Media & Communications

The Myth of Self Reliance

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A mass emailing went out a while back from a prominent permaculturist looking for “projects where people are fully self sufficient in providing for their own food, clothing, shelter, energy and community needs. . .” There it was, the myth of “fully self sufficient,” coming from one of the best-known permaculturists in the world…But even self-reliance is barely possible, and, other than as way of expressing a desire to throw off the shackles of corporate consumerism, I don’t think it’s desirable.

The Jive Economy

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What started out as a case of The Emperor’s New Clothes now has America looking like the world’s biggest nudist colony, with everyone in the long chain of power and authority admiring each other’s splendid new (imagined) pimp suits. George W. Bush (remember him?) wasn’t kidding when he discounted the function of objective reality in our national life, saying, “we make our own reality.” This apparently hasn’t changed much with a new chief at the top.

Renewables & efficiency – Feb 2

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-Windfarm boost for north-east industry
-China Leading Global Race to Make Clean Energy
-Government to reward renewable energy homes with higher feed-in tariffs
-IMF plans $100bn injection into economy to fund energy efficiency
-Wind Power Grows 39% for the Year
-Powering a Green Planet: Sustainable Energy, Made Interactive

Open Letter to President Obama

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Many of you watched President Barack Obama’s recent State of the Union speech…It is the position of Post Carbon Institute that the President, however well-intentioned, is overlooking critically important considerations.

In the open letter below, we call on President Obama to face reality and ask our fellow Americans to do the same. We are seeking the support and endorsement of our community…

 

Somebody’s Story Is Wrong

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Calculated Risk is an assiduous updater of official government statistics and other economic indicators. He’s very good at what he does, and provides well-informed comment, especially on the housing market, with every story he posts. But let’s investigate the statistical recovery that CR has been reporting. If the recovery is only in the data, but we still have a human recession, surely that implies that the data does not reflect reality. Surely it implies that the data is measuring the wrong thing.

The Wisdom of the Uncivilized Crowds

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Picture this: A remote Indian village in the Ganges delta a few hundred years ago. The farmer starts his day by letting his flock of ducks into his irrigated fields. The water from the river brings with it, besides nutrients and alluvium, some unwanted (for the crops) pests too. But that is not a problem–the ducks will keep the pests in control. Not only that, they will turn those pests into manure and drop it right inside the pool of collected water to be anaerobically decomposed under the water.

Climate Science: Shooting the Messenger

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Regarding the recent attacks on top climate scientists, Radio Ecoshock takes the case of Richard B. Alley. He is the Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences, at Penn State University. Alley is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. His popular book about ice cores is called “The Two Mile Time Machine.”

Peak Oil Is Still a Women’s Issue and Other Reflections on Sex, Gender and the Long Emergency

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In 2005, my first widely republished article was entitled “Peak Oil is a Women’s Issue” and detailed the ways that material realities for women were likely to change in an energy depleted world. I got more than a 100 emails after I wrote that piece, mostly falling into two camps – either “Wow, I never thought of that, but of course it is” and “Oh, I’ve been worrying about these issues for a long time and no one ever writes about them.”

Are We Yeast in a Wine Vat? Reflections on Sustainability

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From Bill O’Reilly to Bill Moyers there is consensus that a return to growth is the remedy for what they see as an economic recession. Their political divisions arise over how to rekindle demand and consumption, with the right favoring a market led recovery and the left typically advocating massive government stimulus spending.