Tag Archive | "peak oil"
Mixed media
I delivered two TED-style talks at the 2011 International Conference on Sustainability, Transition and Culture Change in Bellaire, Michigan. The presentations embedded below were delivered to the few dozen people remaining at the conference on its fourth day, Sunday, 13 November. The first video clip describes my personal journey in the usual, self-indulgent manner, and [...]
Continue reading...Preparing in place (and speaking in other places)
Saturday, November 5, 2011
There are various ways to ready oneself for the trip down the peak-oil curve, as well as for climate chaos. Most importantly, as I’ve indicated many times, is psychological readiness. If you are mentally prepared for a future radically different from the past you’ve known, you’re well on your way to thriving in the years [...]
Continue reading...Couchsurfing part 2
Thursday, October 20, 2011
I promised to provide additional video based on my visit to Wisconsin and Michigan last month as they became available. With this post, I reluctantly submit to my earlier promise. This video clip was shot with a handheld camera in a barn with poor lighting. Adding to the misery: It starts a few minutes into [...]
Continue reading...Couchsurfing with my soapbox
Thursday, September 29, 2011
My recent foray to Wisconsin and Michigan had me staying five different homes, hence sleeping in five different beds and eating at many different tables. It was quite an exciting adventure, spent with wide-awake people, and I hope to repeat the experience as many times as the industrial economy allows. I’ve embedded one of the [...]
Continue reading...Brace for impact
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Famed energy scholar Richard Heinberg is extremely conservative with his estimates, and he has updated his forecast. Whereas in spring 2009 he was predicting the industrial age would run until 2014 or perhaps even 2016, he’s changed his tune. Radically. Now he says it’s coming to a halt this autumn, a forecast that matches the [...]
Continue reading...Three paths to near-term human extinction
Saturday, August 20, 2011
About a decade ago I realized we were putting the finishing touches on our own extinction party, with the party probably over by 2030. During the intervening period I’ve seen nothing to sway this belief, and much evidence to reinforce it. Yet the protests, ridicule, and hate mail reach a fervent pitch when I speak [...]
Continue reading...Making connections as the world burns … unless 126 does the trick
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
I’ve managed to connect via email several people, most of whom I’ve not met. I have connected directly with many like-minded people using myriad outlets, including online fora, email, telephone, and live-and-in-person. The latter has proved most gratifying, particularly including the few hundred visitors to the mud hut. Online opportunities have been largely disappointing to [...]
Continue reading...Reality bites
Sunday, May 15, 2011
The BRICS are making their move to shove aside the U.S. dollar (although their own troubles might interfere). The dollar dump is particularly timely in light of recent recognition that U.S. credit verges on junk status, and rates lower than Mexico and several other countries with relatively small industrial economies. And, as pointed out by [...]
Continue reading...Partial understanding on planet Easter Island
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
The recent S&P downgrade of U.S. debt is yet another example of a circus sideshow in a nation filled with clowns sleepwalking off a cliff. Ben Bernanke, the master of ceremonies in the most ridiculous show on Earth, has come up with a new scheme to print money, hence plunge a financially bankrupt nation further [...]
Continue reading...Like an elevator when the cable breaks
Sunday, April 17, 2011
According to Mark Twain, “civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities.” It seems western civilization is just about done with the mindless multiplication of anything, much less unnecessary nonsense. It’s too late for a fast collapse of the industrial economy. According to every significant index, the U.S. hit its economic peak in 2000. We’ve [...]
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Tuesday, December 13, 2011
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