Stories archived in Monday, August 30, 2010

In the summer of 2008, business partners Jessica Stockton Bagnulo and Rebecca Fitting were making plans to open a bookstore in Brooklyn. Their chosen neighborhood, Fort Greene, was over the moon at the prospect. For years, residents had been clamoring for a bookstore, repeatedly citing it as their top need in surveys conducted by the neighborhood association.

I was searching for something different when I found the off-grid way of life, but I didn't know what. I was a journalist, specializing in environmental stories. But this was in the 1990s and mainstream media had little or no time for subjects like pollution caused by factories, or the dangers of pesticides. "Why don't you, just for once, bring us a story about a kidnapped baby, or something simple?" an embittered news editor once snarled as he spiked my carefully researched and potentially libellous article about pollution from a factory making a well-known brand of photographic film.

As climate scientists wrestle with the complexities of how the planet will react to rising greenhouse-gas levels, no variable is more difficult to decipher than the impact of clouds. But thanks to new satellite data and other technologies, clues are emerging that may help solve the puzzle.

I've written lately that economists are the high priests of Progress. I don't subscribe to the doctrine of Progress, which is a faith-based view of our future. Apparently, for most people all of the time, the alternative is simply unthinkable. The truth is that we had wars 4,000 years ago, and we have wars now. The large majority of human beings were poor and disenfranchised 4,000 years ago, and the large majority still are today.

A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-China - the costs of growth
-Macondo - the blame game

When I ran Energyfiles, which was a commercial concern, I was concerned about being linked too closely with the peak oil movement. For years it was not mainstream and, although developed by excellent scientists and promoted by good organizations such as ASPO and the Oil Drum, it had many weird hangers-on, just like in the environmentalist movement. It was not treated seriously by most of my potential clients.

The question now is how much longer humanity will choose to sit on the double yellow line as the consequences of runaway growth scream down the road at us doing a zillion miles per hour. Or to paraphrase, are people smarter than chipmunks?

Discussion: Perceptive readers have probably wondered about the strange mix of topics we've covered — ranging from floods and fisheries to tourism development and drug production. What is the relationship between these issues and their significance to this voyage's "theme of exploring the effects of climate on Mexico's coastline?" This might be a good opportunity for a bird's-eye view, using island examples and past societies for perspective.

PBS station in Colorado takes a look at the Transition Cities movement that is working for a way of life that is environmentally friendly, supports the local economy and conserves natural resources. (Video)

Interview with urban homesteader and somatic psychotherapist Rachel Kaplan in Petaluma, California. "For a typical urban permaculture project, a can do attitude is essential. A willingness to experiment, make mistakes, and keep trying. ... you also need to have a willingness to challenge yourself on some things which are just not accepted in our culture--composting your own poop, for example--and living in a way that others might find odd, challenging, disrespectful, messy or intimidating. You have to care more about the world you want to live in than the world we live in now."