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The house that freedom built

By February 2, 2012
yurt

Let's say you want to resign from the rat race, unplug from the Matrix and start living in harmony with nature. Where to begin? The quest for freedom can start with buying less stuff, getting out of debt or learning to meet more of your own needs yourself. But for many, the path away from consumerism is blocked by the brick wall of a mortgage. All too often making the payments is modern debt slavery that ties you to a job you may hate and a daily commute that wastes money and time while … [Read more...]

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Peak kitsch: “The Crisis of Civilization”

By January 31, 2012
Carbon Man

An ongoing issue in the peak oil world is how to tell the story of declining non-renewable resources in a way that's accessible to a wider audience, while remaining credible to experts. To reach out without dumbing down. Most experts on energy and the economy have already made up their minds on the financial crisis, global warming and peak oil and no one documentary is going to shake the faith of these stalwarts. But the public is a different story and there's plenty of room there for … [Read more...]

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Occupying your bookshelf

By January 26, 2012
Occupy Wall Street library

To refute critics in the mainstream media who claim that the Occupy movement has no demands, Occupy! Scenes from Occupied America, edited by a team of activist editors including Astra Taylor and Keith Gessen, begins with a list of demands from organizers in an OWS planning meeting in New York. These range from the expected -- repealing Citizens United, debt forgiveness and a "Tobin" tax on financial transactions -- to the quirky -- removing the bull sculpture from Wall Street and … [Read more...]

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Review of Growthbusters: Hooked on Growth 

By January 24, 2012
Growthbusters

Does growth always mean prosperity? To people who have been paying attention to economic and environmental trends in the last decade or two, much of the basic information in the film Growthbusters: Hooked on Growth won't come as a surprise. We know our farmland, fisheries, timber supply, atmosphere and economy are all in decline. And we may see that driving all of these trends is the relentless expansion of human population, now over seven billion. Who you gonna call? What Growthbusters … [Read more...]

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Paying the Bills. Review: The Frugal Superpower

By January 23, 2012
Injured Piggy Bank

For some, the distinction between coolly rational foreign policy theorists and messianic interventionists out to remake the world in America's image is enticing. Lively, endless debate ensues. Did our not-fully engaged engagement in Egypt and Libya get it right, or did we allow radical elements in Islam an opening? Did we fail in Vietnam because we didn't allow ourselves to win, or…? Is red wine better than white? Too broke The Frugal Superpower: America's Global Leadership In a … [Read more...]

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The Happy Hoarder: Fire in the belly

By January 19, 2012
Fire

If there's one thing that stirs the Happy Hoarder's anxiety it's wondering where my sources of heat and light are going to come from in the post-peak fall. Candles don't just light themselves my friend, fire doesn't grow on trees, and I'm no Ben Franklin. Anyway, I need my keys to keep my hoarded treasures safe. So I started myself to thinking a long while back, "What sources of flame will I need to ignite the twigs to heat my storm kettle, light my backyard brick oven, or kindle the … [Read more...]

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Why Jane, you look lovely! Review: AUSTENtatious Crochet

By January 17, 2012
Cap and Muff

Images of the post peak-ocalypse tend toward the grim. Even when we imagine ourselves earnestly gardening our edible plots and sharing hand tools and home brews with neighbors, in the background we see the haunting specter of mutant zombie bikers. We also wonder whether there will or can be any aesthetic pleasures in a world made by hand if that world is cobbled together like a MacGyver experiment, all duct tape, bunny ears and twine. Is there not some reason to fear I may be wrong? But … [Read more...]

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From the vault: Review of Sacred Demise

By January 10, 2012
Grieving Angel

Carolyn Baker’s book, Sacred Demise: Walking the Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization’s Collapse, offers a very strong dose of reality. While Baker saves some of her most gasp-worthy assertions for the end of her book, it's safe to say that there isn’t a page that doesn’t possess qualities similar to those of cod liver oil: it’s for our own good … if only there were something about it to enjoy! Even the title doesn’t give the reader much wiggle room. For instance, the … [Read more...]

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Twitter will set you free to Occupy

By January 9, 2012
Hash-Tag

I'm pretty conflicted about computers and the Internet these days. On the one hand, I run an internet magazine, build websites for small businesses and local good causes alike and even get paid to help people use Facebook and Twitter. It's fun too, since we all know that the web is the ultimate instant gratifier. Where else can you write an article or make a change to a visual design and, within minutes, hear back about it from somebody halfway around the world? It's all too easy, it's all … [Read more...]

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2012: Peak preparedness or plutocratic pepper spray?

By January 6, 2012
Rap News screenshot

The popularity of prophecies from the Mayan calendar and alien invasions to financial collapse, oil crash and nuclear war in the Mideast all suggest that 2012 is the year that the industrial world has picked for its own final reckoning. And if you believe Robert Foster in the latest episode of Rap News #Occupy 2012, this could be the year when humanity gets the ultimate thumbs up or down. Will the global #Occupy movement succeed in overthrowing corporate control of the economy and … [Read more...]

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