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CURATED ECOLOGICAL NEWS In economic contraction, a root cellar is preferable to money
“The garden is deeply buried under white mounds, and spring is nowhere in sight. Still, it feels like time to get the growing season underway. My pantry is empty, but for a bin of potatoes. I don’t like frozen food. But freezing is how I deal with not having a root cellar… Yet. “That is the goal though. I don’t think there is any future that will not be improved by having food storage that is not dependent on electricity. I think we will reach the point where not much energy-dependent storage of food will be possible within my lifetime. The clock is ticking on so many things. Long-distance shipping, relentless burning, and dwindling resources, especially dwindling reserves of affordable resources. “Soon the whole world will be forced — there is no choice — to give up superfluous stuff, to localize needs, to make sure that there is a root cellar and a productive garden close at hand. I have to make better time on transitioning, finding ways to meet my needs with fewer resources. And I’m way ahead of most people. This is concerning. “There is this idea that money will somehow buy you a path out of collapse. This story comes in several forms. This is reality blindness. Money is only a future claim on work and material. If those are in short supply, money does not increase that supply. “Make no mistake, these increases in the cost of everything and the shortages in everything and the constant breakdown of everything, this is not a hiccup or a temporary setback. This is systemic contraction. It is also the inevitable result of pretending that we live on a world without limits. “So today, this is as good as capitalism will ever be in your lifetime. But there was no other path for capitalism to follow than the one that it has, the one that led us to exactly here and now. The more we carry on frittering away what little we have left on things like AI and social media, well… the less there will be when the system grinds to a halt. And one of the scariest aspects of this is the [many with] complete lack of skills needed to build and maintain a life. All these pretenders are helpless. They are a burden. “Think about this… At the very time when your body needs to slow its labors, your retirement account is going to be worthless. But a root cellar and a garden… that will feed you. Plan on things like that, things that will sustain you directly without the mediation of capitalism. Also plan on helping others. Because you will not survive in old age without a community.” More at: What would you do if the food trucks stopped coming?
“Essential supply chains depend on trucks nearly completely. Because of little inventory and dependence on just-in-time deliveries, our civilization would almost immediately feel the repercussions of trucks stopping. In fact, civilization would crash within a week. So finding a drop-in replacement for finite diesel ought to be the top priority. And it won’t be electric or hydrogen trucks as you can see in the related posts. “American Trucking Associations President Chris Spear said if all 7,000 long-distance freight trains available in the US stopped running, the country would need an extra 460,000 long-haul trucks daily to make up for the lost capacity, which isn’t possible because of equipment availability and driver shortages. I found three articles about what would happen if trucks stopped running based on what actually did happen during long trucker strikes. They came to similar conclusions. “Day 1: Assembly lines that use just-in-time delivery will shut down when parts run out or storage for finished products fills up. Hospitals will run out of supplies like syringes and catheters within hours. Milk and fresh bread will run out. “Day 2: Food shortages will escalate, especially in the face of hoarding and consumer panic. Supplies of essentials and perishable foods will disappear. Restaurants and fast food outlets close. ATMs will run out of cash. Garbage will start piling up. “Day 3: Most service stations will run out of fuel. Infrastructure repairs stop. Public transport, fire, police, ambulances, telecommunications, utilities, mail, and other essential services stop. “Day 4: 48,000 imported containers per day can’t be unloaded off of ships. Exports stop too. All fuel supplies are depleted. Many people can’t get to work. Airplanes and railroads shut down. Britain is out of beer. “Day 5: Drinking water is depleted. Healthcare is confined to emergency services. Utilities have localized disruption of gas and electricity. Livestock begin to suffer from lack of feed deliveries, wastes accumulate.” More at: Frugal communities instead of consumptive individuals
“The marketing industry uses many ways to induce us to buy more stuff. They include: planned obsolescence, fashion, keeping ahead of the Joneses, sexiness, non-shared personal items, have a spare of everything, annual upgrade to new features, etc. The U.S. lifestyle entails 5% of global population consuming 33% of global resources. Put another way, the ecological footprint of the U.S. is four times greater than the biocapacity of the U.S. Such a level of excess consumption results in excess generation of electricity and liquid fuels, climate disruption, ocean plastic trash, and worst of all biodiversity loss and extinctions, to name a few. “It’s functionally impossible for the 7.9 Billion people to enjoy a U.S. level of lifestyle without destroying the biosphere and ourselves with it. Rather than the impossible route of expanding human capacity to extract resources and generate electricity (“renewable” or not), the rational option is to curtail consumption in the affluent countries, and lower global