Politics

ODAC Newsletter – Apr 15

by

The IEA reported this week that there are preliminary signs of oil demand destruction due to soaring prices. Goldman Sachs underlined this viewpoint on Tuesday by advising its clients to sell oil, copper, platinum and cotton. Prices fell in response, although concern over conflict in the Middle East and Saudi production saw prices nudging up again by the end of the week.

What if your President’s just not that into you?

by

Many of us are left wondering how to deal with the president. Climate change, above all issues, requires a transformative and not an incremental vision. We have fundamental change to make, and a very short window to make it in–Obama’s typical (and often quite savvy) little-bit-at-a-time approach doesn’t square with the physics and chemistry that govern this debate.

How chicken farming, murder and eugenics sparked the anti-environmental revolution

by

Since the financial crisis of 2008, the continued mirage of “recovery” remains forever on the horizon. The accelerating evaporation of anything resembling a social safety net for the workers of the world makes business-as-usual a less-than-sexy proposition for the majority of us. The increasingly schizophrenic behavior of our planet’s natural processes doesn’t enhance our calm either. As the calls for a change of strategy and priority for the world’s economy get louder, it makes perfect sense that the most viable and desirable option, a steady state economy, is pilloried with great vitriol.

Happiness movement hits the UK

by

A new global movement for happiness was launched Tuesday in the UK. Action for Happiness is supported by more than 4,500 members including the Dalai Lama. Based on the new science of happiness, the movement suggests that the keys to happier living lie in actions such as Giving, Relating and Accepting.

Media coverage has been extensive:
– 20 Happiness Facts
– Don’t worry, every little thing’s gonna be all right
– Switch off, chip in, be happy, say activists
– My advice for the happiness lobby? Start with drugs
– Britons becoming ‘increasingly miserable’, warns happiness group
– Happy evangelists take on the cynics
– It’s time the right looks beyond its prejudices and understands what this agenda is about

Alternatives to nihilism, part 1: a dog named Boo

by

One of the least discussed and most fascinating features of the present day is that the strategies that got the world through the energy crisis of the Seventies are being pointedly ignored, not only by governments and corporations but by a great many of the people who claim to be offering alternative views. The obvious and successful response then — rallying the collective will and enthusiasm of the people by ‘fessing up to the arrival of crisis, and using that will and enthusiasm to slash energy consumption — has been all but erased from our collective imagination and memory. Maybe it’s time to take a hard look at how that erasure happened.