Kunstler can be so cynical and rude, but he tells it as he sees it. His passion shines through as he implores us to promote communities "worth caring about".
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Politics, Religion, Peak Oil, Sustainability...and infinite points between ...and beyond.
Fun(d)raising for YOUR Cause. Paying It Forward Together
From late August to early November, I plan to cycle over 3,000 kilometers from Niagara Falls, Ontario to Orlando, Florida. I want this journey to be a fun(d)raiser, for YOUR cause. Make a pledge of money or volunteer time, based on the distance I pedal to whatever cause makes your heart sing, send me the link, and I will list it below.
Causes Worthy of YOUR Support
My Latest Rides
About Me
- Leonard Poole
- Ottawa, Canada
- Promoting a Post-Carbon World, where we learn to consume less, while enjoying life more!
Twitter Updates
Followers
My Vision of a Greening World
Is one where every person...
Understands the consequences of their consumption and is actively engaged in reducing its effect.
Commits to the goal of consuming no more than his or her fair share.
Knows that to do otherwise will lead to tragic consequences for life as we know it.
Seeks to appreciate the quality of the life they are given more than the quantity of what they have and experience.
Understands the consequences of their consumption and is actively engaged in reducing its effect.
Commits to the goal of consuming no more than his or her fair share.
Knows that to do otherwise will lead to tragic consequences for life as we know it.
Seeks to appreciate the quality of the life they are given more than the quantity of what they have and experience.
Resources That Are Shaping My Views
In so many ways, we are the product of our experiences. Below are lists of Internet links, quotes, and readings that may provide insight into how I have reached some of my conclusions while simultaneously attempting to keep an open mind. (With thanks to Bertrand Russell and Buddha.)
Life After Oil
- Archdruid Report - Thoughtful Commentary from a Druid
- Die Off - Population Crash Resource
- Energy Bulletin on Peak Oil
- Findhorn Positive Energy Conference - 2008
- Global Public Media for a Post Carbon World
- Hirsch Report on Peak Oil
- Oil Depletion Protocol
- Olduvai Theory on Peak Energy
- Portland, Oregon Responds to Peak Oil
- Post Carbon Institute
- Relocalization Network
- Seattle Peak Oil Awareness
Environment
Sustainability
Green Politics
Other Important Websites
Cycling
Some Favourite Quotes
The Miracle is to Walk on Earth. ~ Zen Master Lin Chi
Possession isn't nine-tenths of the law, it's nine-tenths of the problem. ~ John Lennon
Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist. ~ Kenneth Boulding
The steep ride up the and down the energy curve is the most abnormal thing that has ever happened in human history. Most of human history is a no-growth situation. Our culture is built on growth and that phase of human history is almost over and we are not prepared for it. Our biggest problem is not the end of our resources. That will be gradual. Our biggest problem is a cultural problem. We don't know how to cope with it. ~ M. King Hubbert
Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. ~ Epicurus
Three large spoonfuls of crude oil contain about the same amount of energy as eight hours of human manual labor. When we fill our car with gas, we're pouring into the tank the energy equivalent of about two years of human manual labor. ~ Thomas Homer Dixon
Every corner of the public psyche is canvassed by some of the most talented citizens to see if the desire for some merchandisable product can be cultivated. ~ John Kenneth Galbraith
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to leave alone. ~ Henry David Thoreau
There’s enough on this planet for everyone’s needs but not for everyone’s greed. ~ Mahatma Ghandi
What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence is an index into his desires — desires of which he himself is often unconscious. If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way. ~ Bertrand Russell, Proposed Roads to Freedom
The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it… Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate…. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; Only love can do that. ~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sometime, somewhere you take something to be the truth. If you cling to it so much, when the truth comes in person and knocks at your door, you will not open it. ~ Buddha
Guarding knowledge is not a good way to understand. Understanding means to throw away your knowledge. You have to be able to transcend your knowledge the way people climb a ladder. If you are on the fifth step of a ladder and think that you are very high, there is no hope for you to climb to the sixth. The technique is to release. The Buddhist way of understanding is always letting go of our views and knowledge in order to transcend. This is the most important teaching. That is why I use the image of water to talk about understanding. Knowledge is solid; it blocks the way of understanding. Water can flow, can penetrate. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, explaining the above quote from Buddha
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it. ~Upton Sinclair
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. ~ Benjamin Franklin
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ~ George Santayana, The Life of Reason
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle. ~ Ernest Hemingway
I'd put my money on solar energy… I hope we don't have to wait 'til oil and coal run out before we tackle that.
