The Enemy’s Ring and Our Ethical Quandary

But I like a scenario in which the heroic masses reach the end of their tolerance before that happens. They—we—rebel, withdraw, dismantle, and replace the evil practices with more ethical ones while the planet is still livable.

‘Small is Beautiful – A Study of Economics as if People Mattered’

Some books are so well observed, so prescient, that even their supporters are seemingly overwhelmed by their material implications, and turn away from the truths they annunciate: ‘Small is Beautiful’ is such an example.

An Inconvenient Apocalypse with Bob Jensen (Bonus episode of Crazy Town)

Bob Jensen has written a book with Wes Jackson titled An Inconvenient Apocalypse: Environmental Collapse, Climate Crisis, and the Fate of Humanity. With a title like that, Jason and Bob have lots of heavy ground to cover, including overshoot, the limits to growth, and the cascading environmental and social crises of our times. They conclude that there are no easy answers or silver-bullet solutions, but by focusing on sustainable size of the human population, appropriate scale of social organization, optimal scope of human competence for managing high-energy modernity, and required speed of taking action to avoid catastrophe, they home in on some strategic responses to the crises. For episode notes and more information, please visit our website.

Transcript

Melody Travers Allison

Hi, this is producer Melody Travers Allison. Welcome to our latest bonus episode of Crazy Town. This time, Jason goes in depth with Bob Jensen, former professor of journalism at the University of Texas, and a tireless advocate for environmental health and social justice. Bob recently wrote a book with Wes Jackson called. “An Inconvenient Apocalypse.” With a title like that, we saw our chance to bring you yet another lighthearted, whimsical topic. Before you get to the interview, please take a minute to subscribe, rate, you know, do those things that help others make their way to Crazy Town now for the interview.

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Climate, Covid & Wishful Thinking

The challenges presented by climate chaos and the Covid-19 pandemic have both elicited cultural responses that superficially appear to be opposed to one another, but that end up working hand-in-hand to bolster a status quo that’s intrinsically harmful to everyone. Both succeed by appealing to wishful thinking.