"We live in an anti-political moment," wrote David Brooks last week in the New York Times, "when many people — young people especially — think politics is a low, nasty, corrupt and usually fruitless business. It’s much nobler to do community service or just avoid all that putrid noise." Brooks rightly suggests that seeing Steven Spielberg's new film Lincoln will show that … [Read more...]
Cheer up — things really are as bad as you think
In last week's election, Obama may have been a better choice than the alternative, but no American president is likely to have much positive impact on climate change, peak oil and the worldwide economic crisis anytime soon. Given the sorry state of national governments, controlled as they are by rapacious corporations driven by the profit motive, there's little chance of either … [Read more...]
Three French hens
In response to a European Union directive to divert waste from landfills, local governments across the continent have had to come up with ways to meet the target goals or else face large fines. In France, the microscopic town of Pincé (population: 206) has come up with a particularly creative and logical solution: Backyard chickens for all. What originally began as a joke, … [Read more...]
Today’s distress is blocking the economy of tomorrow
If you still know anybody who thinks the economy is in "recovery," just lay this one single statistic on them: one in two recent U.S. college graduates today is unemployed or underemployed, unable to find work in his or her chosen field. "Young adults with bachelor's degrees are increasingly scraping by in lower-wage jobs – waiter or waitress, bartender, retail clerk or … [Read more...]
Today, I’m running for city council
I'm a guy who's into the global Transition movement, who worries about peak oil and even thinks that Occupy Wall Street makes some good points. That's why I'm running for public office (see my campaign website). And today is election day. But don't expect to see anything about my race on MSNBC or even in one of those emails asking you to give five bucks to some candidate in … [Read more...]