Media & Communications

Toward the Collapse: Growth-Economy = Climate Disaster (interview with Keith Farnish)

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…The Culture of Maximum Harm tries to achieve its journey by taking as much as it possibly can, and by doing as much damage as it possibly can. And the reason it does this is because it has one primary goal, which is achieve continuous growth – and that’s economic growth, in terms of the word “growth” – and economic growth cannot be sustainable. So, this culture, which I believe is unique in human history, is doing something that is uniquely destructive. In other words, it is the Culture of Maximum Harm – it is the most harmful way that humans can exist.

Economics, civil unrest, and more reasons for banking disgust – Feb 25

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-Rehearsals for a Civil War
-Athens: The First Domino?
-Our world balances on a sea of debt
-Joseph Stiglitz: Bankers Made Reckless Bets on the Economy, Knowing Taxpayers Were Going to Pick up the Tab
-Finger on the Scale
-Secret AIG Document Shows Goldman Sachs Minted Most Toxic CDOs

Renewables & efficiency – Feb 25

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-Does Facebook deserve the hell it’s catching from Greenpeace?
-Saudi Arabia to export solar power soon, US says
-Energy expert Lovins brings conservation message
-The new wave: Harnessing the power of the ocean

Food & agriculture – Feb 25

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-Health: the challenge of improving nutrition
-Small family farms in tropics can feed the hungry and preserve biodiversity
-Jonathan Safran Foer: the truth about fish farming
-Scientists unite to combat water scarcity; solutions yield more crop per drop in drylands
-Potatoes, Not Just Pistons, Take Root in Detroit
-She Farms
-New Investments in Agriculture Likely to Fail Without Sharp Focus on Small-Scale ‘Mixed’ Farmer

Tim Kasser on Consumerism, Psychology, Transition and Resilience. Part One

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Here is the first part (Part Two to follow tomorrow) of an interview I did with Tim Kasser a couple of weeks ago while he was at Schumacher College. He is a psychologist, author of the seminal High Price of Materialism, as well as other useful writings such as a great chapter in the State of the World Report 2009 about consumerism and climate change. The interview raises some fascinating areas for research and thoughts about Transition and psychology, and I think you’re going to enjoy this one….

Review of “Eastern Canadian crude oil supply and its implications for regional energy security”

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Dr. Larry Hughes’ recent study entitled “Eastern Canadian crude oil supply and its implications for regional energy security” was recently published in Energy Policy (Jan. 2010, 8 pgs)…Hughes’ analysis of the drop in export capacity of key “safe suppliers” fits nicely with the work of Jeff Brown, Robert Hirsch, Jeff Rubin, and Paul Stevens, all of whom have addressed the impending threat of oil export decline.  Hughes’ analysis appears to be unique insofar as he has applied the export decline syndrome to the energy security of a specific import-dependent region.

An Interview with Mike Small of the Fife Diet

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At the recent Soil Association conference in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago I cornered Mike Small of the Fife Diet and asked him a few questions about what is happening in Fife. Their work has huge implications for Transition, as well as offering some fascinating insights into the practicalities of the relocalisation of the food system.

Revisiting Slow Clothing

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Since this fashion week, despite its sponsorship by the Mercedes Benz company, is supposed to be “green” people want to know what I think of the green fashion movement. And the answer to that is that I think it is all very interesting, and I’m delighted that people are trying to deal with the enormous impact of our clothing – and that reminds me to go hit my local Goodwill for some more second-hand t shirts to go with my sweats. Meanwhile, here’s a lightly revised version of the original article which appeared first at Groovy Green Magazine in 2006.

New research: synthetic nitrogen destroys soil carbon, undermines soil health

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For all of its ecological baggage, synthetic nitrogen does one good deed for the environment: it helps build carbon in soil. At least, that’s what scientists have assumed for decades. If that were true, it would count as a major environmental benefit of synthetic N use…Well, that logic has come under fierce challenge from a team of University of Illinois researchers led by professors Richard Mulvaney, Saeed Khan, and Tim Ellsworth.