Political movements
Where Dark Green Meets Cleantech (Or, Beyond Shades of Green)
A little while ago, Alex Steffen of World Changing offered a critique of the permaculture-inspired Transition Towns initiative--a grass-roots, peak oil/climate change adaptation movement that has gone viral around the world in the past three years . . . Steffen would describe these people as “dark greens,” a brand of environmentalist who emphasizes local community action but can tend toward collapse-thinking or doomerism.
Requiem for a dying city
Unions, very much like the bulk of the population, are still trapped in this ideology of perpetual progress, yet cannot help noticing the continuous degradation of most people's living conditions. The result of this cognitive dissonance between the grandiose expectations of the ideology of progress and the bleak reality, is a curious combination of helplessness, despair and anger..
Climate & environment - Feb 24
-Sharp decline in public's belief in climate threat, British poll reveals
-Methane levels may see 'runaway' rise, scientists warn
-World's coral reefs could disintegrate by 2100
-We're Headed for the Greatest Resource-Sharing Problem of All Time
Transition - Feb 21
- Diversity
- Solidarity
- A former urbanite puts down green roots
- The easy pleasures of a simplified living space
A movement or an organization?
It's really important to get that we're not creating a movement. Directing, guiding, or nudging perhaps, but not creating. We need to supply the "thread" onto which to string all the "beads" of positive, resilience-oriented action
Chaos as an everyday thing
You know you're living in a chaotic situation when (1) the mainstream media are constantly surprised by what is happening; (2) short-term predictions by various pundits go in radically different directions and are stated with many reserves; (3) the Establishment dares to say things or use words that were previously taboo; (4) ordinary people are frightened and angry but very unsure what to do.
The Transition Towns Movement: Its Huge Significance and a Friendly Criticism
The world is immensely complicated, and the forces of sweeping change may overall boost transition towns for their positive contribution. Or as Ted Trainer lays out below, a course correction is needed now.
A politician's view of policy making
The best way to influence policy is for the “scientists and engineers” to influence policy makers directly — and you don’t do that in a report, in a letter, on a petition, or a blog. It requires a commitment to face-to-face relationship building, nurturing, and maintenance. Rarely does a policy discussion center solely around facts.
Peak oil notes - Feb 11
A midweek roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Prices and production
-The Iranian situation
-Asia still growing
-UK Industry Task Force on Peak Oil and Energy Security: 2010 Update
Becoming a Third World Nation
Amid today's varying attempts to imagine a postpetroleum America, one very likely equivalent has received little attention -- the impoverished, dysfunctional nations of the contemporary Third World. Maybe it's time to consider the possibility.
United States - Feb 8
-What’s Missing from the New Clean Energy Agenda?
-Soaring cost of healthcare sets a record
-America Is Not Yet Lost
-Seven States of Energy Debt
UK - Jan 28
-UK Government Classifies Eco Activists as 'Extremists' Alongside Al Qaeda
-UK call for European CAP farming subsidies reform
-Moorlands and hills targeted to grow crops for biomass and biofuels
Swingtime
A lot of things started shaking loose last week, and not just in Haiti. The Scott Brown senate seat victory in Massachussetts shook loose a Democratic "super-majority" that only had to be constructed because the US Senate stupidly turned the filibuster into standard operating procedure where it once was a seldom-used procedural dodge employed strictly by villains seeking to paralyze the chamber. Thanks to the new system, the senate is now in a continual state of paralysis.
United States - Jan 20
-Obama's year in power: Healthcare was tough, but the future is tougher
-A Year Later, Voters Send a Different Message
-A Very American Coup
Real Communities are Self-organizing
John Michael Greer, Sharon Astyk and Rob Hopkins have made some interesting points on the topic of community, and I wish to join the fray. In all of my experience, communities — of people and animals — form instantaneously and rather effortlessly, based on a commonality of interests and needs.



