IntegralJournal

Fukushima, denial, and the ethics of extinction – Guy McPherson's blog

An excerpt:

"Another interesting thing this situation has turned up is the apparent inverse relationship between social rank and ability to grasp the consequences of the situation. Wealthy and powerful people rarely seem to understand that not all problems can be handled with spin, force or money. People who deal with physical reality for a living take a look at this information and quite often get it immediately."

Fukushima, denial, and the ethics of extinction – Guy McPherson's blog.

The Fed Balance Sheet: What is Uncle Sam's Largest Asset?

Excerpt:

"As I point out on the chart, the two callouts are for Q4 2007, the quarter in which the Great Recession began (December 2007) the most recent quarter on record, Q4 2011. The loan balance has risen and astonishing 332% over that timeframe, most of which dates from after the recession."

The Fed Balance Sheet: What is Uncle Sam's Largest Asset?.

As The World Turns: Eschatological Capitalism | kulturCritic

Gore Vidal quote:

"We are now, slowly, becoming alarmed at the state of the planet.  For a century, we have been breeding like a virus under optimum conditions, and now the virus has begun to attack its host, the earth.  The lower atmosphere is filled with dust, we have been told from our satellites in space. Climate changes; earth and water poisoned.  Sensible people grow alarmed; sky-godders are serene, even smug.  The planet is just a staging area for heaven.  Why bother to clean it up?  Did not the sky-god tell his slaves to “be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it, and have dominion… over every living thing that moveth upon the earth”?  Well, we did just like you told us, massa.  We’ve used everything up.  We’re ready for heaven now. Or maybe Mars will do. (Vidal 413)"

More at:
As The World Turns: Eschatological Capitalism | kulturCritic.

I just happened to pick up Krishnamurti's Freedom From the Known this morning and the contents of the first page seemed an appropriate accompaniment to the kulturCritic piece linked to above:

Man has throughout the ages been seeking something beyond himself, beyond material welfare -- something we call truth or God or reality, a timeless state -- something that cannot be disturbed by circumstances, by thought or by human corruption.

Man has always asked the question: what is it all about? Has life any meaning at all? He sees the enormous confusion of life, the brutalities, the revolts, the wars, the endless divisions of religion, ideology and nationality, and with a sense of deep abiding frustration he asks, what is one to do, what is this thing we call living, is there anything beyond it?

And not finding this nameless thing of a thousand names which he has always sought, he has cultivated faith -- faith in a saviour or an ideal -- and faith invariably breeds violence. [p.9]

Next Great Depression? MIT researchers predict ‘global economic collapse’ by 2030 | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News

This article is so poorly written that I hesitated to link to it...

Excerpt:

"Turner says that perhaps the most startling find from the study is that the results of the computer scenarios were nearly identical to those predicted in similar computer scenarios used as the basis for 'The Limits to Growth.'"

Next Great Depression? MIT researchers predict ‘global economic collapse’ by 2030 | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News.

Gaian Economics: Back to the Land

Gaian Economics: Back to the Land.

Does the U.S. really have more oil than Saudi Arabia? | Energy Bulletin

In the past few weeks, I have come across several people who seem to think that the US has more oil than it does. This piece goes a long way in explaining some of the confusion.

An excerpt:

"Thus, while the U.S. might indeed have greater oil resources than Saudi Arabia, U.S. oil reserves (per the BP Statistical Review of World Energy) are only about 1/10th those of Saudi Arabia. The distinction is important."

Does the U.S. really have more oil than Saudi Arabia? | Energy Bulletin.

What Older Workers Don't Know About Social Security - Yahoo! Finance

What Older Workers Don't Know About Social Security - Yahoo! Finance.

We Owe How Much?? — DollarCollapse.com

How do you plan to deal with this reality? It's clear that having some semblance of a quality life in the future will require a great deal of creativity.

An excerpt:

A politician who messes with the Most Selfish Generation’s free health care will find himself back in the harsh private sector world of actual expected results before the polls close in the next election. Compare this with the probable repercussions of stiffing China or Saudi Arabia on bond interest — some contentious headlines and a bit of turmoil in the foreign exchange markets that most voters would hardly notice — and it’s clear that unfunded liabilities have, if anything, a more solid claim on future economic activity in the US than does interest on Treasury bonds.

So our true national debt is government debt plus private sector debt plus off-balance-sheet obligations plus unfunded liabilities, which comes to somewhere around half a million dollars per man, woman and child, or two million per family of four.

We Owe How Much?? — DollarCollapse.com.

Depoliticize Everything - Stephen Mauzy - Mises Daily

Excerpt:

"Stripped to its core, politics is nothing more than an egregiously expensive exercise in self-aggrandizement and frustration. Once you get past the preening and rabble-rousing, all democratic government is Fabian government. Democratic government always grows. That Limbaugh consistently persuades his putative 20 million daily listeners that Republicans are champions of the free market and small government is a tribute to charismatic oratory. Republicans are nearly as progovernment as Democrats. The great Republican revolution lasted from 1995 to 2008. Over that period, total federal outlays grew to $2.982 trillion from $1.515 trillion, a 5.3 percent average annual growth rate."

Depoliticize Everything - Stephen Mauzy - Mises Daily.

TerraNova Ecological Landscaping

From the website:

Terra Nova Ecological Landscaping started in 1988 is a full-service (design, build, maintain) ecological landscaping company focusing on the creation of beautiful living systems for public and private lands...

TerraNova Ecological Landscaping; Check out their blog.