Look for loopholes to avoid extinction

Zeger Reyes

A tiny blip in the news media registered the fact that atmospheric carbon dioxide has exceeded four hundred parts per million for the first time in the history of the human species, with no sign of slowing down. Among other things, it means that ocean levels will be going up by at least 30 feet, putting most of the world's major cities underwater. Almost the entire Eastern Seaboard of the United States—the most densely settled strip of land in the country, with the most infrastructure and physical assets—will become uninhabitable. Other countries—Bangladesh, Netherlands, a long list of low-lying island nations—will disappear under the waves entirely.

Interview on North Shore Community Radio

North shore of Lake Superior, that is. Last week I was in Grand Marais, Minnesota, just across the border from Thunder Bay, Ontario, where I taught a couple of seminars and gave a talk at the North House Folk School, which is a very cool place. While there, I went over to WTIP 90.7FM, the local radio station, for an interview. Buck, who interviewed me, asked good questions. Please have a listen.

What's new in Square Boats

I. Y. Repin
Barge Haulers on the Volga

Long-time readers of this blog probably know that there are such things in the world as square boats, and that they tend to do all that intricately modeled boats do, better and for a lot less money, plus they have a host of other advantages. But such knowledge is rare, even among sailors. I speak from experience, having recently spent a fair amount of time working on a square boat—my old Hogfish, which I have sold, and which is hauled out in a boatyard, being readied for her next tour of duty in the Caribbean and then, via the Canal, the Pacific. As I worked, various types of boaty/yachty people would come up to me and ask me questions. The typical question was “What is this thing?” usually followed by a comment, such as “It looks really unusual.”

Meet the Chechens

Americans tend to be rather bad at geography, and often find out that a country exists, and where it is on the world map, only after their troops invade it. That's how it used to be; now that America is too broke even to pay their own air traffic controllers, never mind stage military invasions, the moment of discovery will occur when people from some country or other come over and settle scores by attacking Americans. What goes around comes around. America's latest voyage of geographic discovery has taken it to Chechnya, where, following the collapse of the USSR, unbeknownst to most Americans, their government offered covert support to “pro-independence forces,” “separatists,” “insurgents,” “terrorists,” or whatever the increasingly tongue-tied US State Department decides to call them next.

The Rationale behind the Boston Psy-ops

Boston on Friday, April 19, 2013

Update: promoting a good bit from the comments. Thanks, Kevin.

Deep in the Heart of Middle America...

Q: I’ve been hearing things about a... “recent development.”

A: Yeah, bit of a jolt, this one. Heard on the grapevine, it’s these Chechens, heard of ’em? Well, they’ve taken over, massacred the entire 113th Congress and took over Homeland Security to boot. Saw the footage of Capital Hill. Gawd, what a mess. But ah... personally I don’t see anything to be concerned about. I mean, really, they can’t be any worse than the last bunch. Give the lads a chance, that’s what I say. That’s what America’s all about, right? A place where you can get ahead. Show a bit of initiative, innovation; give it a go. And I’ll tell you something else. From what I hear these guys are pretty solid on family values, ya know? And guns? They’re not against guns. Now I can prove that... So well, that’s what I say... I can’t really see a problem here....

Q: what about Obama, the President. Did he say anything?

A: Well ah, yeah he made an announcement. Something like “weapons of war have no place on our streets.” He said something... honestly I can’t really recall much of this. I know he said something but... ah...

Q: Yeah, right.

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An interesting thing happened in Boston. Not the explosions that killed several people and maimed many more—such gruesome events happen with some regularity in more and more parts of the world—but what happened afterwards. Under the thinnest of pretenses, Boston was placed under martial law, with heavily armed troops patrolling the streets, pointing machine guns at civilians who dared so much as to look out their windows.

REVIEW—The Five Stages of Collapse by Dmitry Orlov

The writing of this book was a rotten job, but it was absolutely necessary. If someone had to do it, I am very glad that it was Dmitry Orlov. Without his wit, alacrity and experience, the task of beating the horse of the Cartesian approach to understanding our dying world to death would have resulted in something unbearably maddening, dry and uninspiring. In this book he sneaks some LOLROF side-splitters in when you least expect them. One gathers from Orlov’s painstaking efforts, the futility of looking to outdated constructs and philosophies for understanding and relief from a crisis that demands complete innovation and inspiration.

Organizational Stupidity is Behind the Boston Marathon Disaster

Kaboom!

