Home » Posts tagged 'counterpunch' (Page 2)
Tag Archives: counterpunch
Why the Troubled U.S. Empire Could Quickly Fall Apart
Why the Troubled U.S. Empire Could Quickly Fall Apart Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair The U.S. wars lost in Iraq and Afghanistan showed imperial overreach beyond what even 20 years of war could manage. That the defeats were drawn out for so many years shows that domestic politics and the funding of the domestic military-industrial […]
Deconstructing Electric Vehicles on the eve of Glasgow COP26
Deconstructing Electric Vehicles on the eve of Glasgow COP26 A lead human-interest story in the weekend Wheels section of a major Canadian newspaper is about a 2-car family’s transitioning from a hybrid to an EV as they “try to be more sustainable”. They upgrade their daily car every few years to seek “improvements in fuel efficiency, reliability […]
The Four Layers of Reality — and Why We’re Only Allowed to Talk About One
The Four Layers of Reality — and Why We’re Only Allowed to Talk About One No matter which mainstream media segment you’re currently watching, I can promise you it’s not getting to the heart of any issue. By definition they only participate in surface level analysis. For example, there are three or four levels of […]
The Path to a Livable Future Cannot be the Path We’re On
The Path to a Livable Future Cannot be the Path We’re On Stan Cox has pulled off quite a feat with his latest book The Path to a Livable Future: A New Politics to Fight Climate Change, Racism, and the Next Pandemic. In a relaxed, inviting style, Cox sets unorthodox ideas in a persuasive human and environmental […]
Climate Change Viewed From the Attic of the World
Climate Change Viewed From the Attic of the World Photograph Source: NASA, Janderk Jan Derk – Public Domain Thirteen thousand feet high on the far side of the Himalaya mountains, we have entered the past and the future at the same time. We are a medical expedition and also a pilgrimage, consisting of doctors, nurses, […]
Solar Energy on the Frontlines and Old-Fashioned Clotheslines
Solar Energy on the Frontlines and Old-Fashioned Clotheslines Solar energy comes to Earthlings in many ways. Ancient Persians used passive solar architecture. East Africans about the same time funneled cool ocean wind through tunnels to cool themselves. Now at long last, solar energy is outpacing new fossil fuel and nuclear facilities on price, environmental safety, […]
The Record-Breaking Failures of Nuclear Power
The Record-Breaking Failures of Nuclear Power Photograph Source: Watts Bar Unit 2 nuclear power reactor – CC BY 2.0 The Tennessee Valley Authority could likely rightfully claim a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, but it’s not an achievement for which the federally-owned electric utility corporation would welcome notoriety. After taking a whopping 42 […]
Where Best to Ride Out the Climate Apocalypse? The Billionaires’ Bunker Fantasies Go Mainstream
Where Best to Ride Out the Climate Apocalypse? The Billionaires’ Bunker Fantasies Go Mainstream Mill, Halsey, Oregon. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. Having written about the media for several years now, I have become ever more sensitive to how we, as news consumers, are subject to ideology – the invisible, shifting sands of our belief system. […]
Slamming China Won’t Save Fossil Capitalism From Itself
Slamming China Won’t Save Fossil Capitalism From Itself Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair Only the mentally impaired now doubt the reality of climate change. Only the ideologically blind question that human burning of fossil fuels has caused it. In just a few weeks, we had once-in-millennium floods in Germany and Belgium, a once-in-a-millennium heat wave […]
Greenwashing the Tokyo Olympic Games
Greenwashing the Tokyo Olympic Games “The gap between rhetoric and reality is a persistent one when looking at the sustainability of commitments of Olympic Games hosts”. – Martin Müller, European Urban and Regional Studies, 2015 The organisers of the Olympics have always been into appearances and grand theatre. And the International Olympic Committee has always been […]
Defund the Canadian Military
Defund the Canadian Military Progressives should be pushing to defund or abolish the Canadian military. But, first we need to stop bolstering its capacity to kill in US and NATO lead wars. Wednesday the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute and Canadian Voice of Women for Peace released a public letter opposing Canada’s plan “to spend tens […]
Climate Justice and Movement Building: An Interview with Brian Tokar
Climate Justice and Movement Building: An Interview with Brian Tokar Photograph Source: Fibonacci Blue – CC BY 2.0 Adam Aron: What was your personal journey to focus on the ecological and climate crisis? Brian Tokar: I was lucky enough to go to a high school in New York City that kids from all around the city […]
Reindigenizing the Anthropocene
Reindigenizing the Anthropocene This essay is a response to “Redefining the Anthropocene,” by Erik Molvar, which was published on Counterpunch on May 13, 2021. I recommend that it be read first. First let me first stress that I am not calling out Molvar personally or even specifically here. As a staunch opponent of livestock grazing […]
Lithium, Cobalt, and Rare Earths: the Post-Petroleum Resource Race
Lithium, Cobalt, and Rare Earths: the Post-Petroleum Resource Race Thanks to its very name — renewable energy — we can picture a time in the not-too-distant future when our need for non-renewable fuels like oil, natural gas, and coal will vanish. Indeed, the Biden administration has announced a breakthrough target of 2035 for fully eliminating U.S. reliance […]
The Crisis of the Natural World
The Crisis of the Natural World Mountain Goat, North Cascades National Park. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. The natural world is in a state of crisis, and we are to blame. We are in the midst of the Sixth Extinction, the biggest loss of species in the history of humankind. So many species are facing total annihilation. […]
