Tag: societal collapse

Two Views of the Climate Emergency: David Wallace-Wells and Bill McKibben

June 17, 2019

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

Decision to Land

April 16, 2019

In aviation, it is all about making the right decisions and executing them with precision and exact timing. From what I have learned about the incident when Captain Sullenberger landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River after a flock of geese took out his engines, the man is a consummate aviator. He rapidly … More Decision to Land

The Best (only viable)Adaptation is Mitigation

February 25, 2019

A policy of adaptation to climate change as the primary response to climate change would not only be self-defeating. It would tax all human and material capital on the planet in pursuit of an impossible dream. It is fundamentally failure-bound because climate chaos would easily overwhelm it. That is why the Green New Deal is … More The Best (only viable)Adaptation is Mitigation

Beyond Resistance

August 30, 2018

Resistance seems necessary, though clearly, it is not sufficient. What will resistance get us, really? A slower unraveling of American Democracy? Maybe, but not much slower. Democracies die not so much by military coup but by slow erosion of crucial institutions such as the courts and the press. The anti-democratic forces of the corporate state … More Beyond Resistance

Beyond Resistance: Replacement and Restoration for Resilience

January 22, 2018

Resist we must. But what will that get us, really? Well, catharsis yes. However, that is clearly not enough. Will resistance bring a slower unraveling of American Democracy? Maybe, maybe not. The deep entanglement of political institutions with the increasingly monopolistic “technosphere” is so extensive that only resistance that borders on revolution might make a … More Beyond Resistance: Replacement and Restoration for Resilience

Economics of Happiness vs. Corporate Globalization

January 19, 2018

I just watched the condensed version of the award winning film, “The Economics of Happiness.” It is available on the Local Futures website. It confirms just about all the research findings on climate change, globalization, poverty, pollution, violence, and a host of other issues I have followed for the past decade while writing my forthcoming … More Economics of Happiness vs. Corporate Globalization

Civility and the Climate Impacts of Denialism

December 4, 2017

Yesterday, I read an article in the Scientific American discussing a key dilemma that stymies climate action. No standards exist that could provide firm measures of how much carbon emissions reduction is necessary by what date to avoid the worst climate chaos. The article asked the difficult question of how much CO2 we must remove … More Civility and the Climate Impacts of Denialism

Dangerous Transitions in the New Great Transformation

May 3, 2017

Humanity is entering a New Great Transformation like no other. This transformation is not the first, but it may be the last. That will depend on human action and whether we act quickly, both globally and locally. Perhaps the first great transformation was the discovery and control of fire, according to renowned biological anthropologist, Richard … More Dangerous Transitions in the New Great Transformation

The Three R’s of Resilience and the New Great Transformation

March 12, 2017

We struggle to achieve meaningful responses to the converging crises of economy, ecology, and climate, while fighting for social and climate justice. Remarkably, what appear to be the only remaining viable responses to the economic, ecological and climate crises also constitute the only viable means to achieve social and climate justice. We achieve both goals … More The Three R’s of Resilience and the New Great Transformation