Capitalists: The Flat-Earthers of the 21st Century
I’m not just talking about the old white guy with the mustache and top hat in Monopoly. I’m talking about all the folks who think the market will save us and that the economy must grow and that to be critical of all that is to be unpatriotic or a threat to social order. And [...]
When Conservatives Question Corporate Motives
I am always pleased when conservatives question the social commitment of corporations. You don’t actually have to be a radical left winger to reasonably question whether corporations care about us, profits or the damage from oil in the Gulf. I know it is irresponsible for any sensible person to adopt the radical left wing stance [...]
Eco-Leaders Kerala, Sikkim and Montgomery County
In an era when effective global agreements on addressing climate breakdown are still elusive, it’s encouraging to see sub-national groups taking a lead. Kerala and Sikkim in India and Montgomery County in Maryland are working on organic farming and carbon taxes. The southern Indian state of Kerala has officially announced a new farming policy which [...]
Our Civil Demand: From Petty to Profound
In thinking about pettiness in the political arena, it’s easy to see it show up in the daily headlines. But what we really need are people who catalyze our culture to places of greatness and even just the expectation of greatness. CNN showed Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech from August 1963 on [...]
US Military Gearing Up for Peak Oil for 2012-2015
When the US military is talking peak oil in an imminent context, we should start paying attention. The US military has warned that surplus oil production capacity could disappear within two years and there could be serious shortages by 2015 with a significant economic and political impact. The energy crisis [is] outlined in a Joint [...]
A Detroit Electric Car from 90 Years Ago
Click through the other 18 pictures to see decades of great green technology, though I don’t think I would have included the first diesel engine in the collection. In pictures: Green technology through the ages | Environment | guardian.co.uk. A Detroit Electric, an early electric car, travels a mountain road from Seattle to Mount Rainier, [...]
Seeing Social Movement Theory in Christmas Movies
I’m hyper-attuned to building a social movement. In fact, I’m seeing it all over the place, from tight clusters of birds whipping around in their collective unconscious to Christmas movies. Watching Polar Express tonight reminded me of my favourite part of the film near the end. Everyone’s waiting for Santa to come out and play. [...]
Economic Growth is a Cancer: Meet Steady State Economics
For decades I’ve been hearing about and studying how humans are living beyond the planet’s capability of sustaining us…and that we’ve been doing so quite unequally. And what have we done about that? Embraced neoliberal, deregulated free market capitalism: the economic expression of rape and pillage. Reduce, reuse, recycle neglects the real first R: refuse. [...]
The Blue Summit Declaration: A Companion to Copenhagen
I was thrilled to read the Blue Summit Declaration that emerged from last weekend’s Blue Summit in Ottawa celebrating the 10th anniversary of Water Watch. As we head into Copenhagen in a few days, it is critical to assert companion declarations about the sanctity of core elements of life and the symbiotic relationship we must recognize with [...]
Oh Canada, the Climate Criminal
George Monbiot is one of my heroes. The breadth of clarity he brings to issues is quite refreshing. He has finally given in to pressure, thankfully, to start taking shots at our wonderful, glorious, selfless, polite and all-around loving country. Canada is a climate criminal. Stephen Harper and the Conservative-Liberal coalition government are the don [...]
We’re Failing Our Grandchildren on Stopping Climate Breakdown
Our grandchildren will hate us for our informed inaction on climate change. I refuse to bear this. I’m watching a National Geographic documentary on climate breakdown right now on the Knowledge Network. Saharan dust storms are madly increasing the rates of asthma and decreasing the health of sea fans on the reefs…in the Caribbean! The [...]
Chinese Protectionism Offends Our Protectionism, Oh My!
We’re now entering a new era of profound hypocrisy from global neoliberal capitalists. Today’s Globe and Mail had a cover story about China hoarding raw materials for infrastructure development while getting all protectionist with export controls to keep those materials from getting to the industrialized world, where presumably we deserve to have them more than [...]
Oil Status Quo Apologists Spin Weak Arguments
Maclean’s Colin Campbell has produced today an interesting counterpoint to my exuberance over Jeff Rubin’s convenient vindication of my peak oil killing neoliberal globalization thesis. And despite Rubin not knowing me, I fell it’s appropriate to defend him–and my–sense of the near future. My comments are indented. Energy shock and oil myths Will soaring prices crush [...]
Peak Oil Will Kill Neoliberal Globalization: More Support
A year ago today, I wrote about how a few years earlier at lunch with friends I was thinking that peak oil will kill neoliberal globalization. Last year, there was a piece in Report on Business about just that, making me feel mighty vindicated. It’s nice to see corporate media affirming your views. A few [...]
Coining Phrases for Fun and Profit: “Paradigm Mechanic” and “Peak Clutter” Are the New Ones
First there was “The Four Horsemen of Structural Adjustment,” which showed up in my MA thesis on Canada’s squandering of an authentic human security agenda as our neoliberalism has made an economic colony of Haiti. I googled it and it was nowhere to be found in the context I determined. It’s all about how the [...]
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