by Dr.Jim Stephenson
NSUC 13 November 2011

This article helps us understand our unwillingness to change and how and why we must.

Over the last few years I have become increasingly aware that the path of our society is not sustainable in several ways.
We won’t be able to continue as we are. Sooner or later, stuff will hit the fan.

Naturally, I set out to help my society recognize the dangers and to make the necessary changes. Employing a naive view of the political process, I wrote articles, gave presentations, and ran for political office. It was encouraging having people like Bill McKibben, James Hanson, and Al Gore helping me.

However, as time went by, I noticed that this approach was not leading to the necessary actions. Citizens were not studying the issues, considering the tradeoffs, and electing politicians to do the right thing. Most people were not interested, thought the complexity was too great, fell for the most simplistic campaign slogans, and reacted emotionally.

Intrigued by this dysfunctional behaviour, I set out to explore the ability of humans to practice foresight. After all, one of the characteristics which distinguishes Homo sapiens from other species is an awareness of the future and an ability to plan actions today which affect tomorrow. Today I will share some of my findings about this ability and its past, present, and future use. Read the complete Post.

August 13, 2011
by George Mobus

Unless you’ve had your head in the sand you cannot help but be wondering what is going on. Or, if you are like me you may think you understand exactly what the problems are, and more importantly what is the root cause. The last two weeks have been wild WRT the global economy and social unrest. And with the kickoff of the political season for the Republicans, the entertainment value of all of this has skyrocketed.

I’ve had three or four blog topics in various stages of write up that I have been wanting to get finished and posted. But every day some new extreme event has distracted me. It has been hard enough to keep on task with my book writing with what has been going on in the world. It has been essentially impossible to give any mind time to these blog topics (more on education, judgment, and, of course, biophysical economics principles).

***Most of the recent events have actually not surprised me much. They are all in one way or another tied to economics and I have been long suggesting that the net energy decline we are in will cause economic activity to contract with all sorts of consequences. So seeing some of those consequences come to pass is not what bothers me. I think what tends to cause me the greatest distress is the fact that the people who are in front of the cameras and microphones, the ones who purport to be the pundits and experts on politics and economics, have still not got a clue and don’t seem inclined to find one.*** They are all still trying to gen up stories about what is happening based on their conventional wisdom and so completely miss the root problem. They will probably never really understand what is happening because most of them probably never took a college-level physics course in their lives. Read the complete Post.

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) Food prices are skyrocketing all across the globe, and there’s no end in sight. The United Nations says food inflation is currently at 30% a year, and the fast-eroding value of the dollar is causing food prices to appear even higher (in contrast to a weakening currency). As the dollar drops in value due to runaway money printing at the Federal Reserve, the cost to import foods from other nations looks to double in just the next two years — and possibly every two years thereafter.

That’s probably why investors around the globe are flocking to farmland as the new growth industry. “Investors are pouring into farmland in the U.S. and parts of Europe, Latin America and Africa as global food prices soar,” reports Bloomberg magazine (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-…). “A fund controlled by George Soros, the billionaire hedge-fund manager, owns 23.4 percent of South American farmland venture Adecoagro SA.”

Jim Rogers is also quoted in the same story, saying, “I have frequently told people that one of the best investments in the world will be farmland.” Read the complete Post.

Posted on Jul 15, 2011
By David Sirota

NOTE: I am convinced that government policies that favor junk food over fruits, vegetables, and plant based proteins, are immoral. They degrade human health and jeopardize wellness. Vandy

The easiest way to explain Gallup’s discovery that millions of Americans are eating fewer fruits and vegetables than they ate last year is to simply crack a snarky joke about Whole Foods really being “Whole Paycheck.” Rooted in the old limousine liberal iconography, the quip conjures the notion that only Birkenstock-wearing trust-funders can afford to eat right in tough times.

It seems a tidy explanation for a disturbing trend, implying that healthy food is inherently more expensive, and thus can only be for wealthy Endive Elitists when the economy falters. But if the talking point’s carefully crafted mix of faux populism and oversimplification seems a bit facile—if the glib explanation seems almost too perfectly sculpted for your local right-wing radio blowhard—that’s because it dishonestly omits the most important part of the story. The part about how healthy food could easily be more affordable for everyone right now, if not for those ultimate elitists: agribusiness CEOs, their lobbyists and the politicians they own. Read the complete Post.

By Rick Balfour

July 12, 2011

alr-land-access-report-draft-b2

This is a topic of great concern to groups of people now looking to relocate but need to do so in collective, cooperative manner, and not necessarily in ecovillage form, but as extended family or combination of relationships similar to one.

