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Bill Clinton’s latest bad idea: Goldman Sachs trading “carbon credits” on Wall St.

By Kurt Heidinger on Mar 29, 2012 in Director's Notes, Uncategorized, citizenship, consumerism, ecocide, ecology, economy, endosymbiosis, energy sources, evolution, sustainability, technological determinism, time

When he was president, Bill Clinton lobbied for, and signed into law, NAFTA and the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. Both acts were advertised as being liberal and progressive—NAFTA because by removing tariffs and promoting “free trade” it would raise everybody’s standard of living; and, getting rid of Glass-Steagall would increase everyone’s freedom and prosperity [...]

Tokyo’s radioactive tea

By Kurt Heidinger on Jul 03, 2011 in Director's Notes, citizenship, ecocide, ecology, economy, sustainability

We are very sad to read that, on May 9th, “2,700 becquerels of radioactive cesium …. was detected in processed tea that was made from leaves that elementary school children picked in Tokyo as part of their school curriculum.” They received health-damaging doses: the “

Whatever we do to nature, we do to ourselves

By Kurt Heidinger on May 31, 2011 in Director's Notes, citizenship, consumerism, ecocide, ecology, economy, sustainability, technological determinism, time

In today’s NYT’s article about Japan’s welfare-program for nukes, we learn industrial capitalism is a form of heroin: With no substantial reserves of oil or coal, Japan relies on nuclear power for the energy needed to drive its economic machine. But critics contend that the largess has also made communities dependent on central government spending [...]

money has no value

By Kurt Heidinger on Apr 01, 2011 in Director's Notes, ecocide, ecology, economy, endosymbiosis, sustainability, time

April Fool’s!! ________ What’s interesting, I mean really interesting, about money is that it has no value, except that which we project onto it. No creature or element arrives to our view with a price tag; we apply it. Printed words on paper: there’s no big differences between the dollar and monopoly money, except those [...]

How the President of Tokyo Electric Became the Invisible Man

By Kurt Heidinger on Mar 29, 2011 in Director's Notes, ecocide, ecology, economy, sustainability, time

In fact, nobody has seen much recently of [Masataka Shimizu] the president of Tokyo Electric Power Co., or Tepco, owner of a haywire nuclear power plant just 150 miles from the Japanese capital. He is the most invisible — and also most reviled — chief executive in Japan. What should we think about Shimizu’s vanishing [...]

Revisiting Vermont Yankee

By Kurt Heidinger on Mar 16, 2011 in Director's Notes, citizenship, consumerism, ecocide, ecology, economy, sustainability, time

If the news has not yet reached you: the Vermont Yankee has the same brandname (GE) and model # (MK1) as the Fukushima reactors that are melting down. Exactly a year ago, I visited Japan with my family to learn about the culture of the Japanese: my wife focusing on the ceramic arts, my daughters [...]

“endangered species” live near you

By Kurt Heidinger on Feb 01, 2011 in Director's Notes, ecocide, sustainability

When we hear the phrase “endangered species,” images of gorillas and tigers come to mind. And for good reason. But look at this map; we here in Nonotuck live near “endangered species”—their communities are outlined in yellow: We don’t have to travel to Africa or Siberia to witness precious lives that cling precariously to earth. [...]

Our Place—journal writing in the ruins of Holyoke

By Kurt Heidinger on Jul 20, 2010 in Director's Notes, ecocide, economy, sustainability, time

The prompt was “explain this place to your mother—what it was, how it got this way, what to look for and do while you’re here.”

What time it is

By Kurt Heidinger on Jul 07, 2010 in Director's Notes, ecocide, economy, time

How we think of time is how we think of nature. Erland Scriviner No doubt we behold the many doomsday scenarios—today it’s the the mass extinction of flowers—with a strong sense of moral outrage. Lately, though, so many things are going wrong that we ought to be amazed. Our species has the ability to understand [...]