The Long Emergency Video

Although I have a hardcopy subscription to Orion Magazine, I like to cruise the Orion Society's website from time to time. Last night when I did this I made a discovery I'd like to share with BV readers. The incomparable James Howard Kunstler wrote a book last year called The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century. A brief synopsis:

As a result of artificially cheap fossil-fuel energy, we have developed global models of industry, commerce, food production, and finance over the last 200 years. But the oil age, which peaked in 1970, is at an end. The depletion of nonrenewable fossil fuels is about to radically change life as we know it, and much sooner than we think. The Long Emergency tells us just what to expect after the honeymoon of affordable energy is over, preparing us for economic, political, and social changes of an unimaginable scale.

I have talked about this book earlier on in this blog, and perhaps some of you have already read it. The great find I made on the Orion site last night was this - The Long Emergency is now a "five-week video exploration with author. lecturer, and de facto cultural historian James Howard Kunstler." The first three segments are up in the Current Wisdom section of the site:

• Part One: How the Hell Did We Get Here?
• Part Two: Hubbard's Curve and Other Inconvenient Facts
• Part Three: Reagan's Short-Lived "Morning in America"

Kunstler is not everyone's cup of tea, many seem to regard him as a madmad, but I am a huge fan. The Cassandras of this world are almost always viewed as mad, until their visions start to become reality. His blog, Clusterfuck Nation, is on our sidebar and should be visited often. For more Kunstler, should you be so inclined, here is his multifaceted website.

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