will be impossible.
Food & agriculture – Sept 24
-Prospects for a viable food future
-Introducing the Permaculture Designers’ Manual, Chapter 1: Introduction to Permaculture
-Why We Need a New Green Revolution to Stop Hunger
-Food Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature and Community
-UN warned of major new food crisis at emergency meeting in Rome
