We’ve built a global civilization of unparalleled complexity, wealth, and inequality, all based on depleting, polluting fossil fuels. What could go wrong? The post Polycrisis, Unraveling, Simplification, or Collapse: Coming Soon to a Planet Near You? appeared first on Post Carbon Institute.| Post Carbon Institute
As Post Carbon Institute and Resilience.org celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we’re excited to launch a new podcast series – Holding the Fire: Indigenous Voices on the Great Unraveling. The post A Day to Listen – REALLY LISTEN – to Indigenous People appeared first on Post Carbon Institute.| Post Carbon Institute
This report seeks to build a coherent narrative about the roots of the polycrisis, the signs of its arrival and evolution, and why we should be thinking differently about the future.| Post Carbon Institute
The world’s shift away from its current reliance on fossil fuels will be the biggest, most expensive, and most complex technical project ever attempted by humans. If it fails, that might mean the end of industrial civilization. For it to succeed, enormous amounts of investment and effort, along with some shared sacrifice, will be required. […]| Post Carbon Institute
In May I wrote about the emerging energy and food crisis gripping the world due largely to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The crisis continues to unfold. However, most people are aware of it only via high prices—for gasoline, electricity, natural gas, and food—and through widespread chatter among economists about inflation and what should be done to […]| Post Carbon Institute
July 28 was EARTH OVERSHOOT DAY. On July 29 we went into ecological deficit. Humans have used the entire annual budget of resources that can replenished by nature. We entered overshoot ~ 40 years ago. When I saw the overshoot (and collapse) graph back then, I said “Holy Sh*t”. I’ve never been the same since, […]| Post Carbon Institute
The purpose of self-care is to ensure we’re our best selves so we have the capacity to envision a better future, and to collaborate, problem-solve, and care for each other as we move towards that vision. My faculty advisor, Dr. Raymond De Young, calls this idea the “Oxygen Mask Principle”. Anyone who has been on a commercial flight has heard the flight attendant say, “Should the cabin lose pressure, oxygen masks will drop from the overhead area. Place the mask over your own mouth and ...| Post Carbon Institute
June 2, 2021 All of humanity’s feats, whether a record-setting deadlift by the world’s strongest man or the construction of a gleaming city by a technologically advanced economy, originate from a single hidden source: positive net energy. Having surplus energy in the form of thirteen pounds of food per day enables a very big man, […]| Post Carbon Institute
A friend and I bought the house I live in. It was 2009. A sliver of a moment when the financial system tanked enough that this water/mountain view home in Langley — albeit homely and needing siding — could be had for under $150/sf. We called it SOL house. That stands for SOLar as we wanted […]| Post Carbon Institute
This essay is dedicated to the memory of Herman Daly, the father of ecological economics, who began writing about the absurdity of perpetual economic growth in the 1970s; Herman died on October 28 at age 84. Politicians and economists talk glowingly about growth. They want our cities and GDP to grow. Jobs, profits, companies, and […]| Post Carbon Institute
Recently my wife Janet and I splurged on tickets to a spellbinding concert by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. The music was memorable, but a comment by orchestra leader and trumpet virtuoso Wynton Marsalis proved even more so. Marsalis introduced a blues number with the seemingly off-hand suggestion that the blues should be America’s national […]| Post Carbon Institute
As a way to introduce our new Advisors to our larger community, we’ve asked them to answer a question or two that gives us a better understanding of their background or how they approach their personal or professional lives. Our second profile is from Elizabeth Sawin, who answered the question: Do you have strategies that […]| Post Carbon Institute