Personal survival skills at the twilight of Empire
People keep asking the obvious questions: Are you insane? [Yes, by any measure] What are you doing to prepare? [Launching a lifeboat, as described in a prior post] How can I save my own ass?
Earth: The Sequel
I just finished reading Earth: The Sequel, which was a gift from a bright, thoughtful friend. Subtitled The Race to Reinvent Energy and stop Global Warming and authored by Fred Krupp, President of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and Miriam Horn, a writer who now works for EDF, the book is typically optimistic about Empire. Seems readers only want books with happy endings.
As if life’s like that.
An overdue explanation
Last week’s contentious Viewpoints piece in the Arizona Republic stirred some long-overdue interest in peak oil. On the first of six pages of online comments is this one: “We’ll check back with ya in 10 years Guy. You might have some ‘splanin’ to do.”
I suspect there will be no need for explanation in a decade, by which time we’ll be well on our way to the post-industrial Stone Age. So I’ll provide the explanation now, before the power goes out and the Empire collapses under the weight of its own hubris. Actually, I gave a partial explanation in a follow-up piece in the Republic, but more details follow .
What shall we call it?
The Arizona Republic ran my lengthy op-ed in their Viewpoint section Sunday and a follow-up Q&A piece in Wednesday’s paper. So far, a few minutes before noon, email responses to me on Sunday are mixed. About half are vile, in-denial buckets of hate. The other half are thankful, fearful, and/or curious to learn more. One respondent indicated the piece was linked to Oil Drum already, but I haven’t taken the time to find it there.
Settling into the new ‘hood
Our first move in 18 years is complete. We’ve moved into a shabby rental house in a great neighborhood a couple blocks from campus. We’re moved in, but not settled in — that’ll take a while longer.
U.S. economy locked in spiral of death
The U.S. economy is moving in ever-tighter, ever-accelerating spirals. This, mind you, despite ongoing attempts to prop up the economy in the name of staving off a recession by Ben Bernanke and the ghouls at the Fed, Hank Paulson and his gangsters at Treasury Department, and Dubya and his cabal of criminals.
The Great Awakening has Begun
Seems my entry from last week was premature. Specifically, I wrote: “The federal government’s complete unwillingness to deal with the tsunami of economic news, from home foreclosures to runaway inflation and supply disruptions in gasoline, is truly pathetic.” The federal government and its primary media outlet suddenly leaped into action.