A Review of ‘Climate Cover-up’ by James Hoggan

This very timely book is essential reading for those bewildered by the recent backlash against climate science. It takes things back to basics, and rather than being an exploration of the climate science itself, it seeks to equip the reader with the tools to be able to distinguish between the sources of climate-related information.

Climate Science: Shooting the Messenger

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

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

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.

Peak Moment 161: Local Food — By and For the People

What if the food system benefited local producers, nourished nearby people, and built a stronger community? Krishna Khalsa of Eugene, Oregon wants to turn the food system on its head. He wants it to be run by, and for the benefit of, ordinary people — not corporate profit. He’s exploring models of local cooperative, entreprenuerial organizations where people provide the labor, share and hire resources, caretake the land, use all of nature’s abundance, support farmers and food producers, distribute food so that no one goes hungry, and build strong social bonds. Empower people, not profits!

The bottleneck century

In a new book, Bottleneck: Humanity’s Impending Impasse, William Catton, Jr. says human society is now on an unstoppable trajectory for a significant die-off. Catton, author of the well-known classic of human ecology, Overshoot, expects that by 2100 the world population will be smaller, perhaps much smaller, than it is today. We are in what he calls “the bottleneck century.”

Vision for Sustainability, Resiliency by Post Carbon Institute

What will we do post growth, post cheap energy, post resource abundance and post climate change? The Post Carbon Institute (PCI) convened its first meeting of Fellows this weekend in Berkeley to address these concerns. Many there and elsewhere have argued that these transformational changes are already becoming evident.

Solutions & sustainability – Jan 29

-Oil Is Too Important To Burn In Cars
-Beyond rhetoric
-three paths to a low-car city
-Saving Sub-Sahara Africa a Drip at a Time
-How Can Haiti Be Sustainable?
-Straw Homes That Would Have Foiled the Wolf