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State didn't seek Federal money for independent living
How blue-green are your algae - er, candidates?
Learning from the Goldschmidt Report: Land Reform and American Agriculture
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Thinking about the unthinkable—and doing something about it
Once unthinkable: oil is approaching $75 a barrel.
Why is the price of oil skyrocketing? The simple fact is that demand for oil is outpacing global supply. Much sooner than many thought possible, the world is starting to run out of fossil fuels. This is happening in the context of a global economy that is completely dependent on abundant supplies of oil and natural gas for industrial production, farming, transportation, heating and cooling.
The rapid depletion of fossil fuels threatens multiple crises: more resource wars like the disaster in Iraq; greater disparity between rich and poor; and ultimately economic collapse on a global scale. This converges with mounting ecological crises: climate change, rapidly melting glaciers and ice shelves, disastrous hurricanes and draughts, deforestation, and so on.
We need to fundamentally reshape our way of life to end our reliance on fossil fuels and end the rampant destruction of our environment. This means finding every possible way to conserve energy, to reduce excess consumption, and to shift to renewable energy sources.
It means reorganizing ourselves socially, economically, and politically based on values of cooperation, respect for the earth, affirmation of life, and entirely new concepts of success. The need to take action is urgent and immediate.
The good news is that constructive local action is possible, practical, and critically important. Imagine solar panels starting to appear on roofs all over our communities. Imagine the flowering of a local system of organic food production.
Imagine our local governments prioritizing resources for the funding of home energy conservation and geothermal heating. Imagine tree planting campaigns. Imagine vital public dialogues about how to drastically reduce our reliance on cars, pool use of hybrids, expand public transportation and bike paths, and reorganize our economy so that more and more people can walk to work and work at home.
Imagine local companies going green. Imagine clean fuel processed from used vegetable oil. Imagine linking with other local action networks as part of a global movement to create a sustainable future for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren.
This is the vision of the Mystic River Green-Rainbow's newly-formed Sustainability Committee. Join us! If you want to get involved or would like more information, email Steve Morr-Wineman at swineman@gis.net. or call 617 491-0366