This episode is work safe.

Interview with James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency.

We discuss what his book, The Long Emergency, is about; why he doesn’t see his book as a prognostication of a doomsday; writing about living in a world of peak oil with a certain relish; the hardships that we all will face; political uncertainty; why he believes that alternative such as biodiesel, electric cars and solar power will not and should not preserve our current lifestyle; America’s short-term memory loss of the 1973 oil embargo; President Carter’s environmental legislation; how we became dependent on other countries for oil; OPEC; the oil fields of Cantarell, Burgan, Ghawar and Daikin; how deep our petroleum dependency goes; the psychology of previous investments; the Rocky Mountain Institute; the hypercar; Asian pirates in the Pacific coast; the breakdown of governments in the world; designer viruses to kill off surplus population; Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution; his “racist” views on Southern culture; living in the last days of a belle epoch; the change in economies amenities, agriculture, cities and justice; looking for the silver lining; the Congress of New Urbanism; what has changed since he wrote The Long Emergency; what his time line is for the coming Long Emergency.

Audio from the video Bruce Sterling’s talk on Effective Activism was played with kind permission of Big Picture. Click here to view the video.

Featured song is “Drag Of The Mask” by Martini Henry.

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