Wait a minute . . . isn’t that a description of the plot of ‘The Time Machiine?’ Or was it an episode of Star Trek? Jeez, life imitates art. Brought to you by a republican near you.

To count as “long-term sustainable”, the criterion that he uses is that the society has to last for 500+ years. (IIRC; it might be more). Oil is just the first and most obvious necessity that will run short.

The really depressing bit is that for humanity so far, just about the only way to get long-term sustainability is with a stone-age technology. I really don’t like this conclusion, but I think Diamond has got it right.

I think that’s a reason to get the hell OFF this planet, and see what the rest of the universe has to offer humanity.

Kunstler’s recipe isn’t so radical when you think of it as the first step in “managing” a long, slow decline.

I agree with the need to dramatically increase rail and streetcar/subway infrastructure. His advice to move back to cities because suburbs are unsustainable is also right on.

However, much of his comment (in this piece at least) reads like a recipe for the 1890s industrial age.

One thing with which I wholeheartedly concur - I’ve been predicting for more than twenty years that we would return to small, local schoolhouses. The cost of maintaining the physical plant is a major drain on local communities, and thanks to mandated physical features, they’re too difficult to efficiently heat and cool.

1) End all highway subsidies and instead focus on rail-based transit??? Ahhh….no. First off, what are you going to do with all the autos and trucks that will have to be abandoned in order to fill up those trains and streetcars??? Secondly, there is a reason why autos are popular: they provide direct Point A to Point B service without the need for intervention. I’m not opposed to more balance in transportation with more public transportation (including more pollution-free bus and rail); but you’re not going to get rid of cars that easily merely by ending all road construction. If anything, we could use more infrastructure of all kinds (road, rail, and marine) as part of an overall public jobs program.

2) “Small is beautiful” might have worked in the 1880s when there wasn’t much in the way of technology; but it most definitely won’t fly in a age where supplies can be shipped world wide. Globalization is not the enemy here; maldistribution of income and resources is; and the solution is NOT to tear down regional and international supply lines and return to the herd mentality; it is make those supply lines more self-sustainable and stable and more energy efficient.

3) “Take a break from ‘legal immigration’ and enforcing the laws against “illegal immigration’??? Gee, Mr. Kunstler, having a racist moment lately??? As if poor Latino/Latina immigrants are solely responsible for the economic mess we are getting in, rather than the corporations who exploit the undocumented to no end??? How about those wealthy folk who really do profit the most from taking in “illegal immigrants”; perhaps taking away their right to exploit cheap labor might do a much better job than building an aparteid fence on our borders???

In short, reverting to right-wing populism and retreats to Luddism and the prehistoric times will do nothing to resolve the crises that we will be facing. Attacking the root of inequality and the power of corporate power, and relying on the skills of working people, will do so much better.

Anthony