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 … [Read more...]
Transition groups getting things done
I'm glad that John Michael Greer's frank feedback on the Transition movement has generated a healthy discussion among Transition Voice readers. While no one is a bigger supporter of Transition than we are, we welcome an open discussion about how to best help our households and our communities to prepare for an economy that will continue to contract as peaks in energy and other … [Read more...]
Transition plans and meetings a waste of time, says Greer
After he spoke on the panel about local solutions at the ASPO-USA Truth in Energy Conference held in Washington, DC earlier this month, I asked John Michael Greer to give us some of his thoughts about the Transition Movement. He obliged us and so we offer his comments in full below. Greer is the author of numerous books on peak oil and other subjects including The Wealth of … [Read more...]
Young farmers: Anybody want to be a serf?
“I don’t know a single person under 30 who doesn’t want to own a farm,” wrote Fran Korten in an issue of YES! Magazine devoted to jobs and alternative careers. "A growing segment of people don’t want to just buy organic, healthy food. They want to grow it. This new lust to farm seems to cross class, race, and politics." This farm-lust probably doesn't feature the ambition to … [Read more...]
Adam Smith got it way, way wrong!
I love the way John Michael Greer's latest book, The Wealth of Nature, opens, with a good skewering of the premise on which the modern pseudo-science of economics depends. Exposing 18th century philosopher Adam Smith's thinking in The Wealth of Nations as flawed, Greer goes on to explain what Smith missed, why it's important, and how we can turn the error in history … [Read more...]