Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
– New York Times writer Andrew Revkin on climate change: “Occupy wherever you are to help us have a smarter relationship with energy”
– You Got To Move: Stories of Change in the South (documentary on Highlander Folk School)
– My Path To Transition Organizing
– Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
– YES Magazine: Corporate Rule Is Not Inevitable
– Wall Street Journal: The New American Divide
– SOPA, PIPA Stalled: Meet the OPEN Act
– Bill Moyers is back: Crony Capitalism
– The Occupy movement in London: three months on
– Occupy Wall Street’s Next Phase: Avoid Cooptation in Election Season
– 2002-2012: Remembering the Social Movements that Reimagined Argentina
– Goodbye Lenin?
This Wednesday afternoon, the Obama administration rejected the permit for Keystone XL, a 1,700 mile oil pipeline that would have run from the tar sands of Alberta to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. The announcement is a huge victory for the grassroots climate movement. While the fight to stop the Keystone XL pipeline is over for now, the political battle over the consequences of Obama’s decision is just beginning. Big Oil front groups like the American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are already spending millions of dollars on TV ads to bash the President over Keystone XL.
– Boston Globe on McKibben: The man who crushed the Keystone XL pipeline
– David Suzuki: What’s So Radical About Caring for the Earth and Opposing Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline?
– After Keystone XL Decision, Don’t Believe GOP Hype on Energy
Today’s industrial societies preen themselves on their openness to change and the vast number of choices they provide to their inmates — er, citizens. Why is it, then, that all those changes and choices inevitably amount to more of what we’ve already got — which is not exactly working well any more? The Archdruid considers the options, and offers an unwelcome but necessary suggestion.
“Democracy,” wrote John Dewey, “is more than a form of government.” The image we are given of democracy is often reduced to administration, the implementation and management of the necessary, but the legitimacy of the state in democracies is inseparable from some notion of the general will. Democracy, as Rousseau argued, requires some process for the formation of the “general will,” by reference to which decision-making can be measured.
– Sopa plans set to be shelved as Obama comes out against piracy legislation
– Wikipedia to shut for 24 hours to stop anti-piracy act
– Explainer: understanding Sopa
– How PIPA and SOPA Violate Free Speech and Innovation
– Momentum shift: SOPA, PIPA opponents now in driver’s seat
– Rupert Murdoch Goes on Twitter Rampage Targeting Obama, Google
– Revolving Door: From Top Futures Regulator to Top Futures Lobbyist
– Pew Research Center: Rising Share of Americans See Conflict Between Rich and Poor
– Bill Moyers: Back With a New Series
– Bill Moyers: “They are occupying Wall Street because Wall Street has occupied America.”
Four uprisings of global significance surprised the world in 2011, and the spirit of all four will surprise those who manage the food system in 2012—which leads to my choice of year-end and year-beginning indicators that pick up the colors of these uprisings in emerging habits related to eating.
– Clinton on OWS: “What they’re doing is great”
– Newt Goes Full ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Against Romney
– Occupy 2012: Firmly disorganized, driven by dreams
– Why Now? What’s Next? Naomi Klein and Yotam Marom in Conversation About Occupy Wall Street
A sustainable world that works for the 99% is possible, if we can respond to climate change, economic injustice and resource depletion at the same time. The transition to a renewable energy economy can be a valuable frame for that discussion. Just as the financial elites brought about the economic crisis, they are blocking the renewable energy transition to reap more profit from their fossil fuel investments. Because of fuel depletion as well as climate change, further delay may prevent a successful transition. Social justice and sustainability advocates can blow the whistle on the 1% for this issue too, and collaborate to speed up the transition locally.
