Most of us want to believe that our institutions are rational, durable and fair, directed by experts who have a grip on bedrock reality and understand how things work, who will take care of severe problems when they arise. The possibility that no one knows enough to protect us is terrifying, almost unthinkable.Now, as we've watched the deal-making in Washington, we've looked into the abyss of the unthinkable.
with Sarah Wolfe | Self-sufficiency isn’t a sexy idea. At best, people who say they’re interested in being self-sufficient are stereotyped as dour, old-fashioned rural-types. At worst, they’re seen as fanatical survivalists planning for an apocalypse. Economists also tell us that self-sufficiency is an anachronism. Instead, it’s specialization that produces wealth, and economies – including the world economy – produce the most wealth when everyone, including countries, specializes in what they do best and then trades their products for the other things they need. The more specialization, the more connectivity among specialists, and the more trade along those connections, the better. But there are problems with this model.
with Stewart Elgie | When it comes to conserving Earth’s natural environment, our markets are badly broken. For our planet’s future – and for our future prosperity – we must fix them.
What’s going on? Are we simply in the midst of another gut-churning fluctuation of a world economy that’s prone to intermittent volatility but that always seems to find its footing? Or are we glimpsing a deeper emergency, one that goes to the heart of modern global capitalism?
with David Keith | What should we do with the carbon we produce when we burn fossil fuels? Some experts say we should fight climate change by putting the carbon back underground, whence it came.
A few years ago, these scientists regarded global warming as a matter of serious concern; now many appear to think that it's a matter of grave urgency - that we may be running out of time. The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports are increasingly viewed as out of date.
Late last week the world’s central banks acted to head off panic among investors and lenders by pumping nearly a third of a trillion dollars of cash into the world’s financial markets. Something is clearly amiss.
On July 18, the National Petroleum Council delivered a blockbuster report to the US Secretary of Energy. The council advises the US federal government on energy issues. The council’s report—entitled Facing Hard Truths about Energy—assesses the “future of oil and natural gas to 2030 in the context of the global energy system.” Its 400 pages reveal a major shift in the energy industry’s publicly stated views about humankind’s energy prospects: We’re running out of cheap oil.
What causes societies to collapse, and are our modern societies at risk of collapse themselves?
Response to book review “Panarchy and Dystopia.” Toronto Globe and Mail, November 11. 2006, by Will Kymlicka.
