Personally, I am attracted to the idea [yes it may just be a conspiracy theory] that the world is ruled by plutocrats who somehow believe they will โ when the shit hits the fan โ be able to retire to Planet B. Or at least an island they own, or a mountain top somewhere. And there theyโll retire to a bunker and await the rapture, or some such epiphany that miraculously fixes everything and lets them get back to business as usual.
Tag: Development
Thoughts on reading โStrangers in their own landโ by Arlie Russell Hochschild
Neoliberalism and the self-harm faithful People of the earth [Part III] Louisiana is the major ground for Hochschildโs research. There, most of the people she meets โ and gets to like โare hunters, fishers, cookers of their catch; lovers, ostensibly, of nature. And yet, tales of environmental woe [NATURE DESPOILED] abound in their world: โBut … Continue reading Thoughts on reading โStrangers in their own landโ by Arlie Russell Hochschild
The Big Fat YES debate[s]
Excerpt from book soon to be released on Amazon; written for 10 - 13 year olds Art work by Brendan Tunks, unless otherwise specified (except the chickens)
The real value of socialism
We are our best self when genuinely connected with others and the natural world. Connections matter, not networking.
Planting the Anthropoceneโs golden spike
An extract from an article Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Although there is a strong agreement among scientists that human activity has pushed the earth out of the stable patterns of the Holocene, debate is far from settled about whether this constitutes a new geological epoch and, if so, where to plant the golden spike … Continue reading Planting the Anthropoceneโs golden spike
Extract from Mythic Dreams – why modern capitalism’s pursuit of growth is a sin
Ch 2: A Haves and Have Nots World A much greater hunger In 1800, the worldโs population was about 1.36 billion. If we are to believe statistical analysis, most people lived, in income terms, relatively similar lives.ย According to Gapminder statistical analysis (admittedly conjectural, given that data before 1900 is โhighly uncertainโ) the worldโs poorest … Continue reading Extract from Mythic Dreams – why modern capitalism’s pursuit of growth is a sin
An alternative truth
The opening of a novella about this pandemic; just set somewhere else entirely.In a world with alternative truths what we would perhaps prefer is an alternative world on which to trial them. Part 1 - Beginnings December 13 Nahuw, Anihc Moon is about to place an Uggo piece into what he hopes will be a … Continue reading An alternative truth
Greta and the trolls
Isn't it fitting that Greta should hail from a nordic region, more-or-less the homeplace, I think, of trolls and other things nasty, like Ragnarok. What is it that brings them out whenever she gets a post or mention on social media.
Are we locked in a dance to the death (economically anyway) with fossil fuels
factors other than the purely economic must be taken into account. The problem with our purely economic thinking is that it is tainted with neoliberalist assumptions about worth. Humans, certainly all the ones in the first world, have been programmed to accept the notion that economic growth, most particularly at the personal level, is essential. To challenge this paradigm is to adopt the denialist annoying Greta Thunberg โhow dare youโ stance. But in fact what we do need to do - if you factor anything other than pure Homo economicus thinking - is to do away with stuff. Perhaps take a significant dip in our GDP rich life. Give up some goods, some cargo, some economic cudos. Will we be poorer for it? Will our health go into decline? Will our world become much smaller? Perhaps weโll travel less, the carbon load of flying is prohibitive. But will we be poorer? Will our air and waterways be cleaner? Will some of the wilderness be restored? Will we rediscover community? I donโt know, but I donโt think we can continue with business as usual. Because business isnโt (despite what they tell us) everything. We can choose to remain fossil fooled or we can choose not to be.
On the alleged death of homo economicus
If I am to take Nick Hanauerโs[1] advice and kill off homo economicus then what I fear Iโll be left with is โ all that someone of a liberal-humanist bent can ask, I suppose โ homo impotenticus. A person unpurposed: because I am not alone, because I am not reified individual, because I am part … Continue reading On the alleged death of homo economicus




