Applying the lessons of international development back home
“The only preventive and the only remedy is for the people to choose one another, and their place, over the rewards offered them by outside investors.”
Politics
Climate change and regime longevity in the DPRK (North Korea)
In the short to medium term, climate-driven food insecurity is likely to pull Pyongyang into increasing reliance on its nuclear weapons program as leverage to bargain for international largesse in the form of food, energy and fertiliser supplies. The increased importance of the nuclear bargaining chip in the context of climate change, in conjunction with the numerous other justifications for its nuclear proliferation (domestic politics, security, ideology), makes it even more unlikely that the regime will relinquish its nuclear weapons capability.
The future’s further shores
As peak oil moves toward the mainstream, some parts of the peak oil movement have begun to embrace respectability in order to engage political and economic institutions. This is essential, though it has its pitfalls; still, just as essential is a balancing movement in the other direction, toward a radically diverse exploration of options that could provide individuals and communities with critical tools as the crisis of industrial society deepens around us.
WikiLeaks – Dec 8
– Julian Assange and the Computer Conspiracy; “To destroy this invisible government” (best explanation for why he’s doing it)
– Something Wiki’ed This Way Comes
– The man who kicked the hornet’s nest
– US embassy leaks: ‘The data deluge is coming …’ (video)
– Assange: The Truth Will Always Win
Environmentalism and political struggle
“You say things are happening … give me an example. Numerous organizations are doing lots of great work – permaculture, relocalization, etc. This is wonderful, and I’m involved in it. But everything measurable is going the wrong way. So whatever we’re doing is not working. … Unless all this community work is linked with a broader political struggle, we’re not really going to get anywhere.”
A Transition take on the Big Society (seeking comments and input)
The Big Society is associated with localism, cuts in spending and de-regulation as opposed to community-led re-localisation. While we agree with the need to give more power to local government and local communities, how and why that is done is crucial. What we have done in Transition is to create a powerful story, around resilience and localisation, around unleashing the creative genius of communities to respond brilliantly to times of great challenge. At the end of this paper, we set out what such a story for the Big Society might look like.
The peak oil crisis: the future of government
A new crowd has descended on Washington vowing to make everything right again by cutting taxes, reducing the size and the role of some parts of the government. Above all the folks are committed to getting government regulation off our backs so that free enterprise, the entrepreneurial spirit, merchant capitalism, or what have you can flourish as it did in the past. What all those calling for reduced government fail to grasp, however, is that 200 years of cheap abundant fossil fuel energy has transformed this country into something completely different.
Transition and solutions – Dec 6
– No Impact Experiment: A One Week Carbon Cleanse from No-Impact Man
– Peak oil to drive changes in Dunedin NZ (new report NOW ONLINE)
– Bringing Transition to the airport near you
– Bicycle freight: thinking outside the box truck
Science fiction novel from 1975 prefigures WikiLeaks
The massive release of government and corporate secrets by WikiLeaks was prefigured by “Shockwave Rider”, a 1975 novel by English science fiction writer John Brunner. (excerpts)
Reaping whirlwinds: Peak oil and climate change in the new political climate
Political prognostication is a dangerous game, but one of the certainties of the latest election was that the US will not be enacting any significant federal climate legislation. If inaction is certain on climate change, it may be that all is not entirely hopeless if we reframe the terms to addressing our carbon problem. Peak-oil activism could accomplish many of the goals of climate activists. Unlike climate change, peak oil doesn’t carry the ideological associations with the left that climate change does. Could peak oil provide a framing narrative for political action to address both climate change and peak oil?
Taking down America: four scenarios for the end of the American Century by 2025
A soft landing for America 40 years from now? Don’t bet on it. The demise of the United States as the global superpower could come far more quickly than anyone imagines. If Washington is dreaming of 2040 or 2050 as the end of the American Century, a more realistic assessment of domestic and global trends suggests that in 2025, just 15 years from now, it could all be over except for the shouting.
WikiLeaks (content) – Dec 5
– Leaked cables reveal Saudi minister of petroleum helped craft toothless Copenhagen climate accord
– WikiLeaks cables reveal how US manipulated climate accord
– WikiLeaks cables: Seven key things we’ve learned so far
– “We Have Not Seen Anything Yet”: Guardian Editor Says Most Startling WikiLeaks Cables Still to be Released
– Ongoing coverage
