Warning shots
How many do you need? I still keep hearing, "If things get bad, I'll move to …." And then fill in the blank with your favorite fantasy or nightmare, including these and many more: "my sister-in-law's property in Kansas" "Mexico"…
What works, maybe: individual options
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…
Surveying the Field and Charting a Course
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…
What Works: Food
As I described in my prior post, water is a big deal for humans, as it is for all life on Earth. But food is pretty important, too. Currently, most Americans store large quantities of food in the form of…
What works: Caveats for a series of essays
My next few essays will concentrate on the cardinal elements of survival: water, food, body temperature, and community. Unless and until we secure these four entities, we will not survive. At the mud hut, our goal is not merely survival.…
Viral collapse
According to economists, the beauty of globalization is worldwide access to materials and cheap (or free) labor to bring the materials to powerful countries. We provide garbage, pollution, and low wages -- or, in the “best” cases we enslave workers…
City living in a post-peak world
This headline at today’s version of Energy Bulletin caught my eye: Are cities sustainable in a post-peak oil world? The editors at Energy Bulletin, reflecting contemporary culture, clearly do not understand sustainability. At every level, from the individual through the…