Michael Brownlee's Page

Making sense of economic turmoil is no small challenge. Many of us gave up on understanding the economy a long time ago. Besides, economics has always seemed to live up to its reputation as the most dismal of sciences. In the past, why would we want to study it in depth--unless we were hoping to significantly profit from economic and financial pursuits? As Woody Tasch laments in Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money, "I have had it up to--here!--with the opaque, impersonal, d… Continue

When Tom Friedman speaks, people listen.

We've been listening, too.

A few weeks ago, the popular New York Times columnist came to Boulder for a public appearance at the massive Mackey Auditorium. The event was sold out weeks in advance, which was okay with me because I had no interest in attending.

However, I noticed that a number of people had been recommending… Continue

By Carolyn Baker, Speaking Truth to Power

Sunday, 04 January 2009

For several months I have been meaning to write a review of Rob Hopkins' The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience, but other things got in the way-like a planetary economic meltdown and out of control climate change that exceeds some of the most dire predictions by climate sc… Continue

One Shot Left
The latest science suggests that preventing runaway climate change means total decarbonisation.


By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 25th November 2008

[Original here]

George Bush is behaving like a furious defaulter whose home is about to be repossessed. Smashing the porcelain, ripping the doors off their hinges, he is determined that there will be nothing worth owning by the time the bastar… Continue

The craze for urban poultry farming.
by Jessica Bennett
NEWSWEEK (see original here)

For Brooklyn real-estate agent Maria Mackin, the obsession started five years ago, on a trip to Pennsylvania Amish country. She, her husband and three children—now 17, 13 and 11—sat down for brunch at a local bed-and-breakfast, and suddenly the chef realized she'd run out of eggs. "She said, 'Oh goodness! I'll have to go out to the garden and get some more'," Mack… Continue

by Kenny Ausubel (founder and CEO of Bioneers)

The original appeared in Huffington Post.

Dreaming the future can create the future. We stand at the threshold of a singular opportunity in the human experiment: To re-imagine how to live on Earth in ways that honor the web of life, each other and future generations. It's a revolution from the heart of nature -- and the human heart.

Then again… Continue

Climate change is upon us and the oil is running out. Is mankind's darkest hour really approaching? If so, a growing army of local heroes is determined to turn it into our finest

by Luke Leitch


See the original here.

In Sandpoint, Idaho - birthplace of Sarah Palin, who really wouldn't approve - residents have prepared the community garden for its first winter and plans are under wa… Continue

From Post Carbon Institute

Several of us who have been watching the world oil production and depletion picture closely for the last few years are now concluding that the world has now seen the highest rate of production ever. Matt Simmons agrees:… Continue

Dan Montgomery of Blue Opal Strategies hosts a "Sustainable Leadership" series on BlogTalkRadio.

He interviewed me this morning for the one-hour show, and you can listen to the results here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/SustainableLeadership/2008/10/09/Transition-The-Most-Inspiring-… Continue

Here's a Word doc with a succinct top-level Executive Briefing about the Transition Movement in the U.S. Please feel free to use and adapt this for your own purposes.

I created this originally as a briefing for a leading candidate for the U.S. Congress, so that he would have at his fingertips some of the key information about Transition that he could use in his own communications.

Here's the link:… Continue