Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Gazing at the famous Mayan pyramids of Chichén-Itzá, it’s hard not to be mesmerized by the colossal limestone structures rising out of an expansive green lawn. It makes for a great photo, although the scene is missing a key feature from when those pyramids rose: a tropical rainforest canopy.
Economists have traditionally considered nature to be infinite relative to the economy, and therefore not scarce, and therefore properly priced at zero. But the biosphere is now scarce, and becoming more so every day as a result of growth of its large and dependent subsystem, the macro-economy.
BP has reported that its latest attempt to cap the leak at its Macondo well has stopped the flow of oil into the ocean. The news has so far been greeted with cautious optimism while integrity testing on the cap continues. The development comes at the end of another torrid week for BP…
Lately I’ve been encountering articles and news stories touting the need for revolution in the wake of a gansterized U.S. financial system and a government that has itself become a criminal enterprise. I sense that many bloggers and their readers are salivating with anticipation that someone or something will light the fuse of a revolutionary cannon that will eviscerate the present system and replace it with something more just and humane.
Some stories makes so much sense when you read them that you wonder why you didn’t see them coming. One such story appeared recently in the New York Times — Wall St. Hiring in Anticipation of an Economic Recovery.
Wild Farming is a concept pioneered by conservationist Aldo Leopold and is now taking many forms throughout North America. In this interview I am joined by Joann Baumgartner of the Wild Farm Alliance. The Wild Farm Alliance’s mission is to promote a healthy, viable agriculture that helps protect and restore wild Nature. Topics of discussion include the origins of wild farming, strategies for promoting and conserving biodiversity on the farm, predator friendly farming, continental wildlife corridors, and the price of food as an obstacle to wild farming.
-Germany targets switch to 100% renewables for its electricity by 2050
-Report sees need for 500 additional biofuels plants
-No link between wind turbines and health: report
-Residents reject wind farm health findings
-Locally Owned Wind Power: Quaint it Ain’t
-Historian warns of sudden collapse of American ‘empire’
-The greatest con since 1776
-We scare people off by talking about ‘degrowth’
A midweed roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Prices and production
-The Oil Market Report
In Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway take us on a fascinating trip down what they call Tobacco Road. Take the journey with them, and you’ll see renowned scientists abandon science, you’ll see environmentalism equated with communism, and you’ll discover the connection between the Cold War and climate denial.
In American political discourse, Europe is the land of socialism and the United States the land of the free market. There are plenty of Europeans who agree, though they might insist on the superiority of the European model and the dangers of the American one. It is not hard to see how the idea of looking at Europe as a bastion of social democracy gained currency.
On July 12th, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar issued a “Decision memorandum regarding the suspension of certain offshore permitting and drilling activities on the Outer Continental Shelf.”
