Recommended Reading, Sept. 11, 2011

[David MacLeod]

A Conversation with Rob Hopkins

Richard Heinberg hosts a conversation with Rob Hopkins on New Thinking in Transition. The podcast begins with Rob giving an update on what is going on in the Transition movement and introducing the upcoming Transition handbook, and is followed by a Q and A. Recorded July 18. (Complete transcript)


Welcome to the Post-Growth Economy by Richard Heinberg
During recent weeks, evidence has piled up that U.S. and European economies, far from recovering, are swirling back into recession. Failure of Americanpoliticians to address the federal debt crisis, the U.S. credit rating downgrade, and increasing fragility of European economies have investors runningfor the hills.

Peak Oil, Peak Debt, and the Concentration of Power by Charles Eisenstein, The Oil Drum

The transition before us is not merely a transition in fuel types. It is also a transition in the whole energy infrastructure, both physical and psychological; a transition away from big power plants, distribution lines, and metered consumers; away from capital-intensive drilling, refining,distribution, and consumer fueling stations. More broadly, it is a transition away from centralization, concentration, and all the social institutions that go along with it.

[Read with a critical eye, because the author may be taking some unwarranted leaps of logic and assumptions [see comment by Rembrandt], but some interesting ideas and concepts are here, and the conversation in the comments below the article is stimulating. - DM ]

Peak Moment TV: Local Investing Made Easy

We're "keeping money flowing locally so we're more prosperous as a community," says James Frazier, co-founder of the Local Investment Opportunities Network (LION) in Port Townsend, Washington. LION is a clearinghouse between business owners like Matthew Day and potential investors like Kees Kolff.
A business owner presents an investment opportunity to LION members. It's all based on one-to-one personal relationships, so support can be more than monetary, says Kees — such as interest paid in locally-produced cheese and cider!

[This LION model from Port Townsend is what has inspired our own Whatcom Investing Network. Watch the video, then consider joining WIN. - DM]

Hell and High Water Stoke Texas Blaze by Joe Romm, Climate Progress

Here is irony befitting a Shakespearean tragedy. Gov. Rick Perry finally got what he called on all Texans to pray for -- some rain -- but it was almost entirely dumped elsewhere and the winds of Tropical Storm Lee merely served to stoke the most brutal wildfires anyone had ever seen. This unprecedented climate impact is, indeed, Hell and High Water. Time's headline is, "Texas Burns as the Rest of the Country Drowns" But, of course, they have no mention of climate change whatsoever.

KunstlerCast: The End of Growth

A two part conversation between Richard Heinberg and James Howard Kunstler. The conversation covers peak oil, financial dysfunction, political convulsions, generational conflict, techno-grandiosity, the fate of industrial agriculture and the suburban living arrangement. Heinberg also reacts tobeing labeled a "Doomer".

 

Sustaining Our Better Angels by Kathy McMahon, Peak Oil Blues
We have within us, the very innate altruistic qualities needed to work our way back to that simpler, communally-focused way of life– the 75% reduction that Dr. Rees said was possible–that will bring us back to our senses. It is happening already. Locally. Methodically. Little by little. Step-by-step.

Heinberg and Hagens Chat About the Economy - web chat with Richard Heinberg, Nate Hagens, and Asher Miller

"I am actively substituting real captial instead of financial. Im getting in better shape, meeting my neighbors, trying to be happy with the things I have instead of accumulating more, and trying to reduce my use of technology (because it hijacked my brain which caused other consumptive behaviors)> We dont have an energy shortage but a longage of expectations - reducing expectations and keeping them more in line with our ecology is a tall order, but one I recommend..."

Cherry Point Coal Terminal Update: Carl's Dogs and the Case of the ..., by Preston Schilling, Whatcom Watch

Nary a day went by in July and August without some astonishing news on the coal front. Just when you thought that the coal terminal proposal and related activities might be slowed to a crawl while SSA scrambled to assemble new permit applications for site expansion and shoreline activities, just when you thought that you might have a bit of a summer’s respite from dirty coal, just when you thought it was safe to hike, bike, or paddle without worry, just when you planned, as Carl Weimer did, to take a quiet and relaxing hike with dog pals—just then you bumped up against a massive and destructive clearing of sensitive areas in the area proposed for the Cherry Point coal terminal.

 

Gleaning Grain by Walter Haugen, Transition Whatcom

At my Sustainable Ag class this week, we did an exercise in gleaning grain. I had already cut some of my wheat using a sickle and wheelbarrow. There was some on the ground which is part and parcel of harvesting by hand. Three of us got down on our hands and knees and picked grain stalks off the ground into buckets. I snapped off my stems leaving just the spike, or rachis, but the other two people left their stems intact. We harvested for 10 minutes, or 30 minutes total. We chatted while we worked and so the experiment was quite similar to someone working for a lengthy period (talk & work, talk & work, drink water, talk & work, etc.).

Conversations with Great Minds: Bill McKibben video

For tonight's "Conversations with Great Minds" - Thom is joined by author, environmentalist, and activist Bill Mckibben. In 1988, he wrote "The End of Nature...