There are many examples but the illustrations communicate a need of bridging structures or designs reflecting social transitions ‘back to the land’.

This one is purposefully ‘more elegant’ to counter the notion that leaving the city as some sort of backward step.

As lands become more intensively farmed (and without oil/tractors), the ratio of land and people in this and homestead models might rise to 1 person per acre or more.

Rick
oldcityfoundation@telus.net
www.plancanada.com
B&A Strategic Planning

March 18, 2011

Instructions for saving our butts in a Post Oil low energy future.

Co-written by VPOE Richard Balfour and Eileen Keenan
Cost $10.00 for full color pdf downloadable file or $35.00 for a hardcover edition.

Want one? Click here to go to Plan Canadahttp://plancanada.com/

While focused on Vancouver as an example this is about global impacts on any city or culture from peak oil and climate change, and in an effort to deal with cultural adaption, not cultural melt down.
• Peak Oil
• Sustainability Workshops
• Canadian Institute of Planners
• Narrow Streets and Houses
• City Lands opportunities
• Farmland
• Miscellaneous – you won’t believe the topics covered in this section
• Links

For agreements for multiple use for education uses, please contact oldcityfoundation@telus.net.

Thanks to Charles Dobson in help making this alternate access available.
Richard Balfour and Eileen Keenan

Richard Balfour Architect & Co.
Balfour & Associates • Strategic Planning
Vancouver  6047310206
balfourarch@telus.net
www.plancanada.com

UN food price index rises for sixth month in a row to highest since records began in 199

World food prices enter ‘danger territory’ to reach record high

UN food price index rises for sixth month in a row to highest since records began in 1990

Soaring prices of sugar, grain and oilseed drove world food prices to a record in December, surpassing the levels of 2008 when the cost of food sparked riots around the world, and prompting warnings of prices being in “danger territory”.

An index compiled monthly by the United Nations surpassed its previous monthly high – June 2008 – in December to reach the highest level since records began in 1990. Published by the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the index tracks the prices of a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, and has risen for six consecutive months. Read the complete Post.

By Jake Weber, Editor, The Casey Report
As is often the case, there is a big difference between what the government statistics are reporting and what’s going on in the real world. According to the most recent inflation reading published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), consumer prices grew at an annual rate of just 1.1% in August.
The government has an incentive to distort CPI numbers, for reasons such as keeping the cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security payments low. While there’s no question that you may be able to get a good deal on a new car or a flat-screen TV today, how often are you really buying these things? When you look at the real costs of everyday life, prices have risen sharply over the last year. For simplicity’s sake, consider the cash market prices on some basic commodities.

On average, our basic food costs have increased by an incredible 48% over the last year (measured by wheat, corn, oats, and canola prices). From the price at the pump to heating your stove, energy costs are up 23% on average (heating oil, gasoline, natural gas). A little protein at dinner is now 39% higher (beef and pork), and your morning cup of coffee with a little sugar has risen by 36% since last October.
You probably aren’t buying new linens or shopping for copper piping at the hardware store every day, but I included these items to show the inflationary pressures on some other basic materials that will likely affect consumer prices down the road.
The jump in gold and silver prices illustrates that it’s not just supply and demand issues driving the precious metals higher – the decline in purchasing power of the dollar is also showing up in the price of physical goods. It is because stashing wheat and cotton in the garage is an impractical way to protect purchasing power that investors are increasingly looking to protect themselves with the monetary metals – a trend that is now very much in motion.

This week’s Radio Ecoshock Show is entirely devoted to Kathy McMahon’s speech in Vancouver.

This Radio Ecoshock special on Peak Oil Blues is also being distributed via the Pacific Radio network (about 5 to 7 stations will run that), and in an even more abbreviated cut, on Green 960 AM in San Francisco (it’s just a half hour show).  The one hour program is already out to my podcast list. Here in Vancouver, This Friday at 1 pm on CFRO 102.7 FM, I only get to play 35 minutes of Kathy’s speech.

Here is a link to the Lo-Fi version of the program, to be broadcast starting Friday:

http://www.ecoshock.net/eshock10/ES_101029_Show_LoFi.mp3

That is 1 hour, 14 megabytes.

You, and all listeners, can download the full speech, plus the 20 minute interview between Kathy and I, with links in this week’s Radio Ecoshock Show blog entry here:

http://www.ecoshock.info/2010/10/peak-oil-vs-pathological-optimism.html

Scroll down to the bottom, to find the links.  Later, all this will show up on our Peak Oil page at ecoshock.org as well.

Alex Smith
host
Radio Ecoshock
http://www.ecoshock.org