Thomas Edison, in conversation with Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, March 1931.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist. ~ Dom Helder Camara
Evolution doesn't bend its rules for anyone, not even a talkative mystical primate. The human plague is following its preordained path, and the final outcome is likely to be very grim indeed. ~ Reg Morrison
A Native American grandfather was talking to his grandson about how he felt about a tragedy. He said, “I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one. The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one.” The grandson asked him, “Which wolf will win the fight in your heart?” The grandfather answered, “The one I feed.” A native American Indian story
Possession isn't nine-tenths of the law, it's nine-tenths of the problem. ~ John Lennon
Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist. ~ Kenneth Boulding
The steep ride up the and down the energy curve is the most abnormal thing that has ever happened in human history. Most of human history is a no-growth situation. Our culture is built on growth and that phase of human history is almost over and we are not prepared for it. Our biggest problem is not the end of our resources. That will be gradual. Our biggest problem is a cultural problem. We don't know how to cope with it. ~ M. King Hubbert
Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. ~ Epicurus
Three large spoonfuls of crude oil contain about the same amount of energy as eight hours of human manual labor. When we fill our car with gas, we're pouring into the tank the energy equivalent of about two years of human manual labor. ~ Thomas Homer Dixon
Every corner of the public psyche is canvassed by some of the most talented citizens to see if the desire for some merchandisable product can be cultivated. ~ John Kenneth Galbraith
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to leave alone. ~ Henry David Thoreau
There’s enough on this planet for everyone’s needs but not for everyone’s greed. ~ Mahatma Ghandi
What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence is an index into his desires — desires of which he himself is often unconscious. If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way. ~ Bertrand Russell, Proposed Roads to Freedom
The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it… Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate…. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; Only love can do that. ~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sometime, somewhere you take something to be the truth. If you cling to it so much, when the truth comes in person and knocks at your door, you will not open it. ~ Buddha
Guarding knowledge is not a good way to understand. Understanding means to throw away your knowledge. You have to be able to transcend your knowledge the way people climb a ladder. If you are on the fifth step of a ladder and think that you are very high, there is no hope for you to climb to the sixth. The technique is to release. The Buddhist way of understanding is always letting go of our views and knowledge in order to transcend. This is the most important teaching. That is why I use the image of water to talk about understanding. Knowledge is solid; it blocks the way of understanding. Water can flow, can penetrate. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, explaining the above quote from Buddha
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it. ~Upton Sinclair
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. ~ Benjamin Franklin
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ~ George Santayana, The Life of Reason
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle. ~ Ernest Hemingway
I'd put my money on solar energy… I hope we don't have to wait 'til oil and coal run out before we tackle that.
Thomas Edison, in conversation with Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, March 1931.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist. ~ Dom Helder Camara
Evolution doesn't bend its rules for anyone, not even a talkative mystical primate. The human plague is following its preordained path, and the final outcome is likely to be very grim indeed. ~ Reg Morrison
A Native American grandfather was talking to his grandson about how he felt about a tragedy. He said, “I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one. The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one.” The grandson asked him, “Which wolf will win the fight in your heart?” The grandfather answered, “The one I feed.” A native American Indian story
Interesting Reading
- Daly, Herman E. & Cobb, John B. Jr. 1989. For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future.
- Dessler, Andrew E. & Parson, Edward A. 2006. The Science and Politics of Global Climate Change, A Guide to the Debate
- Friedman, Thomas L. 2008. Hot, Flat & Crowded.
- Heinberg, Richard. 2004. Power Down.
- Homer-Dixon, Thomas. 2006. The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativitiy, and the Renewal of Civilization
- Kunstler, James Howard. 2005. The Long Emergency
- Manning, Richard 2004. Against the Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization.
- Monbiot, George, 2006. Heat
- Nickerson, Mike. 2006. Life, Money & Illusion: Living on Earth as if we want to stay
- Oxtoby, Willard G. 2002. World Religions Western Traditions
- Simpson, Jeffrey & Jaccard, Mark & Rivers, Nic. 2006. Hot Air - Meeting Canada's Coimate Change Challenge
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Blog Archive
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2009
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April
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- It Can Be Depressing Sometimes...
- James Howard Kunstler on the Tragedy of Suburbia
- Barry Schwartz on the Paradox of Choice
- Ten Years Out
- Gwynne Dyer - Climate Wars
- Guns in America - A Visit to Knob Creek, Kentucky
- Tamil Protest at Parliament Hill
- Greenland is Warming Up
- Rick Steves Discusses Iran
- Let's Predict the Future!
- Hot Air, and other Prognostications
- Derrick Jensen on "Toxic Mimics"
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April
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