An economic system that is predicated on perpetual growth and resource extraction will eventually collapse as there is no more growth or resources to extract. Everyone is tapped out and there is nothing more you can squeeze. So it’s not surprising that the people on the lower end of the economic pole are taking what they need to survive, if the economy can’t provide for your basic needs then fuck the economy.

Who said Gov is an inefficiency engine? That sounds more like neo-liberal dogma then actual peer reviewed work.

Then perhaps reforming the commons? Agricultural land & surplus are owned in common by the people who live in the area. Government pays for the production of those food stuffs and only gets a nominal % tax on the surplus.

I agree the money is going to come from the monetary supply and government acting as buyer and distributor of goods would be incredibly problematic. A subsidy of some kind for domestic production + placing a max profit markup IMO would be a more effective method.

I agree the money is going to come from the monetary supply and government acting as buyer and distributor of goods would be incredibly problematic. A subsidy of some kind for domestic production + placing a max profit markup IMO would be a more effective method.

There is not much anyone can do TBH. Too much of the social/political/monetary systems we currently live in have exponential growth baked into their values. It’s incredibly hard to turn that around. Now there is work being done on building a different economic system but its anyone’s guess if the current system will bend itself into that direction or it just breaks and the new system fills the void. But either way capitalism is dying and there is no hope of saving it.

On what exactly? Also where do you store it? Like I am all for government activity to collectively stockpile and supply materials but what materials and for what purpose? Also should it be a federal project/state project/both? IDK sometimes its just easier to use price controls then it is to handle logistics.

Which is dumb because like no one I know is interested in setting up a social/legal/economic Caste system in which “White People” are at the bottom. At best we got “don’t let white dudes vote for a decade”, mostly since they voted so hard for so long maybe it would be good for them to take a break. Go paint, write shit poetry, or frolic in the forest. IDC just fuck off for a bit while the rest of us put the world back together.(Angry Latino man rant)

Based on this statement it looks like they were compelled by the courts:

In this case, Proton received a legally binding order from Swiss authorities which we are obligated to comply with. There was no possibility to appeal this particular request.

They also provided an update:

In October 2021, Proton won a Swiss court ruling that email services are not telecommunications providers. Consequently, email services are not subject to the data retention requirements imposed on telecommunications providers and are exempted from handing over certain user data in response to Swiss legal orders.

So it sounds like they had their hand forced in that instance to provide the data and got a court ruling that allows them in the future to not retain that data. I would trust them.

IMO its a “meh”. Oil production is currently at an energy neutral state(amount of energy needed to extract is equal to the energy provided), in a decade or so its going to hit energy negative(energy needed to extract is more then energy provided). What should be happening is slow/begin halting extraction and storing all of that oil in the ground just in case we might need that energy surplus at some point in the future but that hurts quarterly profit returns so the oil executive solution to it is “suck it dry, not my problem”.

Because he is not an actual progressive. Hes just a spoiled rich kid who like to pretend to be a progressive.

I mean IMO Raspberry Pi cluster are the future. Low power, cheap CPU’s/Ram that are capable of running containerized workloads.

People know whats going on and the reactions are numerous to count. Nihilism/apathy tend to win out not because we don’t have solutions already on the table to solve it but because those solutions are not consumer based and easy. We are not going to solve this via a magic bullet, fusion power isn’t going to solve the underlying problem of consumerism/neo-liberal capitalist economics.

We are not powerless to make the change, thinking that way only empowers those who have no problem with killing the planet for profit. There are millions of people all over the world actively working on changing the economic conversation away from GDP growth and consumerism to something else, however they don’t get the broadcast airtime in the US. There is degrowth, postgrowth, environmental socialism, doughnut economics, etc all with different ways/ideas to build an economy without consuming the planet in the process.

Honestly the best action an individual can take is join a group or organization that is actively trying to shift the conversation. Extinction Rebellion, Fridays for Future are just a small sample of the millions of organizations and groups who are actively trying to build a better future, find a local group where you live and join in-person. The work is going to be long and hard but the hardest part requires individuals to put their own ego in check and do the work not for their own personal benefit but for the benefit of the collective and generations to come. We are powerful together, but divided and stewing in our own misery and loathing about the hand we have been collectively dealt doesn’t solve anything. If anything it makes it worse. What works is getting involved with your local community, talking to people, building networks of support and collective activism. The more we do that the better shot we have at staving off the worse possible future.

It’s because of how they are financed and evaluated. Their investors/financiers expect a constant return on investment as well as yearly financial growth to justify their high stock values. It doesn’t matter if they have big enough or are already producing max profit. Gotta keep growing to match inflation which is also tied to growth. All powering a runaway train in which there is no conductor.

IMO I think the “doom and gloom” messaging has backfired into apathy and nihilism. Yes we should be honest with the seriousness and severity of the situation but I think it’s more important to provide and message hope. Also provide solutions, alternative economic systems, simpler and happier lifestyles, and especially pathways to off-ramp from the consume till we die society that we currently live in.

I like the writers observation that using environmentally safe products but then consuming more of them still lands us back to the same problem of not enough resources to provide such consumptive lifestyles. I disagree with the point that Doughnut Economics is just greenwashing because it’s not explicitly “degrowth”. Doughnut Economics is about Degrowth, it just makes the point that no matter how much you shrink the economy there are some basic services you need to provide for everyone. Doughnut Theory calls them the social foundations and you can’t go bellow that. How the book addresses shrinking the economy but still providing enough for the social foundations is by “decentralization” of power, finance and ownership.

Oh yeah at this time vertical farming is not suitable for staple crops. However because fruits/veggies lose a majority of their nutritional content when being transported growing them indoors closer to population centers makes more sense. Also would like to mention that the energy and carbon cost to an indoor farm are currently high right now however lots of work is being done to reduce those costs. Not saying it will ever be 0 but we can get closer. Like 3D printing hydroponic towers using recovered and repurposed plastic, integrating them into aquaculture systems to do aquaponics to provide a protein and high quality fertilizer source, placing them in skyscrapers with open walls to take better advantage of natural sunlight, etc. The current strategy of using climate control systems and LED lights is not the way forward IMO but hell it’s a start in a field of agriculture that hasn’t been touched in decades.

There is also the fact that they consume a lot less water. In regions where solar and wind energy are a surplus but fresh water is scarce, indoor farming makes more sense.

I have been studying Doughnut Theory. IMO its all about metrics/measurement and Doughnut Theory gives a robust way to measure the actual health of an economy/society. You got your social foundations which you have to ensure everyone gets, and you have your ecological ceilings which are your limits on natural resource use/extraction. So the challenge is how do you build business, finance and law to do that.

https://anarchosolarpunk.substack.com/