Friday update: America's enemies are probably feeling encouraged this morning: apparently all it takes to destroy it (through bankruptcy) is some small number of pressure cookers loaded with explosive and shrapnel. Each such event produces a stunningly ridiculous amount of police activity costing millions, if not billions, of dollars. It would be interesting to find out how many billions of economic damage per pressure cooker it is.

People are asking me what I think of the two Chechen/Daghestani kids who have been accused of causing the explosions, and, upon finding out that they are hunted men, decided to go out in a blaze of glory by holding up a convenience store, carjacking an SUV and arranging to have a shootout with the police. Well, since they probably thought the alternative was something like being force-fed at Guantanamo for the rest of their lives, that might be seen as a rational choice. Such behavior, as well as the fact that they had semiautomatic weapons and hand grenades on hand, is also in keeping with the Chechen/Daghestani ethos, which is resistant of accepting any external authority. Based on what I hear of their antics, it seems like they weren't trying to flee; they just wanted to “die well.” As to whether they were responsible or complicit in the bombings—I simply don't know. My only source of information is what is leaking out through the media, and at this point I have to treat all of it as hearsay, rumor, fabrication and/or idle speculation. Not that I think that there is a conspiracy, mind you—just some nonsense cooked up by people who are under a lot of pressure to look like they know what they are talking about.

Please keep in mind that terrorism is an insignificant source of accidental death in the US (unlike, say, Iraq, where there were 50 killed on Marathon Day alone). The main sources of accidental death in the US are cars, guns and doctors.

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I was in Boston when it happened, but nowhere near the event: I was across the harbor, in the boatyard, painting a boat, when I heard the news on the radio. Yesterday I walked past the “crime scene,” as it is being called, which was crawling with police and national guard troops, as if there was anything there for them to do. Later I met a friend, and, over a beer, he pointed out a very obvious reason for why the disaster took place.

Understanding Organizational Stupidity

Shintaro Kago

Is it morning in America again, or is the bubble that is the American economy about to pop (again), this time perhaps tipping it into full-blown collapse in five stages with symphonic accompaniment and fireworks? A country blowing itself up is quite a sight to behold, and it makes us wonder about lots of things. For instance, it makes us wonder whether the people who are doing the blowing up happen to be criminals. (Sure, they may be in a manner of speaking—as a moral judgment passed on the powerful by the powerless—but since none of them are likely to see the inside of a jail cell or even a courtroom any time soon, the point is moot. Let's be sure to hunt them down once they try to run and hide, though.) But at a much more basic and fundamental level, a better question to ask is this one:

The Five Stages Of Collapse reviewed By Carolyn Baker

Many of us who have been researching collapse for a decade or more repeatedly use the word in writing, speaking, and daily conversation, but few of us have the opportunity to define it with such precision or personal experience as one finds in Dmitry Orlov’s forthcoming book Five Stages of Collapse: Survivors’ Toolkit (New Society Publishers, 281 pages). I first heard of Dmitry when I was writing for From The Wilderness in 2005 after FTW published “Post-Soviet Lessons For A Post-American Century,” one of Orlov’s first articles in the United States naming our predicament and likely outcome.

Since then I have been a huge fan of Dmitry’s work, and I must concur with Richard Heinberg who says, “Even if I believed collapse were impossible I’d still read everything Dmitry Orlov writes: he’s that entertaining.” Incisive articulation of reality tempered with irrepressible humor and sarcasm define his writing style and not only compel us to stay with what some describe as a “dark Russian perspective,” but reveal a man who has found a way to live with what is so and navigate it with buoyant humanity.

2013 Second Annual Age of Limits Conference

[Guest post from Orren. I’ll be there. Hope you can make it.]

Thursday May 23 through Monday May 24
The Four Quarters Interfaith Sanctuary, Artemas, Pennsylvania

Dedicated to the pioneering work of Donella Meadows, Jorgen Randers and Dennis Meadows and their epochal 1972 report The Limits to Growth.

Hello! Orren Whiddon here with a reminder of what we are planning for this years 2013 Age of Limits conference, and our new Sustainable Life Skills Intensive.

• This year we have extended Age of Limits to a full three days of content, beginning Thursday evening May 23rd and ending Monday Noon May 27th. With this expanded schedule we will not have to “double-book” two presentations at the same time, allowing for for 1½ hour major presentations each day. In between we will host numerous one hour workshop and networking opportunities, expanding the time available to continue the conversation—person to person, face to face.