Tag Archives: back to the future

The Future of Nowhere: James Howard Kunstler

This week’s guest on Sea Change Radio is author and futurist James Howard Kunstler. In his numerous articles and books he paints a future that involves rather drastic changes to business as usual for the human race. His most recent article in Orion Magazine, Back To The Future, attempts to punch holes in the theories of urbanists like Harvard economist Edward Glaeser who believe that increased, more efficient urbanization can be a life raft for a human race that has already depleted many of earth’s treasures. [amazon-product]0802142494[/amazon-product]In his talk with host Alex Wise, you’ll hear Kunstler’s own dystopian theories on the fate of suburban America, the necessary decline of global commerce, and the bumbling nature of grassroots environmental efforts. But, lest this interview leave us all feeling paralyzed by gloom, Mr. Kunstler talks about what makes him most optimistic about a post-carbon tomorrow.

Whose Commonwealth Is It?

Welcome to the final episode in our Sea Change series, Back to the Future. Journalist and policy strategist David Bollier tells us about the idea of the commons; wind energy expert Patrick Quinlan talks about wind power in Massachusetts and how it has become a battleground over competing definitions of the commons; wind developer Dan Juhl talks about community wind power; and historian Kerry Buckley sums up the lessons of our series. Read the show transcript

Back To The Future: Getting Around On Rails and Trails

Trolley in Western Massachusetts

In this edition of the Sea Change Radio series Back To The Future, Francesca Rheannon talks with historian Kerry Buckley about the heyday of the trolley system in Massachusetts; rail trail promoter Craig Della Penna talks about how rail trails came about and where they are going; and anthropologist Cathy Stanton talks about how we could reinvent the relationship between cars and other lower carbon means of transportation, like bikes and light rail.Read the show transcript

Back to the Future: Reduce, Reuse, Retrofit

BetsyPettit

Welcome to the third episode in our Sea Change series, Back to the Future.  Green architect Betsy Pettit talks about retrofits and what older building methods can teach us about saving energy. And John Grossman of ReStore tells us about re-using salvaged building materials.

Read the show transcript

Back To The Future: To Market, To Market

Farmer Jim Pitts Samples His Own Pancakes
Farmer Jim Pitts Samples His Pancakes

The second episode of our Back To The Future series looks at the revival of a locally based food system in western Massachusetts. We talk with Margaret Christie of CISA (Community In Support of Agriculture), visit with organic farmer Jim Pitts at the Amherst Farmers Market, and speak with social historian Christopher Clark about how the market economy evolved in the Connecticut Valley in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

Read the show transcript