CHRIS NELDER — As the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster continues to unfold, the peak oil community has a “teachable moment†in which it can illuminate the reality of our energy plight. The public has had a crash course in the challenges of offshore oil, and learned a whole new vocabulary. They are more aware than ever that the days of cheap and easy oil are gone. What they do not yet grasp are the challenges in transitioning from fossil fuels to renewables.
Unarmed and Courageous: Emergency Workers in Afghanistan
KATHY KELLY & JOSH BROLLIER — These brave peace correspondents, reporting from a desperately dangerous place, reveal why U.S. policy is failing in Afghanistan.
Can We Live With the Bomb?
LAWRENCE WITTNER — For some time now, it has been clear that nuclear weapons threaten the existence not only of humanity, but of all life on Earth. Thus, Barack Obama’s pledge to work for a nuclear weapons-free world—made during his 2008 presidential campaign and subsequently in public statements—has resonated nicely with supporters of nuclear disarmament and with the general public.
Harman Gives Cover to Gaza Aid Piracy
NORMAN SOLOMON — When Israel attacked the Gaza aid flotilla, Congresswoman Jane Harman was engaged in a parallel assault. Israel’s government relied on the efficacy of violence; Harman’s campaign was counting on the power of paid media. In both cases, the targets were advocates of human rights for Palestinian people.
OPW Lauches Online Peace Store
CARRIE ADAMS — If you have ever visited the Oregon PeaceWorks office in Salem, you have seen our display of peace merchandise. If you’ve never had that opportunity, you no longer need miss out. OPW has launched its online Peace Store which you can visit with a mere mouseclick.
The World After Abundance
JOHN MICHAEL GREER — It has been nearly four decades now since the limits to industrial civilization’s trajectory of limitless material growth on a limited planet have been clearly visible on the horizon of our future. Over that time, a remarkable paradox has unfolded. The closer we get to the limits to growth, the more those limits impact our daily lives, and the more clearly our current trajectory points toward the brick wall of a difficult future, the less most people in the industrial world seem to be able to imagine any alternative to driving the existing order of things ever onward until the wheels fall off.