Guy McPherson's blog

Liberal education in a neocon nation

What does it mean to teach liberally? The obvious answer, which might even be correct, is found in the dictionary, where we find that liberal means “broad-minded” (among other things). I agree with the dictionary but I don’t think it goes nearly far enough. For me, liberal teaching means putting everything I know, and everything [...]

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Investing in durability

Durability has always been a wise investment. Now is the perfect time to make a personal investment in durability, for myriad reasons. For one thing, most sellers still think fiat currency is valuable.

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Saving the world: a transcript for your review

Civilization represents a grave threat to the existence of myriad cultures and species, including our own species. And we can do better.

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Math. The scary kind, not the fuzzy kind

I'm starting to understand the many peak-oil deniers out there. It's tough to wrap our hummingbird-sized intellects around these pterodactyl-sized numbers. Our ability to power down with all the peace and tranquility of Buddhist monks seems a little far-fetched (we are, as pointed out by Nietzsche, "all too human"). It's easier to deny the impending collapse of empire than to deal with facts. On the other hand, as Matt Savinar points out, you'd better "Deal With Reality or Reality Will Deal With You."

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Three documentaries describe the fall of empire

Yep, there are two sides to the peak-oil story. The side we go up (which ended a couple years ago), and the side we go down. We're on the downhill side of world oil supply, and the slope's about to get a helluva lot more slippery.

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The end of civilization and the extinction of humanity

We have, to the maximum possible extent allowed by our intellect and never-ending desire, consumed the planet and therefore traded in tomorrow for today. And we keep making these choices, every day, choosing dams over salmon, oil over whales, cars over polar bears, death over life.

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