Analyst of the human illusions about our place in the Earth System. Soon to be published: Holding It Together: Social Control in a New Era of Great Transformation. My eBook, HOPEFUL REALISM: A Climate Manifesto, is available on Amazon; free download via Kindle Unlimited. https://smile.amazon.com/Hopeful-Realism-Robert-MacNeil-Christie-ebook/dp/B0B52F18CX/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2LWKLZZGP6BB3&keywords=hopeful+realism:+a+climate+manifesto&qid=1656946028&s=books&sprefix=,stripbooks,428&sr=1-1
It was a wonderful four months a year ago last winter in La Peñita, basking in the temperate sunshine of the Pacific coast an hour’s drive north of Puerto Vallarta, the longest time we’ve spent in Mexico. We’ve grown fond of the people we have gotten to know there. They are unselfconsciously generous, easygoing, and ever so … More On the Road Again: Leaving La Peñita
Acknowledging the Climate Emergency opens one up to all sorts of intellectual struggles with a reality that confounds even great minds. The industrialized nations and most of their intellectuals seem either unwilling or unable to face the magnitude of the hard facts. They do not know how to take action to ameliorate the immediate and … More Two Views of the Climate Emergency: David Wallace-Wells and Bill McKibben
At first, twice a day at the dog park was barely enough to burn off a good portion of Copper’s seemingly boundless puppy-energy. For a while, it was a bit of a chore, but fun to watch her run and play with the other dogs. We discovered a whole culture of human social organization at … More Joy of Dog III
It is as sad as it is fascinating to observe the complete disconnect between the assumptions behind current emerging trade wars and those behind the current pretensions of nations to taking climate action. On the one hand, news reports of steps taken on either side in the escalation of Trump’s trade war with China assume … More Trade Wars and Climate Chaos
Copper has an on-off switch. Two positions: full speed ahead and sleep soundly. Even when she’s being “bad,” stealing sox or slippers and playing keep away with anything she knows I want back, it’s all about having fun. Humans should be so free. Vizslas don’t fully mature until four or five. At four, she … More Joy of Dog II
Once the extractivist culture began plundering the forests of North America for construction materials and fiber for paper and other products was well underway, the threat of major forest fires grew. A number of factors were involved. The ideology and practice of forest-fire suppression to protect the property and sometimes lives of those who encroached … More Controlled Burns: Misallocation of technology and labor
I didn’t really want another dog. We enjoyed Shadow for nearly sixteen years, the last couple of which were very difficult for us all. Weimaraner life expectancy is 11 or 12. Shadow was a wonderful dog, but once she passed after almost 16 years, I didn’t want to take on the responsibility again, not for … More Joy of dog
The term “resilience” has become a two-edged sword. On the one hand, it projects the idea of humanity being able to do what we must to survive long term by changing human behavior. On the other hand, too many perceive the term to mean only our ability to adapt to conditions of life as they … More Resilience Redux: Revisiting Mitigation and Adaptation as Climate Chaos, Ecosystem Collapse, and Extinctions Accelerate
Trust. Who do you know that you know you can always trust? How much does it matter to you? Do you trust your money to buy today’s value next year? Probably not. You know that several presidents have taken “executive action” to tweak the official calculation of inflation to make it look smaller than the … More Cascading Consequences of Terminating Trust
When my well failed a while back, I had just begun re-reading E.F. Schumacher’s book, Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. It is a remarkable book, even more relevant today than in 1973, and available in many newer editions. Schumacher’s perspective of “Buddhist Economics” emerged from his experience as an economic development expert … More Water Wells and Appropriate Technology
Robert MacNeil Christie, Author 