The Green New Deal (GND) has garnered support and opprobrium since it was published. While this plan at least acknowledges the problem of climate change and identifies the proper scale of our reaction, we can point to large gaps in the plan that must be remedied: All this construction while still limiting emissions? Who will … More Green New Deal: How About A “Low Tech New Deal”?
In addition to the nonbinding house resolution on the Green New Deal (GND), a document was circulated with more specific action items, which have caught media attention. This is where media outlets have gotten headlines such as “Green New Deal Wages War Against Air Travel, Cows,” and “Democrats’ Green New Deal Wants to Eliminate ‘Farting … More Green New Deal: Additional Details Document
The Green New Deal is ambitious. Net-zero emissions by 2030 is an enormous goal for a country that emits over 6.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide (equivalents) each year. Although this is down from our peak of over 7.4 Gt CO2 in 2007, this is only part of the 37 Gt CO2 emitted worldwide annually. Note … More Green New Deal: Net Zero?
The Green New Deal, introduced as House Resolution 109 on February 7th, has received much media ballyhoo, but what does the actual resolution say? You can read it for yourself in full text here, or enjoy the summary below. It starts by citing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change‘s special report on global warming of … More Green New Deal: A Summary
The following is an excerpt from the forthcoming novel EcoGuerrillas. Like agriculture, every aspect of our material culture is subsidized by fossil fuels. The idea of “energy slaves” allows us to conceptualize the degree to which we are dependent on cheap and abundant fuel to produce things and use appliances. In 1940, R. Buckminster Fuller … More Basic Stances – Materials
The following is an excerpt from the forthcoming novel EcoGuerrillas. Industrial agriculture is the antithesis of the three tenets laid out by the institute: it concentrates all resources for human benefit alone, purposefully ignores the lessons of natural systems mortgaging future stability for gains today, and it is incredibly complicated. Agriculture puts one species in … More Basic Stances — Industrial Agriculture
Marie Kondo has been exploding across social media and the news since her Netflix show Tidying Up with Marie Kondo was released around new year. January 1st is when so many of us try to start new habits, and the timing of this show was not random. Indeed, at this time last year, I read … More Marie Kondo, Minimalism, and Stuff
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) just published their fifteenth special report, which projects the changes we can expect with warming of 1.5°C and 2.0°C. While the full special report is quite long, the summary for policymakers is approachable to nonprofessionals. They also produced a three-page headline summary — the IPCC equivalent of “tl;dr.” … More IPCC Special Report — Summary and Comments
This article appeared in the Kildare Nationalist and on the Restoring Mayberry blog, by regular contributor Brian Kaller. Illustration by Ken Avidor. We remember civilisations by what they leave behind, from arrowheads to pyramids, then our age will be known as the Age of Rubbish. Nothing else dominates our landscape, our oceans, our air and … More A Throwaway Society in a Finite Space — Contribution from Brian Kaller
The following is an excerpt from the forthcoming novel EcoGuerrillas. Energy The solution is easy to articulate but nearly impossible to implement: stop using fossil fuels immediately. We realize that this sounds alarmist, but we see no other single action that could have as broad an impact as the complete cessation of the use of … More Basic Stances — Energy: Electricity
