What Kunstler talks about re 'return to the cities' is part and parcel of what he sees as the inevitable massive re-ordering of social and economic relations that will result when the current order simply cannot function any longer. His book _The Long Emergency_ is a book-length essay on the oil-dependent character of the US and world economy and the implications of what will likely happen when cheap transportation is no longer possible.
While less the case in many parts of the Northeast, very large tracts of the US no longer have any really local economy. Most food and most manufactured goods are brought in from hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands of miles away. Oil scarcity means that eventually goods will not be worth the cost of transport (or, rather, that so few will be able to afford the prices necessitated by those costs that such trade cannot even pay for itself). The explosion of post-WWII suburban and exurban development surrounding many US cities have destroyed agricultural land that earlier had fed those populations.
People tend to believe that some nick-in-time super-science magic bullet will appear to salvage Life As We Know It. Kunster's view, with which I agree, is that this is magical thinking. In the very best possible scenario, it will take a couple of decades to reorder our economy and infrastructure to accommodate the realities on the horizon, and will require enormous effort, sacrifice and change of thinking at every level of society. As daunting as that is, waiting for changes to be imposed by catastrophic circumstances will be much harder and vastly uglier.
Posted on July 27 at 12:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What Kunstler talks about re 'return to the cities' is part and parcel of what he sees as the inevitable massive re-ordering of social and economic relations that will result when the current order simply cannot function any longer. His book _The Long Emergency_ is a book-length essay on the oil-dependent character of the US and world economy and the implications of what will likely happen when cheap transportation is no longer possible.
While less the case in many parts of the Northeast, very large tracts of the US no longer have any really local economy. Most food and most manufactured goods are brought in from hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands of miles away. Oil scarcity means that eventually goods will not be worth the cost of transport (or, rather, that so few will be able to afford the prices necessitated by those costs that such trade cannot even pay for itself). The explosion of post-WWII suburban and exurban development surrounding many US cities have destroyed agricultural land that earlier had fed those populations.
People tend to believe that some nick-in-time super-science magic bullet will appear to salvage Life As We Know It. Kunster's view, with which I agree, is that this is magical thinking. In the very best possible scenario, it will take a couple of decades to reorder our economy and infrastructure to accommodate the realities on the horizon, and will require enormous effort, sacrifice and change of thinking at every level of society. As daunting as that is, waiting for changes to be imposed by catastrophic circumstances will be much harder and vastly uglier.
On James Kunstler insists suburbs are done for