Building Community

What the Amish have to teach us about Transition

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The Amish ran privately-owned family farms for centuries until the latter part of the 20th century when they began taking jobs off the farm where they made good money, but many also became seduced by consumerism. They gradually spent more money, allowed themselves some of the conveniences previously shunned in order to live more simply, and found themselves caught up in spending more money and buying things they didn’t need … One Amish man comments on the need to return to basics: “We were all going way too fast. This has made everybody stop and realize we’re just pilgrims here…”

My proposal for ASPO-USA 2009

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Comedian, screenwriter and peak oil activist Jon Cooksey (How to Boil a Frog) presents his alt-reality agenda for the 2009 ASPO-USA conference.

Day 1. 9-9:01: Announcement that yes, peak oil is real and here now, and we’re running out of everything. All the usual presentations will be handed out as footnotes.

9:01-noon: Everyone who flew to the conference on a plane plants trees outside the hotel, followed by a pledge to forego driving double the number of miles they flew in the coming year. A Cadillac Escalade will be sacrificed to the god of climate change, Carbonus, just before lunch

Film Review: How to Boil a Frog

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Want to be a real hero? Save the planet. Don’t know how? Start by viewing the new eco-comedy, How to Boil a Frog. The film tells the story of Jon Cooksey, an ordinary man on a mission, who decided two years ago that he had to do something personally to make sure his 12-year-old daughter would have a future, given all the bad news on global warming.

 

Investing in durability

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If you are planning to withdraw, please tell me where you’re going, and send directions. If not, it’s time to start thinking about how you and your family or tribe will muddle through the years ahead. One word comes to mind: durability. If that wasn’t the first word that came to your mind, I’m not surprised.

Disaster Transitionism

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If you haven’t read Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, you really should. It’s an examination of how the Chicago School of Economics and its adherents have taken advantage of or created crises to further their privatization agendas.