Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
These days, I see how optimistic and positive disaster and apocalypse movies were. Remember how, when those giant asteroids or alien space ships headed directly for Earth, everyone rallied and acted as one while our leaders led? We’re in a movie like that now, except that there’s not a lot of rallying or much leading above the grassroots level.
I am sometimes asked why I spend my time writing about farming and gardening when, it is suggested, there are more important topics to which to apply my talents. That, in one sentence, indicates one of the most troublesome cultural problems that modern society faces today: the notion that food-getting is not an important enough subject to merit the close attention of all of us.
In this animated dialogue, natural resource analyst Sean Brodrick provides a sharp-eyed perspective on what may be coming in this precarious economy and how to prepare for it.
I bloody hate Earth Day. No offense to those of you who love it, and I know there are some awesome Earth Day programs out there, but by the time we get there, I’m spending my days hiding under the covers, because every freakin’ time I open my email inbox a wave of the most nauseating spew of greenwashing comes flowing out.
Last week none of us had ever heard of an Icelandic volcano called Eyjafjallajokull, and still even now, very few of us can actually pronounce its name. The volcanic dust spewn forth across Europe as a result of its spectacular eruption has had a remarkable effect, leading to, among other things, the total grounding of the UK’s aviation fleet for several days until this morning….But perhaps rather than seeing it as the ‘misery’ most news broadcasts labelled it as, we might see it as good practice for the near future.
(First-hand report)
At the People’s World Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, the consistent message is ecological, indigenous, communitarian and anti-corporate. The great majority of speakers sound radical and have the support of the thousands of attendees.
We currently live within an integrated complex globalised economy. We have framed the process in which this occurs as a catastrophic bifurcation, driven by a series of reinforcing positive feedbacks. The final point will be a de-globalised (localised) economy of much reduced complexity.
When it comes to White-Collar Crime and Control Fraud, the Roosevelt Institute Braintruster William K. Black is surely the leading expert to ask. In an exclusive interview in two parts, he answers questions related to major causes for the financial / economic crisis, the SEC charges against Goldman Sachs and the importance of drug money for the survival of the international banking system in our times.
Many people see governments with ministers and presidents as the only way of ruling a country, even in democratic systems. It may seem that since all countries are now ruled by some form of government — parliamentary, presidential or monarchal — it must have always been like that. Well, it wasn’t.
We know that emerging issues are emerging because they have a social form. Art gives us clues about the changing meanings of the future.
-Oath Keepers and the Age of Treason
-‘Christian Warriors’: Who Are The Hutaree Militia And Where Did They Come From?
-The Return of Christian Terrorism
-Chomsky Warns of Risk of Fascism in America
Welcome to the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth—a massive meeting organized by the Bolivian government in response to the resounding failure of the United Nations-sponsored climate talks in Copenhagen last year.
– Video clips
– From Buenos Aires to Cochabamba (Guardian)
– Changing the Climate for Justice (ColorLines)
– “People’s climate conference” in Bolivia kicks off with ambitious aims (Grist)
– What Evo Morales wants
