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John Michael Greer in his estimable Archdruid Report in one of his articles talked about dealing with various aspects of climate denialism a wishful thinking fantasy which twigged a recognition in me. The North Carolina legislators who are trying to pretend that sea level rise won’t happen, like their equivalents in Texas and Virginia, remind me of nothing so much as six-year-olds who . . . → Read More: Evolutionary spiritual fantasies I have recently been reading a lot about the potential for rapid collapse of idustrial society. As an exercise in compare and contrast I decided to read the classic Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbon. Gibbon is of course a man of his times. His prejudices, in favor of monarchy over republican forms of government, against people of color (Arabs, . . . → Read More: Arms in the decline and fall I wrestle with my “Shadow” in my meditations in a sort of self-clearing psychological exercise. These ideas come from that deep self-reflection. In my youth I often felt as though I was shamed by my mother. I remember her telling me often that I was “too smart for my britches.” Her in ability to deal with an inquisitive ADD intelligent boy was often . . . → Read More: Gentle Realizations: Shame and Sabotage Recently at lunch my stepson asked me, somewhat sheepishly, “I don’t really ask people about their beliefs but I would like to hear what you believe.” He knows I am a Christian, scientifically minded, somewhat attracted by meditation, knowledgeable of Buddhism and Hinduism. So I tried to explain it. not with much success, i fear, since it is a long series of things . . . → Read More: What I believe There are serious arguments that Nuclear power is the answer to global warming. In December 2013 Scientific American noted: The low-carbon electricity produced by such reactors provides 20 percent of the nation’s power and, by the estimates of climate scientist James Hansen of Columbia University, avoided 64 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution. They also avoided spewing soot and . . . → Read More: Nuclear power as the solution to global warming With so many slow motion disasters coming at us sometimes it is hard not to despair. And then someone will say the most absurd thing and I have to laugh, ruefully, sadly at the profound depths of human folly. TEPCO, that fount of acumen and honesty has come out with a press release in which they thank the fishing industr . . . → Read More: So long and thanks for all the fish The Guardian has a new piece on “Behind the rise of Boko Haram – ecological disaster, oil crisis, spy games” which highlights the social disruption that I foresee and links it to degradation of the environment due to climate change: The kidnapping of over 200 Nigerian school girls, and the massacre of as many as 300 civilians in the town of Gamboru Ngala, . . . → Read More: Nigerian instability and climate change It is well known (everywhere but in the Climate Denier’s Homeland) that burning fossil fuels causes atmospheric CO² to increase, causes man-made global climate change. It is also clear that the carbon industry has a interest in burning more fuel, each company seeks to maxmise it’s own return by increasing its revenue and reserves. They also fund lavishly the climate deniers and skeptics as well as corrupting the governments that might putatively seek to limit their earth destroying short term profits. . . . → Read More: Burning the midnight oil Charles Hugh Smith has a blog post “How the Middle Class Lifestyle Became Unaffordable” that succinctly describes the quandary of capitalism today. The State has two core mandates: enforce quasi-monopolies and cartels for private capital, and satisfy enough of the citizenry’s demands for more benefits to maintain social stability. . . . → Read More: Private capital and the demands of citizens That bastion of eco-terrorism the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has updated it’s thinking on the true costs of nuclear decommissioning: The Yankee Nuclear Power Station in Rowe, Massachusetts, took 15 years to decommission—or five times longer than was needed to build it. And decommissioning the plant—constructed early in the 1960s for $39 million—cost $608 million. The plant’s spent fuel rods are still stored . . . → Read More: Nuclear Decommissioning True Costs |
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