Culture & Behavior

Reasons for good cheer

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In the vast and traumatic mess that we are facing, I’m seeing some surprising signs of hope – not that we’ll magically reshape our society into the renewable paradise a lot of us would like to see, but that people are well, not acting like complete idiots – that they are responding to things fairly appropriately, even wisely sometimes.

Mayo Energy Audit (review)

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Ever since I read the Kinsale Energy Descent Action Plan I realised that the next step would be a detailed accounting of energy consumption for a town or region, and an analysis of potential local renewable supplies. The Mayo Energy Audit does all this and more and represents an important next step in the energy descent process for County Mayo in the West of Ireland.

Two geologists on saving the earth

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Interview with the geologist-authors of The American West at Risk, a recently-published tome that details how ongoing environmental issues are destroying the general livability of Earth for all species, including humans. This book shouldn’t just be on every wannabe Greenpeace activist’s nightstand. Each of the 13 chapters explore one subject in depth — forestry, mining, military operations, road building, to name a few — and balances science with politics and reality to sharpen the argument for preservation of natural resources.

The Age of Memory

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Historians of an early generation liked to contrast the Age of Faith with the Age of Reason, and despite the many flaws in these categories they do have their point. Now the Enlightenment belief in the omnipotence of human reason is straining to the breaking point as three hundred years of industrial expansion begin to unravel in the wake of peak oil. Is the Age of Reason ending, and if so, what comes next?