Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The campaign of 2010 may produce members of Congress and of the Senate who are nothing but conduits for corporate agendas and whose loyalties can be traced directly to corporate-funded campaign groups–groups made up of anonymous donors who seek nothing less than direct control of the government of the United States for their personal gain.
“Large conventional oil production is increasingly no longer part of the future. We must expect to get along without what has been our critical energy source in expanding the world’s economy for more than half a century. But acceptance [of the idea of peak oil] by knowledgeable people is not enough.
“Our willingness, let alone our ability, to do anything serious about the impending inability to increase oil output is still a long way off. The political order responds to what the public believes today, not to what it may come to believe tomorrow.”
Dr. Schlesinger has served as Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (1971-73), Secretary of Defense (1973-75), Director of the CIA and was the first Secretary of Energy (1977-79).
Keynote address to the recent ASPO-USA conference in Washington D.C. (transcript and video) .
-German Industry Feels Rare-Earth Metals Squeeze
-China pledges not to use rare earth minerals as weapon
-Revealed: how deep-sea mining could destroy the ‘cradle of life on earth’
-China rare earth quota prices up as exporters jostle
-Rare earths row: some home truths
-News special: Vedanta victory masks threats to indigenous people
In a perfect world, such a drastic shift in our economic and societal prospects [as is represented by peak oil] would be at the top of the political agenda. Elections would be fought over the best way to transition our economy and civilization to surviving with reduced and much more expensive energy
– Coming Soon to America: Big Push for Austerity
– French Lessons for U.S. Workers
– The Tory ‘big society’ relies on women replacing welfare
– Monbiot: For the Conservatives, this is not a financial crisis but a long-awaited opportunity
– Mapping Global Wealth
Environmentalists, especially in wealthy countries, have often approached the question of environmental sustainability by stressing population and technology, while deemphasizing the middle term in the well-known IPAT (environmental Impact = Population x Affluence x Technology) formula. The reasons for this are not difficult to see. Within capitalist society, there has always been a tendency to blame anything but the economic system itself for ecological overshoot.
– Tea Party climate change deniers funded by BP and other major polluters
– Texas oil companies pump new round of cash into California climate fight
– Caught! EU business lobby funding climate legislation blockers in US Senate
– Jurassic Ballot: When Corporations Ruled the Earth
Deliberative democracy stems from the belief that democratic leadership should involve educating constituents about issues at hand, and that citizens may significantly alter their opinions when faced with information about these issues.
– France Gets a Foretaste of a World After Peak Oil
– France on strike – dramatic photographs
– Exchange student sees French strikes up close
– Dinner ladies lead the fight against pension cuts
– Marseille close to standstill as worst strikes in 15 years cause French chaos
– Sarkozy’s approval rating hits new low as French strikes drag on
– From my hometown in France : Videos and updates on the strikes
– Paraguayan Mennonites hit back at criticism of environmental record
– Food Security as If Women Mattered: A Story from Kerala
– Venezuela: From Agribusiness to Agroecology?
– Britain is growing greener at the expense of the rest of the world
I’m not sure social networking will put feet on the ground when it counts, but it can change how we think about community and numbers of people it is possible to organize.
– Movement Building and Deep Change: A Call to Mobilize Strong and Weak Ties
– Shouts Banish Doubts
– The Persuasive Power of Swearing
– Revolutionary politics and social networking
