Politics

Magic and the Machine

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This inclination apparently is what constitutes a proof of being human, a faculty like the possession of language that distinguishes man from insect, guinea hen, and ape. In the beginning was the word, and with it the powers of enchantment. I take my cue from Christopher Marlowe’s tragical drama Doctor Faustus because his dreams of "profit and delight,/Of power, of honor, of omnipotence," are the stuff that America is made of, as was both the consequence to be expected and the consummation devoutly to be wished when America was formed in the alembic of the Elizabethan imagination.

The REAL reason conservatives always win

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For Energy Bulletin, this article should be titled, “The REAL Reason Cornucopians Always Win.” The author is a former associate of George Lakoff, and shares his commitment to analyzing framing and political discourse. He writes:

“Progressives need to engage in a values-based strategy that builds trust across the issue silos. We need to focus on building communities of shared identity that bind us together.”

Dark Ages Redux: American politics and the end of the Enlightenment

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We are witnessing an epochal shift in our socio-political world. We are de-evolving, hurtling headlong into a past that was defined by serfs and lords; by necromancy and superstition; by policies based on fiat, not facts.

Much of what has made the modern world in general, and the United States in particular, a free and prosperous society comes directly from insights that arose during the Enlightenment.

Too bad we’re chucking it all out and returning to the Dark Ages.

What will Rio+20 bring?

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Will the world’s leaders dare to think beyond the growth paradigm that lies at the root of our environmental crises? Will they be bold enough to constrain the overconsumption of natural resources or even acknowledge the problem of stagnating oil supplies? Sadly, history provides little grounds for confidence. What is more likely is that the conference will simply warm the climate further through an exchange of hot air disguised as genuine commitment.

Lending for Spending?

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We do not need to be suffering from the death spiral, which is largely of the Chancellor’s making. We could be using the opportunity of the bursting of the credit bubble to acknowledge the role of the government in monetary policy and to use that to shift the economic energy in our country away from finance and speculation and towards investment in a transition to a real green economy. The opportunity is there; it is only the ideological blinkers worn by our politicians that prevents it from being grasped.

The parting of the ways

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Over the last few months, the effects of peak oil — and the broader predicament of industrial civilization — have become steadily more visible; over the same time period, claims that peak oil and the predicament of industrial civilization don’t matter, and everything is just fine, have become steadily more shrill. Counterintuitive though this relation of stimulus to response may seem to be, it’s anything but accidental, and may foretell a significant cultural shift in the offing. Despite a lack of psychic antennae, the Archdruid explains.

Food & agriculture – June 14

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-The future of ‘famine foods,’ unconventional edibles in the garden
-New report highlights absurdity of G20 stance on biofuels and food prices
-Super farms are needed in UK, says leader of National Farmers Union
-Retailers display appetite for tackling food waste
-How to Start an Urban Farm in a Post-Industrial City
-Graying farmers force Japan to rethink food system
-To Truly Fix Food System, the Farm Bill Should Restore Fair Markets