population. This is predicated on the imperative to rapidly end the use of fossil fuels. “In an article in Yes! Magazine, Stan Cox proposes that energy conversion policies ‘could include less military production and more restoration of ecosystems; fewer planes or private vehicles and more public transportation; fewer McMansions and more affordable, durable housing; less feed grain for cattle and more production of grains and legumes that people can eat; and an end to production of luxury goods, in favor of basic necessities’. “He notes that a workable and equitable level of personal resource use would be 1300 Watts of energy flow per person per day, based on an International Energy Agency projection. Though the rich will complain of austerity, actually a 1300 Watt lifestyle would be comfortable by being frugal. Resources being limited can be fairly allocated through price controls and by rationing, very much as they were in World War II. Stan Cox says ‘Rationing is an adaptation aimed at securing both sufficiency and justice, guaranteeing everyone a fair share’.” More at: Petrochemical plastics enable limitless growth – and pollution
“In December 2024, hopes for a landmark global treaty to curb plastic pollution were dashed as negotiations in South Korea stalled. The annual global production of plastics reportedly grew nearly two hundredfold between 1950 (two million tonnes) and 2015 (381 million tonnes), and the pace of growth is accelerating. “Fossil fuel-derived products contribute to a range of chronic diseases, including cancer, metabolic disorders like diabetes and obesity, and diverse reproductive and neurological problems. Their use has contaminated the air, water and soil, creating a global crisis on par with the climate and biodiversity crises. “As we try to lessen oil and gas as an energy source, the oil and gas industry is turning to plastics production. Strategies to limit the extraction and burning of fossil fuels must recognize the intricate connections between chemical pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss, all based on misguided notions of unlimited growth. “There is a fundamental flaw in how we tend to think about plastic as a product. For there is a tendency to frame plastic as a problem of pollution and recycling. This perspective obscures the fact that plastics are petrochemical products, substances which are ultimately derived from oil and gas. “The problem we confront is that making things previously relied on sourcing naturally occurring, labour-intensive goods like timber, cotton or metals. But the invention of plastics separated commodity production from nature. With capitalism untethered from natural cycles, there was an end to any limits on the quantity and diversity of goods produced. Plastics made the essential features of contemporary capitalism possible: a drive to limitless growth, continual acceleration of production and consumption, and the frenzied expansion of markets.” More at: It’s not an energy transition, it’s just adding new to the old
“Jean-Baptist Fressoz unpacks the common misperceptions that have led to our memes and stories about the false possibility of the energy transition to a world entirely run on renewables. “I started to realize that actually Britain in the 20th century used more more wood in the form of pit props (coal mine supports) than it burned in the 18th century. The quantity of wood was really staggering. Britain consumed like 4.5 million cubic meters of pit props in the 20th century. So for its energy production, Britain used much more wood in the 20th century than it did in the 18th century. “And we consume much more coal now than anytime in the 19th century. The narrative that you find about the Industrial Revolution being a transition from wood to coal is really deeply wrong. We have never used as much wood as today. The strange statistic that I had to check twice is that despite more than 60 years of nuclear engineering, wood energy today is twice nuclear energy. “There has been no energy transition. There’s only been an energy addition is a phrase that I commonly use. So renewable energy is just an appendage to the organism. It’s additive. Basically, if you’ve got oil, oil depends on coal, and coal depends on wood in the 20th century. So all these expand together. There is no reason to think this energy is in a transition. “I’ll give you another example. In the 1930s, Ford needed seven tons of coal to produce a car. This is more than the oil that this car would burn in its lifetime. I mean, a car is always connected to oil. But in fact, a car is also a coal technology. And today in China, you need 2 to 3 tons of coal to produce a car. Even today, coal is the main ingredient in a car. “The case of the electric vehicle is touted as a green technology. But more than half electric cars are in China, and 60% of electricity in China [and globally] is produced from coal. Most of the discourse on transition are centered on electricity production. But electricity production is 40% of the emissions. A lot about the energy transition actually comes from our obsession with electricity, and everything that involves material productions, cement, steel, plastic, agriculture is difficult to decarbonize.” More at: Indigenous wisdom episode #10: with Yuria Celidwen
