A war on climate change is a war on materialism, plain and simple. The carbon pollution spewing out of our power plants and tail pipes is a natural byproduct of the monstrous engine of economic growth we have built, an engine that exists solely to satisfy the demand our materialism creates. Indeed this demand is so great that if everyone in the world lived like Americans, we’d … [Read more...]
If you’re not overwhelmed, something’s wrong with you
"The shock, the anger, the sense of overwhelm are all understandable," says psychotherapist Kathy McMahon of the moment when someone first hears about peak oil and gets how scary it can be. McMahon, who practices therapy in Northhampton, MA as the "Peak Shrink," thinks that society needs to normalize the anxiety that people feel about ecological overshoot so that more people … [Read more...]
Doom or boom? Let’s do both!
The twin sides of our fossil-fuel addiction -- energy decline and global climate change -- are the most important topics we can address. Sadly, the national conversation ignores or marginalizes these critical issues. On the rare occasion they inadvertently come up, we act like a roomful of kids with plates full of peas and mashed potatoes, pushing the main course around without … [Read more...]