A political mash-up video combing McCain, Bush and Obama speeches on energy policy created by the stimulator over at submedia. The video shows all three politicians saying exactly the same positive things about polluting, dangerous and unworkable energy alternatives. Basically all the US presidential candidates have been “drinking the Kool-ad” on nuclear, ethanol and the ridiculous lie of “clean-coal”.
You can also see and remix this video on RemixAmerica.org, a project which invites you to make your own remixes right on their website.
Why the hell talk about coal mining on a Permaculture site? Especially a solutions-oriented blog?
Because you can’t permify land that’s no longer there.
The first step to Permaculture is observation of a site — TAPO or PATO, aka Thoughtful and Protracted Observation. Imagine observing that the water on your new land is unusable because of coal mining pollution from up stream. Imagine getting cancer from the toxic chemical floating through the air that lands on your tomatoes. F all that — Imagine your land ripped away by coal mining companies with politicians in their pocket. Imagine your land exploding, your soil being dumped into the creek.
How’s your Permaculture working now? The answer is “not at all,” because you didn’t join the fight to stop one of the biggest environmental atrocities of our time — Mountain Top Removal.
Rainforest Action Network’s theatrical, viral action (like below) gets the word out. Huge banks do not have to be convinced to stop funding. Just the right people at those banks, and this is a small chip in embarrassing those people. Get your hands dirty — spread the word via your facebooky twittery thingies.
We’ll always use coal because it’s so abundant, therefore we eco compromisers must make coal clean. Right?
Well, if there are only a few decades of coal left and clean coal is several decades away at the earliest, is clean coal even worth attempting? Even worth the spit that should be spewed on it?
Hold that saliva.
Here’s a campy/parody video I did with/for Post Carbon Institute about Richard Heinberg’s new book BLACKOUT, which examines exactly that.
Watch this video, and if facts interest you, buy it. As is true of most books that state what should be obvious, this may be way ahead of its time, like his 2003 book THE PARTY’S OVER, which I read in 2007. It’s what kicked my blissful ignorance out of my comfy bed… the wake-up call that showed me the inevitability of this whole Permaculture jazz.
Word to the skeptical: I don’t get a dime from book sales on this one. Word to the super skeptical: If it sells well with the help of the movie, then yeah, I guess it makes me look fancy and I’ll continue to work. Yippee! But I’d recommend it anyway even if I had nothing to do with it).
Create post This article reprinted with permission from Bollier.org. So another climate change summit (Durban, South Africa) has produced no action, even in the face of mounting evidence of the deterioration of the planet's atmosphere. Climate change denial has now moved from the right-wing, wacko fringe to the pinnacles of “respectable” power as top go […]
As a gardener, Winter Solstice holds much more meaning for me than the conventional new year marker of January 1. Even here in Southern California's year-round growing season, we observe the slowing of plant growth into semi-dormancy as the Solstice approaches. We witness the acceleration into new growth once the Solstice is past. Animals know it too […]
Original Berkeleyside Article By Nathan Pensky Even in a community as amenable to progressive values as Berkeley, there are few small businesses so powered by idealism as BioFuel Oasis, which this month is celebrating its eighth birthday. An environmentalist mainstay since 2003, the company specializes in the sale of biodiesel fuel chemically rendered from r […]
Are you part of a social change organization that needs to update your logo that a friend put together 10 years ago in Microsoft Word? Are you confused by all the terminology, or where to begin when designing or redesigning your logo and identity materials? Would you like to read a book more relevant to the world of social change than to the corporate busin […]
Create post The City of Davis, California, is blessed with two things: an abundance of sunshine and lots of beautiful, mature trees to provide a natural refuge from it. These trees, carefully planted by several generations of Davis' residents, helps to keep energy costs down by protecting homes and businesses from the direct heat of the sun. Unfortunate […]
For this month’s Transition Book Club meeting, we used Paul Gilding’s The Great Disruption: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring on the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World as a springboard for a wide-ranging conversation. [For a synopsis of the book, skip to the bottom; continue reading for more on our discussion.] read more […]
Create post It all started innocently enough. Following the Holidays and New Year of 2007 we emptied out all of our garbage and recycling to clean up for the New Year. Many months later (May 14) it was time to put out our first bag of garbage and it dawned on me that in over four months we had only created a single bag of garbage. I wondered where could we t […]
Last week, Design Action sent out a letter to the Oakland City Council, some local businesses, and to local newspapers, in support of Occupy Oakland. The Oakland Tribune published the Op-Ed today (11.15.11) with the headline: “Banks cost Oakland more than protesters” We are a downtown local, cooperatively-owned and managed small business, and residents of Oa […]
In her visit to Los Angeles, Vandana Shiva reminded us how Gandhi had the symbolic actions -- sitting in protests -- but with that he also had the cotton -- the tangible actions. Dr Shiva said that along with the protests, people need to grow food, to build connections within their communities, to make changes in their lives. read more […]
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