Monthly Archives: August 2021

Paying Attention to What We Pay Attention To

Thinking more about this astonishing eight word phrase, from Amy Rosenthal via  John Green: Pay attention to what you pay attention to. Over the past decade, I’ve given up thoughts of “improving” myself, what some people call doing the work … Continue reading

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves | 3 Comments

No More Careers

images by the Noun Project CCBY Gan Khoon Lay and Webtechops LLP It took me my entire working life to realize how unnatural “work” — ie wage slavery, in a relationship of voluntary servitude to others — actually is. Even … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch, How the World Really Works, Our Culture / Ourselves | 4 Comments

Flying at Four Hundred Feet

Some shots from the new digs in Coquitlam BC. It’s a little like living in an airplane taxiing very slowly in to land. I’m under the weather, but feeling blessed to have found a place. Inside, the chaos of unpacking … Continue reading

Posted in Creative Works | 2 Comments

Preparing to Welcome Two Billion Refugees

The iconic 2015 photo by Daniet Etter/New York Times/Redux /eyevine of Middle-Eastern refugees weeping for joy at their safe arrival in Europe no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch, Our Culture / Ourselves | 4 Comments

Well Worn

Of all the aspects of human culture, the one I think I know the least about is our propensity for wearing particular clothes. I can appreciate that when we left our natural habitat a million years ago, we needed some … Continue reading

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves | Comments Off on Well Worn

Self-Management: Take Two

estuary, a new artwork by my friend Di  I‘ve written a lot about this subject over the years. It seems to me that, since we can’t know how grim the ongoing collapse of our civilization is going to be, or … Continue reading

Posted in How the World Really Works, Our Culture / Ourselves | Comments Off on Self-Management: Take Two

Links of the Month: August 2021

Indi Samarajiva is a cultural critic/analyst living in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He’s been writing about culture and collapse as long as I have. Last year, in a remarkable series on collapse described in more detail in the section below, he … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch, How the World Really Works, Our Culture / Ourselves | 4 Comments

Where Should You Live When TSHTF?

Street in Helsingør (aka “Elsinore” thanks to Shakespeare), Danmark, nominated as one of Europe’s 5 greenest towns of 2021-22. Photo by Grega.nered – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0. Having just moved from one rather precarious place (a small ferry-dependent island) … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch | 6 Comments

Farewell to Bowen, Part Two: Creating Community

In Part One of this article, I described the global economic forces that have largely defeated Bowen Islanders’ attempts to create a sustainable, livable, long-term home for its diverse, long-term residents. I explained that the only future for the Vancouver … Continue reading

Posted in How the World Really Works, Our Culture / Ourselves | 1 Comment

Time to Rename British Columbia

image of a raven by Hornby Island artist Glen Rabena A year ago the Tyee ran a column suggesting that the ghastly name of our province — British Columbia, with the double blemish of (a) smacking of brutal colonialism and … Continue reading

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves | 2 Comments