by John Stassek Infallible A sliver of green and fertile earth, far from other lands. Poly- nesians settled long ago, and came to under- stand. Three days of labor, tilling the soil, could feed them- selves all year. Easter Island was paradise. They found a good life here. Time was abundant, since food was so [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, December 23, 2010
A Christmas card from one of the in-laws was unintentionally soaked in irony. I’ll skip the rant about celebrating Christ and mass, the two components of Christ’s mass (i.e., Christmas) in which I don’t believe, much less celebrate. And, too, I”ll forgo the equally tempting rant about a religious holiday that promotes conspicuous consumption in [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, December 9, 2010
I was enjoying lunch with a former student and long-time friend yesterday after walking across campus on a gloriously sunny day in the American Southwest. I mentioned to my friend the resurgence of “fashion” among young women — women without pants, I call them. You’ve probably seen one of these fashion princesses, wearing a skin-tight [...]
Continue reading...Saturday, November 27, 2010
by Jeff Sties When our son Ben was born in 1999, my wife Stacy and I decided that one child was enough. For starters, there was her obvious discomfort during the pregnancy. Financially, we knew that we could not afford to put multiple children through college. Our chosen careers brought in a comfortable income as [...]
Continue reading...Friday, October 1, 2010
Two presentations follow. The first focuses on the twin sides of the fossil fuel coin and what we can do about it, as presented in Louisville, Kentucky earlier this week. It’s similar to many presentations I’ve given recently and it includes an audio file, so you can follow along with the slides. The second was [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, September 21, 2010
I speak openly about myriad ongoing collapses, regardless how others respond. Among the costs: Rumors of my insanity have spread beyond the institution I departed and throughout the nation’s hallowed halls. Apparently I’ve contracted a rare disease, which explains the insanity. I can only hope (i.e., wish) it’s not fatal. Further evidence I’ve lost my [...]
Continue reading...Saturday, September 18, 2010
The pages below are excerpted from the presentation I delivered to the Sixth Annual Gila River Festival in Silver City, New Mexico on Friday, 17 September. Click on one of the seven pages to view it. With apologies for the awkward format, click again to make it large enough to read. As always, questions and [...]
Continue reading...Friday, September 10, 2010
This Sunday, 12 September 2010, I will be interviewed live on Conscious Discussions. The radio show will air at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time in the U.S. That’s 10:00 a.m. on the left coast. Guests can call in during the broadcast: 646.478.4758. Further details here. Update: Interview is archived here. During the afternoon of Friday, 17 [...]
Continue reading...Sunday, September 5, 2010
When I write or speak about global climate change or energy decline — and often I do both, in the same session — I am often accused of “being negative.” I’m losing contacts on Facebook nearly as rapidly as the industrial economy is fading into the distance, thereby provoking messages from my friends calling on [...]
Continue reading...Sunday, August 22, 2010
The high tide of hate mail has rolled into my email in-box. I haven’t had such an invigorating dose of hate mail since I wrote an op-ed piece for Arizona’s largest and most conservative newspaper. I thought I’d share, just for your voyeuristic fun. This is by no means a comprehensive account, and the mail [...]
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Monday, January 31, 2011
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