I read and watched this week: Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa: A movie-buff friend recommended the movie. It’s almost 2.5 hours long so it took me a few nights to watch it. It’s from 1952. I didn’t know what to expect. At first I didn’t think much of it. Then for the next few nights I kept thinking about it: little details that fit together, things characters said, how it connected[…] Keep reading →

I read and watched this week: King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild, a podcast guest: I’d meant to read Adam’s book since I loved Bury the Chains and learned this book was bigger. Recently reading Heart of Darkness led to me King Leopold’s Ghost. Both books talked about imperialism, colonialism, and slavery in the Congo. Conrad’s book was fiction you[…] Keep reading →

I read and watched this week: Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: Regular readers know my interest in understanding imperialism, colonialism, and slavery to understand our situation with the environment. Somehow I made it over five decades before reading Heart of Darkness, or listening to it since it’s in the public domain, so I downloaded a free version from Librivox. My first time through, I felt it overly descriptive and wondered[…] Keep reading →

This week I read: Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart: Having awakened to the persistent imperialism at the root of our culture, I’ve been referring to this book a lot lately. I remember it as one of my favorites from reading it at least a decade ago. I found it as powerful and intriguing as I remember, and relevant to our times. We invade these days with addiction more than weapons[…] Keep reading →

Read this week: William Rees: The Fundamental Issue: Overshoot on the Great Simplification podcast and Warning to People of Earth (broken into 7 parts: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7): Rees created the ecological footprint concept. His work is helpful, but what I’m trying to get past: he understands our environmental problems and human problems inhibiting from acting. All facts and view but zero to negative leadership. Krakatoa: the[…] Keep reading →

I’m starting a new regular post: selections of what I read, watched, or listened to each week. This week: A book so fascinating and useful I read it in two sittings (one if you don’t count sleeping). The author, Jason Hickel, is an accomplished economic anthropologist who comprehensively shows problems with growth and the value of degrowth. An article by a podcast guest, Christopher Ketcham, on how wind, solar, and[…] Keep reading →

We can’t create more time or energy. We get what we get. It doesn’t matter how much you want twenty-five hours in a day. You don’t get them. Not if you’re rich or connected either. Likewise with energy. There is only so much energy available. People can dream of unlimited energy, but they still have to eat and fill their car with gas because their energy runs out. Our culture[…] Keep reading →