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19 April 2024

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by John F. Schumaker

And all men kill the thing they love,
By all let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The Coward with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword.

A century on from Oscar Wilde’s immortal poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol, death comes gift-wrapped and perfumed, in beguiling guilt-free varieties, delivered with a toothy smile and prophecy of material salvation. Betrayal gets absolved as the consumer age supplants conscience with craving, and duty with self-devotion.

Fooled by Hope, Where Do We Go From Here?

by Jan Lundberg

Perfectly intelligent people were fooled, or they fooled themselves, by the Barack Obama phenomenon. The good-cop bad-cop game of the Republicrat/Demopublican Establishment was effective, after progressive people suffered eight years of "W." So after enough months of Obama at the helm of the good ship Status Quo, we found he might be the New Boss that The Who warned us about in Won't Get Fooled Again. Great to have a Black family in the White House, but it's turning out to be as meaningful as having a White family in the Black House (whatever that means).

Ice Wars: Burn the riches beneath melting Arctic sea

by Lily Dayton
Fossil fuels are melting the Arctic, which is giving us access to more fossil fuels that will melt the Arctic more. When CNN correspondent Kaj Larsen had the opportunity to head to the North Pole to report on geopolitical events that are surfacing as global warming, causing the Arctic ice to melt, he looked to his roots to help him tell the story. Read more

Taking Back Our Food - Dealing With Hunger And The Land

by Jan Lundberg

The housing crisis -- foreclosures, homelessness, renters cutting rents, disappearance of credit, slowdown in construction and home-buying -- has gotten much more attention than the food crisis. The growth economy and Wall Street's "financial instruments" have been more important to corporate media and politicians beholden to their more affluent constituents. And rising hunger can be silent, for a time.

But food is coming on strong as more serious: people can double up in a bed to stretch housing, but a plate of food split two ways means two still-hungry people.

Plastic Ocean: an historic book by the indispensable Capt. Charles Moore

by Jan Lundberg

Moore's Alguita

Charles Moore has done more than anyone could imagine after his historic discovery of the monster two-million square mile Great North Pacific Garbage Patch in 1997. He was sailing through the doldrums, but his mind was not in the doldrums. Once back in Long Beach, California, he prepared to go back and research exactly what was all that plastic soup he accidentally encountered on his voyage. He shared his research, conferred with experts, founded a nonprofit organization, and co-produced an award winning documentary, Our Synthetic Sea.

The Power - and Limits - of Social Movements

by Robert Jensen

Dissidents not only have to be willing to tell the truth about the delusions of the dominant culture, but make sure we don’t fall into delusions of our own.

[A version of this talk was presented to the Houston Peace and Justice Center conference on July 9, 2011.]

In mainstream politics in the United States, everyone agrees on one thing: We’re number one. We’re special. We’re America. We’re on top, where we deserve to be.

Nuclear Roulette: new book puts a nail in coffin of nukes

by Jan Lundberg

Fukushima explosion

Activists are suspicious of "studying the problem" that puts off action in favor of endless talk (or publishing). Culture Change went beyond studying the problem soon after its founding in 1988: action and advocacy must get to the root of the crises to assure a livable future. Also, information overload and a diet of bad news kills much activism. So it's hard to find reading material to strongly recommend. But the new book Nuclear Roulette: The Case Against the "Nuclear Renaissance" is must-have if one is fighting nukes today.

The Zombie Shopping Empire Maintains "It Can't Happen Here"

by Jan Lundberg

Listening to Thunderclap Newman, a revolutionary rock band of 1969-1971, it's clear that then, as now, we didn't know where we were going. Their number-one song in the UK, "Something In The Air," proclaimed "the revolution's here." In those heady days there was far more optimism for the revolution, defined variously in Marxist terms or what came to be lumped into "New Age" consciousness. The Movement and its revolution did not succeed in changing society's course, as The Movement soon fragmented into submovements which survive today (feminist, environmental, peace, gay rights, etc.).

Get Your Anti-Nuclear Power Poster and Thank Wm. Shakespeare

by Jan Lundberg
art by Scotlund Studios for Culture Change Available now in high-resolution for printing, or by mail. Expanded and revised to whole print image (11 x 17 inches, 28 x 43 cm). Newly added: Japanese translation. Send a poster to Japan! Spread the word about nuclear power by putting up these posters -- get people to talk about their precious, threatened world! Read more

Nero’s Fire

by Jim Rigby

At a gathering on World Refugee Day, we remembered the 1,900 people deported or detained last year from Austin. Friends and family gathered to weep for their missing loved ones. We spoke about the private prisons springing like toadstools to profit from the misery. What follows is reconstruction of the speech I gave.

A United States senator claimed recently that the wildfires in Arizona were possibly started by immigrants. When asked to produce his evidence, he backed off a bit, but the damage was done.

Book takes youngsters to new culture: Nan Madol

by Joe Shreve

Schoolchildren may soon have an exciting new book in their literature curriculum, if author Christine Mason and retired teacher Breta Holgers have anything to say about it.

In her recently published children’s novel, “The Mystery of Nan Madol,” Mason, a Scotts Valley, California resident and former constitutional lawyer, takes readers on an adventure to Nan Madol -- an abandoned ancient city on the island of Pohnpei in Micronesia that has been described as the “Venice of the Pacific.”

And the winner is...

by Jan Lundberg

Charles Komanoff!

Charles is an economist working in New York City on transportation and energy.

- We interrupt this announcement to advise you that Culture Change is still short on funds for operating in July. Please help now! -

Charles is known for research showing nuclear power to be financially unfeasible. I know first hand that he has put many years into promoting car-free living, bike advocacy, and trying to make cars pay their way in society.