One of the main points I was making in this recent post is that the shelf life of green catastrophism has expired. But environmentalists don’t want to hear this. Many have responded indignantly to the contrast I set up between what I call green traditionalists and green modernists. In the coming week, I’ll respond in…Continue Reading…
If you’re not preparing for the end of the world, don’t worry, some of your neighbors are. And teenagers today, well, they’re all over it. So are millions of Christians, who don’t want to be Left Behind, when armageddon comes. Those who see eco-decay and social mayhem resulting from unchecked capitalism are similarly fatalistic: The race…Continue Reading…
As you know, the world didn’t end last year, like it was supposed to. By now, this is an old story. Yet many people continue to be drawn to doomsday alerts. 2012 promises to be another banner year for failed end-of-world predictions. But instead of arbitrary biblical interpretations, attention will shift to a supposed Mayan…Continue Reading…
A lament from Time magazine’s Bryan Walsh: Work in environmental journalism for very long and you can eventually become inured to catastrophe. Every ecosystem is on the brink of collapse; every endangered species is just a few steps from extinction; every government decision to authorize an oil well or a coal mine is the one…Continue Reading…
Mike Tidwell, a journalist turned activist, has published a how-to-ride-out-the-climate apocalypse instructional in The Washington Post. Years ago, global warming had already put Tidwell on high alert. But events in the last year have elevated his personal threat level: Now I’m changing my life again. Today, underneath the solar panels, there’s a new set of…Continue Reading…
This might be true: The United States continues to slumber while a catastrophe lies in wait. Increasing numbers of analysts and policymakers are warning of another super price spike for oil and the likelihood of “peak oil” more generally. But I wish the author good luck with this: It is time for public discussion of…Continue Reading…
Michael Klare sees a bad moon rising. I hope you got your things together:
I love the title of this blog I just discovered: Global Change Watch: Peak Energy, Climate Change, and the Collapse of Global Civilization Any guesses (from the doomsday-is-imminent crowd) as to which will upend life as we know it first: peak energy or climate change?
Quick, somebody buy Michael Tobis a new set of worry beads: The evidence is piling up that our circumstances are beyond our cognitive or managerial abilities. I’m more scared of that than of hundred degree oceans right now. I think at the present rate we will not manage to maintain what we are pleased to…Continue Reading…
If you’re gonna be a doomer, this seems like the right attitude to take: I begin the year convinced that our civilisation will collapse soon but at the same time enjoying the continuous Mozart on Radio 3, abandoning alcohol for the month with enthusiasm, and committing myself to three runs and 70 000 steps a…Continue Reading…