We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Oil Limits, Recession, and Bumping Against the Growth Ceiling

Click here to access article by Gail Tverberg from The Oil Drum. 

I have frequently stated that the human race is facing two basic threats that the capitalist system cannot cope with and which are actually made worse by the continuation of this system: global warming (including other forms of environmental degradation) and fossil fuel depletion. It has been some time since I've run articles on the latter threat. This article, hopefully, will bring us up to date. 

This website features the best commentary section that I have ever seen. The site brings together some of the best trained people in energy related fields. However, being products of capitalist controlled educational systems, they have been carefully schooled to not look closely at the political-economic organization of society.

Hence, there is seldom any mention in any articles at this site of the system that is addicted to growth, and the necessity to change the present political-economic arrangements to something that can sustain human life in the decades and centuries ahead. You can see this in the commentaries and from the last section of the author's original article (omitted from this posting) entitled, "Where Do We Go from Here?" However, the content of both the article and the commentaries following the article are very useful to understand what the consequences will be if we continue with this addictive and socially unjust system.
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