Professor Steven Chu, the US Energy Secretary, is advocating for people to paint their rooftops white in order to save on energy and to cut down on global warming. James Howard Kunstler reacts to this idea and also addresses the topic of rooftop gardens, or "green" roofs. This week's podcast is sponsored by New Society Publishers http://newsociety.com
A Listener caller asks James Howard Kunstler if now is a good time to emigrate from the U.S. to France. During his response, Kunstler poses the question: exactly what allegiance do you owe to your country if your country is making a foolish spectacle of itself? Kunstler explains why he himself has not packed his bags for Europe. And he covers the possibility of regional autonomy arising in the U.S. if various energy, climate, political and financial crises push us in that direction. Warning: Thi...
James Howard Kunstler says one reason why American cities are so dirty is because we do not have a firm agreement about how to treat the public realm in this country. He believes that people will literally trash a place that they don't like or respect. And a lot of American space is difficult to respect. While suburbia contains meticulously groomed private yards, the public highways are often lined with impressive amounts of trash on the shoulder. On a larger scale, many corporations treat the A...
James Howard Kunstler believes that stupid Americans are exerting their political and cultural tyranny over the rest of us. No other society has produced a larger group of stupid people with as much money and means to express their thoughts, pleasures, ideas, biases, delights, and hatreds in things that can be broadcast, built or in some way imposed on other people. Those who object to this situation are called elitist, he says. JHK also explores the diminishing returns of information technology...
A "man cave" discovered in a government complex made national news earlier this month. Eminent new urbanist planner Andres Duany was prompted to speak out in defense of the man cave and "male space" in general, which he sees as a disappearing habitat in modern America. James Howard Kunstler and host Duncan Crary listen to a recording of Duany's "The Dilemma of Male Space" and further explore the concept of male space. Not only does Kunstler believe that male space is disappearing in suburbia, bu...
Even during a recession, Americans are pouring into our nation's "wilderness areas" with jet skis and cigarette boats in tow. After returning home from a visit to the Adirondack Mountains of New York, James Howard Kunstler serves up some thoughts on the gas guzzling toys we use to get off on in nature. Although we have a residual memory of what the American wilderness used to be like before World War II, the reality of our "nature areas" today is much different. Plastic weenie stands, ice cream ...
James Howard Kunstler explores the possibility of transitioning our society from fossil fuels to one that runs on electricity. This discussion is based on ideas presented in an episode of NOVA titled "Car of the Future" (Season 33, Episode 3). This episode of the KunstlerCast is sponsored by The Stakeholders, Inc.
James Howard Kunstler believes that the consumer credit economy is over and that we are now moving on to the next phase of the U.S. economy. Kunstler provides some historical context on our current global economy and muses on the relationship between over-complexity and diminishing returns, which he believes is the "hallmark of all civilizations that come to grief."
This May, the Committee on Environmental Health of the American Academy of Pediatrics confirmed that the design of U.S. communities (i.e. car-dependent suburbia) negatively affects the health of children (i.e. makes them obese). James Howard Kunstler explores the relationship between suburban sprawl and the declining health of Americans. SPONSORSHIP INFO: This week's sponsor is PostPeakLiving.com, offering online courses that prepare you for the post peak oil world. Use "KunstlerCast" as your di...
James Howard Kunstler and other commentators are often called "doomers" for their seemingly bleak outlook for modern society after the peak of oil production. Kunstler gives a brief introduction to other "doomer" authors, including Dmitri Orlov, John Michal Greer, Jay Hanson, and James Lovelock. Though Kunstler rejects the doomer label, he does believe that we are involved in a human system that needs to be severely pruned. He believes that resurrection and redemption are great themes in the hum...
James Howard Kunstler joins host Duncan Crary for a quick KunstlerCast "grunt" to react to the recent death of pop star Michael Jackson. Kunstler thinks Michael Jackson represents many of the bad choices that America made about itself and also its difficulty in telling the truth about it. To read Kunstler's recent obituary for Jackson, visit http://kunstler.com/blog. The KunstlerCast will return in full next Thursday on July 16.
James Howard Kunstler takes a look at various types of public artwork on display in Troy NY, a small American city. Kunstler notes that many public murals in America attempt to put a human face in places where people are noticeably absent. He notices that 20th century commercial advertisements painted on building exteriors exhibit more skill than most 21st century "art." He analyzes a painted steel, corporate sculpture that adorns the public face of glass box corporate building. He also discusse...
James Howard Kunstler discusses public art in our cities and towns. Modern public art often lacks artistry and is an ironic representation of our 21st century junk empire. But Kunstler says we don't need any more irony. We need a dignified public realm. Instead of engaging amateurs and children to splash paint on the blank walls of publicly facing buildings, we need to stop creating blank walls in the first place. Even the skilled work of professional muralists often results in little more than ...
James Howard Kunstler addresses some issues regarding historic preservation. Kunstler supports historic preservation, because adaptive reuse is part of what makes the great European cities so rewarding to be in. According to Kunstler, the historic preservation movement really ramped up in the U.S. after the destruction of Penn Station in New York City. At times the historic preservation movement has gotten hysterical to save any scrap of anything built before WWII. But Kunstler believes that hys...
New Urbanist Planner and Author Jaime Correa speaks about urban planning in the peak oil era. KunstlerCast Host Duncan Crary recorded Correa's talk on May 28 at the Albany Roundtable in Albany, N.Y. Correa speaks about how the end of cheap oil will affect communities in the future. He describes his peak oil action plan, which he calls The 40 Percent Plan. As urban communities begin to contract in the future, Correa has some ideas about what people need to do to successfully prepare for the futur...
