Crazy Town Post Carbon Institute: Sustainability, Climate, Collapse, and Dark Humor

Modern humans have a Stockholm Syndrome relationship to technology, which has kidnapped us while convincing us it has our best interests in mind. But when one looks back at the history of plastics or the current frenzy around AI, it isn't hard to see the insanity of doubling down on new technology to save us from previous technology. Find out what a person or society can actually do to develop a healthy, non-abusive relationship with technology, aside from joining an Amish community or going "full Kaczynski."

Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.
Sources/Links/Notes:
Moriah McDonald reports on the big underestimates of Greenland ice loss in Inside Climate News.Typical article about how AI can solve climate changeAnother such article about the "magic" of AIAnd another -- sheesh (no wonder Jason was so upset)!Report on the future of petrochemicals from the International Energy AgencyKelly Oakes of the BBC asks, "What would happen if we stopped using plastic?"Website of The Ocean CleanupLow Tech MagazineLow Technology Institute's 10-Mile Building ChallengeSulan Chen writes for UNDP, "A global treaty to end plastic pollution is in sight."BBC reporting on the EU's efforts to regulate AISupport the show

Consult your inner tortoise to find novel ways of slowing down and living the good life. In a world haunted by just-in-time delivery, hyperactive business, accelerating environmental calamities, and metric tons of stress, Jason, Rob, and Asher work at a fast and furious pace to savor the moments, because there aren't many left.

Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.
Sources/Links/Notes:
Top 10 most unrealistic car crashes in moviesClip from the movie The Blues BrothersClip from the movie SpeedClip from the movie Live Free or Die HardClip from the movie Furious 7Definition  of high frequency tradingGraphical representation of the Great AccelerationInterview with Hartmut RosaBart Zantvoort's article about Harmut Rosa's workArticle about social acceleration by Bettina Hollstein and Hartmut Rosa in the Journal of Business EthicsPodcast episode about shrinking attention spans (episode 225 of Speaking of Psychology)Article about technology and perception of time by Fiona MacDonald in ScienceAlert

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Did a whimsical 1960s TV sitcom presage climate migration and a reversal of urban growth? We're not calling for a Godzilla-esque teardown of cities, but climate change is forcing a serious urban rethink. Jason, Rob, and Asher offer visions of better infrastructure, policies, and culture that you can embrace, even if your home is in the city.

Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.
Sources/Links/Notes:
Wikipedia page for Paul Henning, creative force behind the spate of 1960s rural sitcoms.The Rural Climate Dialogues: A Community-Driven Roadmap for Climate Action in Rural Minnesota is a report by Tara Ritter with good summary statistics on the rural U.S.“Total and urban population” in UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics 2023.United Nations prediction about urban migration.“Out-of-Towners Head to ‘Climate-Proof Duluth,’” article by Debra Kamin in the New York Times.“Indonesia Is Moving its Capital to a Futuristic, Green City,” article by Katherine McLaughlin in Architectural Digest.Anthropogenic mass – the weight of everything humanity has built, statistics from the World Economic Forum..Analysis of transportation-related energy consumption and urban density, published in “U.S. Cities Factsheet” from the University of Michigan Center for Sustainable Systems.The 15-Minute CityRetrosuburbia: The Downshifter’s Guide to a Resilient Future, book by David Holmgren.Global Ecovillage NetworkDaily ActsStoveTeam InternationalOne Planet CouncilSupport the show

If American consumers ever come up for air under the pile of crap in their storage units, they find themselves face to face with a materialistic hellscape of megastores, McMansions, endless fleets of delivery trucks, and evil hordes of targeted ads. But help is on the way. Jason, Rob, and Asher present ideas for shaping up a world beyond consumerism.

Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.
Sources/Links/Notes:
The original (and both catchy and annoying) Toys “R” Us theme songThe melancholy remake of the theme song for a bankrupt Toys “R” Us, performed by Chase HolfelderU.S. Material Use FactsheetUnited Nations statistics on material footprintSelf storage industry trendsThe environmental costs of fast fashionStory by Beth Porter, “What Really Happens to Unwanted Clothes?”Forbes list of billionairesGeorge Carlin’s classic comedic bit about “stuff”Sandra Goldmark’s book Fixation: How to Have Stuff without Breaking the PlanetSupport the show

Jason, Rob, and Asher take a tour of New Caledonia, California's Central Valley, Bhutan, and Cuba to uncover the ins and outs of industrialism, especially as it has been applied to agriculture. Along the way they riff on how the hell we can escape from an -ism that completely engulfs us.

Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.
Sources/Links/Notes:
Tom Murphy “does the math” on declining wild mammal mass.Understanding the primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary sectors of the economy.USDA graphic and statistics on the scale of family farms.Our World in Data: “Farm Size and Productivity”.Video clip from Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.Hossain, S., Jami, A.T. (2023). “Opportunities and Challenges in Sustainable Development and Governance in South Asia: Case Study of Bhutan.” In: Wu, HH., Liu, WY., Huang, M.C. (eds) Moving Toward Net-Zero Carbon Society. Springer Climate.Arch Ritter, “Can Cuba Recover from its De-Industrialization?”.Julia Wright, “The Little-Studied Success Story of Post-Crisis Food Security in Cuba: Does Lack of International Interest Signify Lack of Political Will?” International Journal of Cuban Studies, vol. 4, no. 2, 2012, pp. 130–53.Support the show

Escape Routes! That's the theme of the sixth season of Crazy Town. We're exploring how to escape industrialism, consumerism, globalism, capitalism, and all the other -isms that are causing a polycrisis of environmental and social breakdown. Most of all, Jason, Rob, and Asher are looking to maintain their sense of humor while escaping fatalism and finding meaningful ways to avoid collapse.
Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.
Sources/Links/Notes:
Wikipedia article on China’s Mango CultFrance’s Dancing Plague of 1518Geoffrey Cohen, Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides, W. W. Norton, 2022Asch line experimentBystander Intervention Tip SheetSummary of Marvin Harris’s work on cultural materialismResearch that extends Asch’s conformity experiments and highlights the personality trait of openness as a key to resisting the behavior of conforming.Big Five Personality AssessmentOthering and Belonging Institute at the University of California, BerkeleySupport the show