ENERGY LITERACY
CONSERVATION
RESILIENCE
RELOCALIZATION
FAMILY PLANNING
BEAUTY
BIODIVERSITY
( the Post Carbon Institute, that isCollapse )

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/09/the-forever-recession.html

This guy sees pretty clearly where we are headed....or at least, I share in his delusion.

At least, that's what I heard on the radio. Whenever I hear that "Everybody" says something, I am immediately suspicious. Everybody? OK then, what jobs do we want? Jobs with health insurance, and a paycheck, right? How about a desk, a telephone, and a computer? A window? A coffee maker? Boy now we're talking about the kind of job I could go for. But is that really what we need? I mean WHAT DO WE NEED?

I think we need a bunch of adventurous entrepreneurs to figure out what it is that we really need, and get busy developing the means of production. I went to naturopathic medical school because I see natural medicine as a sustainable and beneficial profession in which I can continue to serve no matter what the economic condition of my community. I am going to offer my assistance, and I trust that my knowledge and service will be of adequate value to allow me to live a good life.

I don't want a job!!! Jobs for me have been dead ends, places where I can get comfortable while my life drains away doing someone else's work. When do I get to do MY work? To be creative? To do my good for the world?? I saw this culture headed for the brink a long time ago. And it's still headed that way. I want to create a window to a better future.

What do we really need after all? A safe and comfortable place to call our own. It doesn't have to be fancy. We all need shelter, somewhere to keep our pillow and toothbrush. We all need fresh water, and good food, and we all need touch and love. That's about it! Jobs and insurance are figments of this paradigm that's headed for the drink.

( today's news: U.S. poverty rate rises to 15.1 percent, number of uninsured Americans hits record high Collapse )

http://sierraclub.typepad.com/michaelbrune/2011/06/rooftop_solar_panels.html
"rooftop revolution"
( notesCollapse )

Here's the text of a speech given by Richard Heinberg (the peak oil guy) to a set of college grads about entering the world as it exists today----on the downslope of the production curve. His words are oriented at helping them get past the denial that grips their parents, and "make the best of it".

... if you apply the critical thinking skills that you’ve learned here at WPI to an examination of the relevant data, you’ll probably come to the same conclusion as has been reached by the overwhelming majority of scientists who have studied all of these questions in great depth. Indeed, the scientific community is nearly unanimous in assessing that the Earth is warming, and that the only credible explanation for this is rising levels of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels. That kind of consensus is hard to achieve among scientists except in situations where a conclusion is overwhelmingly supported by evidence.

Here's where you can unsubscribe from catalogs easily:
https://www.catalogchoice.org/

I just got back from a yoga class, to which I drove my truck. Driving anywhere is still strange to me. For the last year my truck was not registered. For several years before that it was registered, but I barely managed to start it up once a week. I ride my bike. I use public transportation. I walk. I have an aversion to the automobile. I think it is part of our demise. And yet, I drive. I just drove all the way to AZ and back. And it was a blessing.
( ruminationCollapse )

The dump is more than one floating mass of mostly plastic garbage that some say is as large as the United States. I guess there are no shipping lanes that go through those parts of the ocean. I wonder if there's any connection between all the floating trash and the increase in ocean-bourne MRSA.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/16-6
( some images from the web todayCollapse )

The letter behind the cut has been circulating for years. It helps.
( With Deep Gratitude to our Native Elders.Collapse )