The magazine on peak oil and the Transition movement
Big Oil, Big Coal and other powerful special interests have long thwarted the will of the peoples of the world's industrialized nations to stop and reverse ecological overshoot. If you care about climate change or peak oil, it's crucial to understand the role of big polluters in politics and what citizens can do to take back our democracies so we can move towards a clean, human-scale economy.
Any empire requires three elements for its own survival. As an empire declines, it becomes necessary to push harder on all three fronts: obedience at home, oppression abroad, and destruction of the living planet. I present a few examples of each phenomenon and embed a brief video clip at the end. Obedience at home was the subject of a recent essay in this space. Those who do not obey the … [Read more...]
Editors note: This piece ran last year on Eric Francis's Planet Waves website and it remains an important touchstone concerning how the main stream media continues to act as the lapdog to Big Oil and Big Energy in general. After reading this piece, ask yourself, how much has changed in the major media relative to critical reporting on the facts concerning fossil fuels extraction processes, the … [Read more...]
The big brouhaha over former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden's whistle-blowing revelation that the government is tuning in to every last thing We The People are doing has resulted in exactly the effect that an authoritarian government would most want to achieve: leaving us all quaking in fear and paranoia. For my part, I'm neither ready to declare Snowden a hero nor to … [Read more...]
According to legend, Ernest Hemingway bet his 1920s-era colleagues he could write a complete story in just six words. Hemingway is said to have considered the resulting piece his best work: “For Sale, Baby Shoes, Never Worn.” Making no attempt to keep up with Hemingway, this article provides an overview of the dire climate-change situation in fewer than 300 words. Perhaps even Twitter users … [Read more...]
Below we present the first chapter of The End of the World by Reverend Billy, leader of the Church of Stop Shopping. Sparing neither fire nor brimstone, the good Reverend preaches sinners in the hands of an angry Earth. He calls on humanity to change its evil ways before the final judgment, inspiring the congregation to a faith that, after Hurricane Sandy, will not allow any of us to sit on … [Read more...]
Quiz time, readers: what do the US Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, the Transportation Department, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Interior, the Energy Department, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce, the Government Accountability Office, and the CIA have in common? It’s a long list of government departments … [Read more...]
After I saw Matt Damon and John Krasinski's new fracking drama Promised Land, I couldn't help but compare it to the slew of trite pieces trotted out during the previews. There was the typical wedding family hijinks RomCom; the take-no-prisoners gangster-fest; the scorched-earth-meets-futuristic-savior piece; and some picture about a lovable psychotic redeemed by a chick. Guilty pleasures, … [Read more...]
Self-interest lies at the root of capitalism. This self-interest is a thoroughly predictable, steadily consistent feature of the human landscape and can reasonably be viewed as a solid foundation upon which to build. Self- interest can serve as both motivation and a salve for weary spirits. Kept within commonly-accepted bounds, it acts as a spur against laziness, and a hopeful haven for … [Read more...]
This election year, the total collapse of industrial civilization has gained a popularity not seen since the heyday of The Planet of the Apes franchise. All over the blogosphere, people who worry about climate change, peak oil, financial meltdown, debt slavery, species extinction, overpopulation and rampant commercialism along with the spread of military drones, techno-warfare and the … [Read more...]
At last night's third and final presidential debate, we heard about horses and bayonets, nukes and drones, Israel and Iran and whether we should just give up on Pakistan. But, for the first time since 1988, we didn't hear anything last night or in either of the two previous debates this year about climate change. As to energy, it came up much less in last night's foreign policy debate than … [Read more...]