Deconstructing negativity

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 [...]

High tide of hate mail

Sunday, August 22, 2010

40 Comments

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 [...]

A review before the exam

Monday, August 16, 2010

102 Comments

Actually, this review is too late for the many people who have already endured economic collapse. As any of those folks can tell the rest of us, we do not want to receive the lesson after the exam. I’ve written all this before, but I have not recently provided a concise summary. This essay provides [...]

A day in the life: further adventures at the mud hut

Sunday, May 16, 2010

32 Comments

People keep asking me what my days are like. How do I spend a typical day? Now that I’m retired from the academic life — or rather, now that I’ve departed the academy in disgust and despair — I no longer spend time in my swivel chair, dispensing information on the telephone or tending to [...]

Time to bury the dead

Monday, May 10, 2010

15 Comments

The final nail in the global financial coffin was hammered into place this morning by the masters of the Eurozone. The trillion-dollar bailout Ponzi scheme to save Greece is yet another example of kicking the proverbial can down the road, hoping the taxpayers fail to notice the 800-pound gorilla fighting its way out of the [...]

What works, maybe: individual options

Monday, April 26, 2010

42 Comments

Like global climate change, peak oil represents a predicament, not a problem. There is no politically viable solution to either of these great challenges. Political solutions require economic growth, forever, and therefore no significant sacrifice on the behalf of the electorate. Further, the industrial economy is underlain by the assumption of growth: The industrial economy [...]

Surveying the field and charting a course

Friday, April 16, 2010

64 Comments

It’s all the rage to talk about a double-dip in the industrial economy. That would be an economic trend in the shape of a W. I think an M is far more likely. The assumption of never-ending growth underlies all neoclassical economic assessments, but I think that assumption is about to break up on the [...]

Going back to the land in the Age of Entitlement

Monday, March 8, 2010

122 Comments

This essay is rife with the type of self-indulgence I try to avoid, often unsuccessfully. It’s a summary of my life’s story. It begins by insulting the readers, before the end of this first paragraph, and it ends with an unavoidably maundering, self-absorbed synopsis of recent, personal events. I doubt it’s worth your time to [...]

Leadership in the post-carbon era

Friday, January 1, 2010

11 Comments

I’m getting cranky, judging from several comments on this blog and on Facebook (where my latest entries have been posted and then re-posted by contacts there). Not to pick nits, but I’m getting crankier. But, like all rationalizing animals, I have a good excuse. As my awareness grows, hopefully along with the awareness of other [...]

The morality of imperialism, continued

Sunday, December 20, 2009

35 Comments

My latest post stirred considerable interest, as indicated by my email in-box as well as several thoughtful comments online. Although I tried to be clear about my position, questions continue to flow in, suggesting my no-holds-barred approach lacked clarity. I’ll try again in this post, recognizing that my position is so nuanced it is likely [...]

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