As a child of the 1960s, I grew up with dreams of a high tech future, so different from my simple rural family lifestyle. In part, that fondness for the future was drawn from the television show, The Jetsons, with its flying cars and robotic home helpers. As I grew … [continued]
Peak oil, low EROI and peak cheap oil gave way to minerals and other constraints, while Nate Hagens’ broader expectation of approaching contraction remained remarkably durable.
Nate Hagens has spent most of his intellectual career inside a forecasting tradition that expected physical resource constraints to force industrial societies into contraction. He was a major contributor to The Oil Drum and eventually its managing editor, while the nonprofit that now produces The Great Simplification grew directly from … [continued]
If you’ve been following my work recently, you know that I’ve been celebrating several fine authors who have contributed to a Media Education Lab special issue. The August edition of MediaEd Insights was titled, “What’s for Dinner? Food as an Ecomedia Literacy.” The fourth essay in this series is a … [continued]
"Plant-Based Dishes, Raw Food (29103285347)" by Ella Olsson from Stockholm, Sweden is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
One principle of media literacy involves stepping back from a favored topic and doing a deep dive to figure out what motivates our interest in that topic. Known as metacognition, gaining such critical distance asks us to reflect on our self-knowledge and evaluate the sources that contribute to our perspectives. … [continued]
This summer I invited a group of talented writers who specialize in food systems to participate in a special Media Education Lab publication called MediaEd Insights. Our issue is called, “What’s for Dinner? Food as an Ecomedia Literacy Inquiry.” Our first essay introduced food systems as a way to engage … [continued]
Once upon a time, Elon Musk tweeted on his then-new social media platform, “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy.” He, of course, was referring to the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which declares that “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or … [continued]
On September 5, 2024, after giving a speech about his economic plans for the United States, Donald Trump was asked what he would do, if re-elected president, to make childcare more affordable. Trump then offered a nonsensical, 374-word response: well, I would do that, and we’re sitting down — you know, … [continued]
We have thousands of subscribers, and many more supporters and longtime readers. Most people who support the work we do provide $3/month (via PayPal, Patreon, Stripe, and Substack). That’s great. We appreciate every dollar. But … a few things have been going on lately and we’d definitely appreciate more support … [continued]
Part one of a two-part series. The Potential Energy Coalition just released Fixing Climate Communications 2026, which deserves more than my LinkedIn post. Commissioned by The Rockefeller Foundation and grounded in data from over 83,000 survey respondents across six countries, six years of message testing, and more than 1,350 randomized … [continued]
On today’s 250th celebration of the United States of America, I’m feeling quite melancholy. The signing of the Declaration of Independence is one of the most important events in US history and should be a cause for great acclaim. Our nation should be relishing the further advancement of human rights, … [continued]
