Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Mostly conceived by international architects, China’s eco-cities were intended to be models of green urban design. But the planning was done with little awareness of how local people lived, and the much-touted projects have largely been scrapped.
Bloomington Peak Oil Task Force
Changing of the guard in the Queensland Government (Andrew McNamara out)
Interview with chair of Canada’s “junior oil” association – a peak oiler
Nate Lewis: Where in the world will our energy come from?
The psyches of empire’s citizens are ill-equipped to deal with variation from the system’s proscribed roles or functions. Empire, like a “good” parent, gives one everything one “needs” in return for production-until it doesn’t, and when it doesn’t, the citizen has no recourse emotionally because he/she has lived in psychological symbiosis with empire since birth.
Post Carbon Institute Manifesto
Confessions of a Reformed Worrywart
The back-to-the-lander: Vandana Shiva interview
Life After Oil
A Green Future Where You Can Borrow Cars And Drink Rainwater
Beyond the technical issues that occupy so much peak oil discussion lies the murkier realm of collective emotions and cultural narratives that so often blocks constructive action. A new book by Carolyn Baker, Sacred Demise, makes a valiant attempt to start a conversation about this dimension of our predicament — a conversation we desperately need to have.
It seems like we encounter quite a number of secular belief systems, such as:
1. The Oil Drum, and our message
2. Contemporary economic theory (several different flavors)
3. He who dies with the most toys wins.
4. Beautiful bodies are everything.
5. Technology will solve all problems…
One thing that becomes apparent as one peruses the peak oil preparation sites is that there is no clear line between a doomer and a sensible person thinking about preparations for a post-peak oil world.
Future Scenarios serves as a good introduction to the concept of future energy descent/climate change scenarios.
The Peakist
Book review: Future Scenarios by David Holmgren
In Review: The Road to Sustainability
Towards a New Sustainable Economy – Robert Costanza
LEARN: An Acronym to Avoid Societal Collapse
Energy Descent, and A World Without Property
A Farm for the Future
Planning for peak oil
Why the foodie press needs to do better work on seafood
Most Americans are dis-connected from everything essential for survival. We have lost meaningful connections with the sources of our water, food, shelter, clothing, with our fellow humans in community, with those we love, with The Mystery of Life. No wonder we feel dis-eased!
As the globalized economy withers – never to return in its present form in my view – we are bereft of that dense network of local shopowners, brokers of all kinds of goods, hometown bankers, small equipment repairmen who can restore broken goods to useful work and so many others whom we will be needing in the future that is now unfolding.
