I’ve wondered how to best explain the advantages of the Diagonal Economy in confronting energy descent. I think that reference to an old post addressing “anti-economies ” is perhaps the best framework. There, I discussed the classical sources of economic efficiency: economy of scale and economy of place. Both economies of place and scale will be impacted by the phenomenon of energy descent—the idea that there will be increasingly less surplus energy available to society going forward. While … [Read more...]
so when you say collapse…
This funny thing used to happen when my friend Todd and I discussed peak oil and energy descent back when we were just coming to grips with all of that. One of us would begin to explain a particular future scenario or perhaps a strategy to address that scenario. All of these conversations could be loosely described as plans to addresses to collapse of modern civilization. We were both a little more Doomer than we are today but even back then we recognized that “collapse” wouldn’t necessarily … [Read more...]
Backyard Solar Dish Melts Steel
We’re all familiar with the vast solar thermal power stations in the desert that use mirrors to make steam to drive turbines. Giant solar thermal arrays are already making electricity in the desert in Spain and California. But what if we could have just one of these units in the backyard, just for our own use? That’s what motivated a team of MIT students to find the way to make the cheapest solar power station out there. Mass produce it for the home user and market it under their own new start … [Read more...]
Towards a Dark Mountain reading list
This post by Dougald Hine originally appeared on the Dark Mountain blog Over the last few weeks, a lot of people have asked us to suggest books which pick up on the themes of this project. In time, we’ll add a recommended reading section to the site. As a first step towards that, I thought I’d share a list that I made for a friend who had enjoyed the manifesto and wanted to know where to go next. Writing this, I realise that some people will be surprised by the absence of names like Daniel … [Read more...]
Transport in Transition. A Guest Piece by Peter Lipman.
Transformation Moment: low carbon travel. How, and how far, will we travel if we make the changes we need to in order to thrive in a carbon constrained society? For a range of interlocking reasons, the conclusion of this paper is that we will be happier, healthier and more resilient if we radically change from [...] … [Read more...]
Lots of Transition TV
If you like a little video inspiration from time to time, here are two great sources of content from the Transition field. There are lots more, but these will keep you going for a while. The NSW Transition website has a range of well organised videos. Here are some videos focussed on the very valuable skill of seedsaving. And then there are all sorts of video on the New Zealand Transition Towns site… … [Read more...]
A Farm for the Future
This documentary from the BBC is one of the most impressive things I've seen on TV for a long time. Highly recommended. Wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family's farm in Devon into a low energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key. With her father close to retirement, Rebecca returns to her family's wildlife-friendly farm in Devon, to become the next generation to farm the land. But last year's high fuel prices were a wake-up call … [Read more...]
Coconut Revolution
This is the amazing story of how a small island nation resisted against the might of corporate globalization and won. Bougainville, with a populations of only 160,000 has managed to close and keep closed one of the biggest mines in the world. They have held their ground for a decade with antique weapons and homemade guns. These people have taken on the biggest mining company in the world and won. … [Read more...]
Transition Handbook
UPDATE: The Transition Handbook is now online in a wiki! :P UPDATE: download Transition-Handbook.pdf UPDATE: download Transition-Handbook.odt See also: Transition Primer [amtap book:isbn=1900322188] I really can't recommend this book highly enough, but if you need more convincing... "a must-read labelled, 'immediate' " - Jeremy Leggett, founder of Solarcentury and SolarAid "The Transition Handbook will come to be seen as one of the seminal books which emerged at the end of the Oil Age" … [Read more...]
Damaging property to prevent climate change is legal
A while ago a couple of peace activists who broke into a military airfield to damage B52 bombers argued they were preventing a greater crime and won their case (see www.b52two.org on web archive for the story). At the time I wondered "what if you used a similar defense for an action to prevent climate change"? Well, that has now happened and the jury is out, damaging property to prevent climate change is legal: Kingsnorth trial: Coal protesters cleared of criminal damage to chimney The trial … [Read more...]