Tag Archive | "survival"
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 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...Film series: maintaining body temperature
Monday, September 5, 2011
This video clip explains how we maintain body temperature at the mud hut. The nearby river and a small pond help cool us during summer, though they are not shown. Acknowledgments: Karen Sliwa performed real work on the property while Mike Sliwa shot and edited these videos. You can follow the work of Mike and [...]
Continue reading...Starting over
Friday, February 18, 2011
Judging from my email in-box and the occasional comment in this space, my essays have taken a surprising turn. It seems my efforts are worth alerting the authorities, at least according to comments from anonymous cowards who hide behind online monikers. Unsurprisingly, the black helicopters haven’t arrived yet. Apparently the authorities are otherwise occupied. If [...]
Continue reading...Or die trying
Friday, February 11, 2011
I wrote an entire book on the life of the mind, if you can imagine that. A significant portion of the book was dedicated to the importance of a liberal education, and I’ve written about that topic in this space, too: Liberal teaching means putting everything I know, and everything I am, at risk in [...]
Continue reading...Third time’s a charm?
Saturday, January 22, 2011
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 [...]
Continue reading...Talking about oil in Oil City, USA
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
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 [...]
Continue reading...Lessons on living
Sunday, January 9, 2011
by Kathy Cumbee Lesson 1 Forty-six years ago I began to volunteer in a nursing home. I was 16. This was the Erie County, New York Nursing home for poor county residents. Earlier it has been a poor house. At that time I had heard it had been a poor house. Frankly, I didn’t know [...]
Continue reading...CYA
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 [...]
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Tuesday, December 13, 2011
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