Rimu's blog

This is a pleasent surprise: someone at parliament (other than the Greens) 'gets it' about peak oil.

Parliament has just released a report that concludes, among other things: » Read more

Mind food

Things to chew over

Leaving Babylon

Long thoughtful posts about the process of turning away. Absolutely worth investing the time in. Try this post on for size.

How to Save the World » Read more

A complex system (like a society) has many different aspects to it, all of which you can attempt to change. But not all aspects are equally difficult or easy to change, and in many cases those changes won't have as much affect as it would seem at first glance. Donella Meadows has written a great article which lists out the different kinds of changes we can attempt to make and orders them by effectiveness. » Read more

Mainstream climate models don't (and can't) include tipping points in their model, as they are too complex and uncertain. Their existance is known, but their magnitude and exact trigger is a bit up in the air. This video does a great job of clarifying what they are and conveys a sense of how much more urgent they make taking action on climate change. » Read more

Attached to this post is a great essay about the psychological tricks people use to 'cope' with the prospect of a future that will not be how they grew up imagining it will be.

It's about climate change, but works just as well for peak oil.

It covers » Read more

I'm a bit confused by all the loud noises and expressions of outrage being made by AIG giving it's workers bonuses. » Read more

Bunch of snippets from a talk the other week: » Read more

I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the complete failure of imagination being demonstrated by the ideas coming out of the jobs summit currently underway. But I am.

Here are some ways the government could provide 'stimulus' to the 'economy', which would actually result in an accumulation of social and ecological capital, rather than long term debt and wasteful boondoggles » Read more

The first 1/4 of this book spends some time explaining how our current money system works and spelling out some of the implications: eternal debt, pressure to exploit more and more natural resources and concentration of wealth and power. » Read more

This talk is a but US-centric and assumes a worst-case scenario, but I found it interesting anyway.

The following talk was given on February 13, 2009, at Cowell Theatre in Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, to an audience of 550 people. Audio and video of the talk will be available on the Long Now Foundation web site. » Read more