“This podcast is about bringing forward the perspectives of Indigenous communities as we reckon with the consequences of a global, industrial society built on growth, extraction, and colonialism. “We must find a way to be in this world, and not just as a means of survival. How do we find true belonging, and true community in the most literal sense of that word, with both humans and the more-than-human world? This topic coincides with Dr. Yuria Celidwen’s lifelong focus of Indigenous studies, cultural psychology, and contemplative science. “We need commitment, we need community, we need to create spaces of trust. The narratives that we live by leave us very fragile, very vulnerable, and most, of course, are not willing to dismantle these narratives. But if we commit to do this kind of work for the benefit of the planet, then we may be able to learn that we can fly. “She developed a broader statement she calls ‘the ethics of belonging’, that encourages awareness, intention, relational well-being, and actions towards planetary flourishing. Our conversation covered these topics, spirit medicine, why Yuria is not fond of the word ‘hope’, the power and necessity of dreaming, non-linear time, and other fascinating ideas. “Dr. Yuria Celidwen, a native of Nahua and Maya descent from Chiapas, Mexico, has been conducting research that combines Indigenous studies, cultural psychology, and contemplative science. She is a senior fellow at the Other and Belonging Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.” More at: Mump* wants to outdo Hungary’s dictator, Victor Orbán
“The ‘electoral autocracy’ that is Viktor Orbán’s Hungary has been long revered by Donald Mump* and his ‘Make America Great Again’ (Maga) movement. Now admiration is turning into emulation. In the early weeks of Mrump’s* second term as US president, analysts say, there are alarming signs that the Orbánisation of America has begun. “Said Chris Murphy (D-CT), ‘You have a move towards state-controlled media. You have a judiciary and law enforcement that seems poised to prioritise the prosecution of political opponents. You have the executive seizure of spending power so the leader and only the leader gets to dictate who gets money’. “Orbán, who came to power in 2010, was once described as ‘Trump before Trump’ by Steve Bannon. His party used its two-thirds majority to rewrite the constitution, capture institutions and change electoral law. He reconfigured the judiciary and public universities to ensure long-term party loyalty. “Bill Kristol, a former official in the Ronald Reagan White House, said: ‘Weaponising the justice department and talking at least of mass firings at the FBI – that’s further than the norm and very dangerous for obvious reasons. Why can’t he order the justice department to investigate you and me and 50 other people? One assumes the lawyers at justice or the FBI agents wouldn’t do it, but if a couple of thousand have been cleared out and the rest are intimidated. I’m not hysterical but I do think the threat is much more real now than people anticipated it being a month ago’.” More at: * Mump regime — Musk plus Trump = Mu…mp. DODGY racket earns Musk enmity and loss of earnings
“As Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO, is exercising his newfound power to essentially undo whole functions of the federal government, he still has to reassure his investors. In 2024, Tesla’s car sales had sunk for the first time in a decade. Profits were down sharply too. Instead in his recent fourth-quarter earnings call, Musk beamed about robotics, artificial intelligence, and Tesla’s path to being ‘worth more than the next top five companies combined’. This is the vision he has been selling investors. “Musk needs that belief to hold. Tesla’s stock price is the largest source of his enormous wealth and, by extension, his influence. Musk himself may be the biggest reason that faith in Tesla could falter. The only individual company close to eating into Tesla’s market share is China’s BYD, which for the first time last year produced more EVs than Tesla did. “Last year, Tesla sales were down nearly 12% in the EV stronghold of California. And in Europe, where Musk is helping supercharge far-right politics, Tesla’s sales were down 63% last month in France, and 59% in Germany. This is happening even as the rest of the worldwide electric market is growing fast. “Musk’s activism does seem to be turning off the affluent or middle-income progressive crowd that was traditionally Tesla’s bread and butter. Outside the hard-core Tesla bubble, the Model Y SUV was met with a flood of Nazi jokes following Musk’s Sieg heil–ish arm gesture at Trump’s inauguration. This type of reaction goes beyond that one car. The Cybertruck has a unique penchant for being the target of vandalism, and people appear to be making a killing selling anti-Musk bumper stickers to disgusted Tesla owners. “There are plenty of people who wouldn’t be caught dead in an EV that in any way benefits the newly minted government efficiency crusader. But what about all those people who purchased Teslas before Musk went full MAGA? For them, there’s a solution in the form of bumper stickers produced by Matthew Hiller of Waikiki, Hawaii. Hiller gives Tesla owners a way to disavow the company’s CEO in the form of a no Elon sticker, or an Anti-Elon Tesla Club sticker.” More at: Project 2025 author confirmed as OMB Director
“The Senate confirmed Russell Vought as White House budget director ten days ago, putting the official into one of the most influential positions in the federal government. Vought was confirmed on a party-line vote of 53-47. The OMB acts as a nerve center for the White House, developing its budget, policy priorities, and agency rule-making. Vought was one of the architects of Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term. “The OMB, Vought declared, ‘is a President’s air-traffic control system’ and should be ‘involved in all aspects of the White House policy process’. Vought has been a proponent of the president using ‘impoundment’ to expand the executive branch’s control over federal spending. Vought has also unabashedly advanced ‘Christian nationalism’, an idea that the government should now be infused with Christianity.” More at: | 
