Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
In an article peppered with inaccuracies and faulty logic, the author makes a claim that is way off target – an accusation that those advocating a steady state economy are misanthropists. On the contrary, we want to see good lives for all, now and into the future, secured through sound management of our ecological assets, and a quality of life that includes meeting material needs – but recognizing material needs as only one aspect of the totality of being human.
An increase of a dollar or so in the cost of a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread for Americans can mean starvation for people in Egypt and other poor countries.
All is not rosy in global cities where inequalities reach record levels and put such cities at risk. There may consequently be more cycles of disorder and violence if the financial and economic sectors continue to dominate the cities’ agendas.
A midweekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Development this week
-Wikileaks
-The Guardian, Wikileaks cables and oil production in Saudi Arabia
-Saudi Reserves
-What did we learn from the Saudi cables?
-Saudi Oil Production and Reserves – Reasons Behind Wikileaks Concerns
Can events in complex systems ever be predicted? No…and yes.
Why is the community ownership of assets important? Why does it matter that the community is able to own its own assets?
In India and around the world, secure land rights provide a source of food and income, empowering families and communities with stability, dignity, and hope.
The ability to create artificial environments (air conditioning, heating, lighting) and chemically alter natural materials (processed food, plastic) perhaps gives the illusion that humans are capable of meeting their needs with minimal imputs from nature. The flawed logic suggests that if humans are only tangentially dependent on the natural world, functioning ecosystems lose importance.
Crop To Cuisine discusses food in Egypt, as the standoff between protesters and government continues. The World Food Programme’s Abeer Etefa joins us over the phone from Cairo. We hear from Carol O’Meara on feeding the birds this season. And we turn food advertising on its head. All of that, headlines in food and farming from around the world, and more.
Linguist, philosopher and political activist Noam Chomsky talks about the Chamber of Commerce, the American Petroleum Institute and other business lobbies enthusiastically carrying out campaigns to “try and convince the population that global warming is a liberal hoax.”
If a community owns its assets, then the community itself can decide what’s important within that community and it’s not subject to the vagaries of say, changes in local government, changes in government funding even –for example, the times we’re in at the moment. All of those things mean that you can actually keep going regardless of the chaos around you, you can control your own situation and earn your own money and deliver your own balance of business in that way.
