Systemic collapse

Friday, June 17, 2011

Only willfully ignorant individuals are failing to perceive the ongoing systemic collapse of western civilization. Economic recession? Check, since 2000. Economic depression? Check, since 2008. Rampant “natural” disasters? Check, with increasing frequency. Climate chaos? Indeed, only a politician could miss it. Not to put too fine a point on it, but this is what systemic [...]

C-REALM radio interview

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

96 Comments

Late last week I was interviewed by KMO for the C-REALM radio show. The resulting podcast runs about an hour, and it’s posted here (go directly to podcast here). All comments welcome, all the time. My monthly essay for Transition Voice, barely modified from an earlier essay in this space, was posted here today.

Extinction event?

Monday, February 7, 2011

196 Comments

The Arctic is defrosting as warm Atlantic waters rush through the Fram Strait instead of skirting the southern coast of Greenland. This is an important event, regardless of the deafening silence exhibited by the mainstream media. How important? First consider the background, from the perspective of long-time climate scientist James Hansen and colleague Makiko Sato, [...]

Third time’s a charm?

Saturday, January 22, 2011

111 Comments

Kurt Vonnegut often described World Wars I and II as western civilization’s first and second attempts, respectively, to commit suicide. He hinted at peak oil as our third attempt in his memoir, Man Without a Country, which was published shortly before his death. After burying our collective heads in the sand for two years, peak [...]

Talking about oil in Oil City, USA

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

46 Comments

I presented in Austin, Texas, 9 January 2011 under the title, Durable Living: Preparing for Climate Change and Energy Decline. Free and open to the public, the event was sponsored by Design~Build~Live and Crude Awakening Austin, and attended by about 30 people. I was shooting video of this presentation, but my camera failed 15 minutes [...]

Speaking in Austin Sunday, 9 January

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

25 Comments

At 4:00 p.m. on 9 January 2011, I will be speaking at the Austin History Center: 810 Guadalupe Street, downtown Austin, Texas. The topic is Durable Living: Preparing for Climate Change and Energy Decline. This event is open to the public and is sponsored by Design~Build~Live and Crude Awakening Austin. Press release is here (pdf). [...]

CYA

Thursday, December 9, 2010

88 Comments

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 [...]

We’re toast

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

85 Comments

When people tell me the dire messages about which I write don’t resonate with other people, I struggle with a coherent response. Would you prefer continued overshoot on an overshot planet? Would you prefer we keep heating our overheated home? Would you prefer we ignore the most important issues in the history of our species? [...]

Techno-optimism meets its match

Monday, November 15, 2010

68 Comments

According to the extremely conservative International Energy Agency (IEA), we’ve passed the world peak for conventional oil (in 2006, they say). In a stunning nod to reality, even the New York Times agrees. In a bizarre case of committee-style cognitive dissonance, the IEA follows up on the admission that peak oil has come and gone [...]

A presentation with audio and another about bioenergy

Friday, October 1, 2010

31 Comments

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 [...]

Guy McPherson's blog

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