James Howard Kunstler and host Duncan Crary take a moment to welcome new listeners and explain what the KunstlerCast is about. Kunstler gives a brief overview of topics covered in this program series and explains why these topics are important. Crary explains how and where to listen to the podcast. The program ends with two listener calls responding to the recent show about Detroit. NOTE: The KunstlerCast will take next week off and will resume on June 11. In the meantime, you can listen to JHK ...
At the suggestion of a listener caller, James Howard Kunstler gives a virtual walking tour of Detroit, Michigan using Google Street View. Google Street View is an interactive photographic map that allows users to view photographs of streets and buildings in many cities throughout the world. Users can follow along with this program using the embedded Google Street View windows in the show notes for this episode at http://kunstlercast.com. During this "walking" tour, Kunstler examines the Michigan...
James Howard Kunstler talks about two former industrial cities undergoing massive contractions: Flint, Michigan and Youngstown, Ohio . The local governments in both cities have adopted policies to manage the contraction to reduce public safety issues caused by large abandoned areas within their borders. Kunstler then responds to a listener call from suburban Chicago about the prospects of farming in the post-cheap oil suburbs. The conversation then turns to the future of former city farms. Spons...
James Howard Kunstler responds to a listener call about the 10 "high speed" rail corridors the Obama administration is seeking to restore in the U.S. The phrase high-speed rail is a little misleading, though, because what Obama is looking to do with rail in this country is actually just bring it back up to "Bulgarian" standards. These passenger rail upgrades and restorations will service trains that travel around 100 miles per hour, not nearly as fast as the high speed trains in Europe or Japan....
James Howard Kunstler talks about the recent outbreak of swine flu and the increased attention to modern-day pirates. Several bloggers have noted some similarities between current headlines and the scenario in Kunstler's novel, World Made By Hand , in which a severe economic downturn is followed by a deadly Mexican flu epidemic. A few years ago, Kunstler took some heat from critics for his chapter in The Long Emergency that addressed the potential threat of Asian pirates in the Pacific Northwest...
Host Duncan Crary has been taking James Howard Kunstler's ideas about water transport seriously. This Spring, Duncan is bringing back passenger riverboat commuting service to the Hudson River in Albany. On May 13, Duncan is hosting a day where people can commute to and from work on board the Dutch Apple between the cities of Albany and Troy NY. Kunstler talks with Duncan about this project. People take ferries to work every day in other regions and it's a rewarding experience that can be replica...
James Howard Kunstler often advocates for a return to urban living arrangements. But urban living often bring residents into close proximity to bad behavior. The situation can be especially frightening when people inhabit cities that aren't fully repopulated yet. Suburban style "car cop" policing causes additional problems because car culture can foster bad behavior from the police themselves. Kunstler believes that police on foot and horse would lead to more productive policing and would also a...
James Howard Kunstler responds to a listener who doesn't understand why Jim sounds kind of down on bicycle transportation. Kunstler clarifies his position on bicycles -- he's a big supporter of bicycle use, but he doesn't know if Americans will support bicycle projects with so many highways and bridges in disrepair. While places like Amsterdam have excellent bicycle facilities that are integrated into their urban fabric, Kunstler believes the most successful bicycle facilities in the U.S. are se...
James Howard Kunstler reports on two recent trips he took. First he talks about his appearance at the annual Aspen Institute Environmental Forum, where talk of alternative fuel, and other ways to keep our happy motoring scene running, dominated the talks about peak oil. For the remainder of this program Kunstler reports on his recent trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he inspected a 35-acre new urbanist neighborhood project. Kunstler describes his urban planning and cultural observations ...
In this short podcast, James Howard Kunstler returns briefly to the topic of New Orleans. This time he discusses the future of the Port of New Orleans. In the second half of this program, we hear from listeners around the country. One listener from New Orleans doesn't think Jim gave her city a fair shake. She says New Orleans is everything new urbanists want in a community -- street cars, walkable streets and places worth caring about -- except it's old urbanism, not new urbanism. Other listener...
At the suggestion of a listener caller, James Howard Kunstler gives a virtual walking tour of Paris, France using Google Street View. Google Street View is an interactive photographic map that allows users to view photographs of streets and buildings in many cities throughout the world. Users can follow along with this program using the embedded Google Street View windows in the episode notes for show #56 at KunstlerCast.com. Music provided by IODA Promonet.
At the suggestion of a listener, James Howard Kunstler muses on the future of animal powered transportation in the future. He briefly describes the systems required to maintain a horse-drawn transportation system. The conversation leads to a discussion about finding meaningful work in the new economy. Kunstler believes that as the old economy dwindles, there will be many opportunities for local entrepreneurs to create useful work in their communities. The discussion also covers the struggling me...
James Howard Kunstler explores the topic of building traditional town centers in suburbia, where town centers are typically absent. Though it may be possible to retrofit the suburbs, Kunstler doesn't believe that Americans will have the money to remake some of the worst suburbs into more traditional, mixed-use neighborhoods...even if they wanted to in the first place. As more and more suburbanites find themselves unemployed, some of the more isolated housing subdivisions are simply being abandon...
A listener asks James Howard Kunstler to react to the Feb. 9 fire that destroyed a Beijing building by Dutch starchitect Rem Koolhaas. Kunstler believes many famous architects, including Koolhaas, often strive to confound people in order to appear supernaturally brilliant. It's all in the service of grandiosity and narcissism, though. Rather than attempting to disturb our expectations, architects should strive to give us buildings that are neurologically comprehensible and that satisfy our need ...
James Howard Kunstler discusses the issue of rebuilding New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. Legal disputes, government inefficiency and suburban mindsets have stood in the way of constructing traditional neighborhoods in New Orleans. While the charming urban fabric of the French Quarter and the Garden District still remains, Kunstler believes that New Orleans is likely to be a much smaller city than it was in the 20th century. Much of the cultural programming that emerged in the poorer neighbor...
