More pithy commentary from Jim Kunstler

James Howard Kunstler, author of several books including The Long Emergency (reviewed below) generally has things to say and is not too afraid to say them. But smart people might do well to listen when he does, because behind the colorful language and ascerbic attitude lurks a guy who would genuinely like us to stop being stupid and engage the problems we're facing with open eyes.

Case in point: "Blowing Green Smoke," his response to well-known columnist Tom Friedman's upbeat and (perhaps excessively) optimistic April 16th article in the New York Times. I think both authors make some good points, and as usual I suspect that the truth lies somewhere between the extremes. I want to see the world the way Friedman does... but I fear that over the medium-to-long term, Kunstler's is the more realistic view. That's decidedly unnerving.

If you want more of Kunstler's take on matters, read his speech to the Second Vermont Republic assembly, in October 2005. Here's an excerpt:

For much of our history, including the first half of the 20th century, we were a resourceful, adaptive, generous, brave, forward-looking people who believed in earnest effort, who occupied a beautiful landscape full of places worth caring about and worth defending.

Since then, lost in raptures of easy motoring, fried food, incessant infotainment, and desperate moneygrubbing, we became a nation of overfed clowns who believed that it was possible to get something for nothing, who ravaged the landscape in an orgy of wanton carelessness, who believed they were entitled to lives of everlasting comfort and convenience, no matter what, and expected the rest of the world to pay for it. We even elected a vice-president who declared that this American way of life was non-negotiable.

We now face the most serious challenge to our collective identity, economy, culture, and security since the Civil War. The end of the cheap fossil fuel era will change everything about how we live in this country. It will challenge all of our assumptions. It will compel us to do things differently - whether we like it or not.

Guess that about covers it...