KunstlerCast - Suburban Sprawl: A Tragic Comedy
411 episodes - English - Latest episode: 8 days ago - ★★★★★ - 380 ratingsJames Howard Kunstler, author of "The Geography of Nowhere" and "The Long Emergency," takes on suburban sprawl, disposable architecture and the end of the cheap oil era each week with program host Duncan Crary.
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Episodes
KunstlerCast 251 -- Yaking About Energy With Chris Nelder
March 31, 2014 20:32 - 49 minutes - 29.6 MBJHK yaks with independent energy analyst and author Chris Nelder about the fine points of making an energy transition (or not) from the current economy into whatever the next one is. Chris is more sanguine about the alt energy future than JHK is, but we have a respectful and lively discussion of the issue from two sides. Chris Nelder is the author of "Profit From the Peak" and "Investing in Renewable Energy." He has worked as a software engineer and technical writer for Microsoft and ran a s...
KunstlerCast 250
March 11, 2014 19:19 - 35 minutes - 22.4 MBJHK and Charles Hugh Smith, author and blogger at OfTwoMinds.com, yak about the Deep State, our favorite new word for what used be be known as the Establishment. We also touch on Charles's theory that the Deep State will be willing to "throw Wall Street under the bus" to save itself, if it felt threatened. This is JHK's return to the podcast after several months off finishing the third instalklment of the four-part World Made By Hand series. The title of WMBH-3 is A History of the Future. It...
KunstlerCast 249 -- Chatting with Steve Ludlum of Economic-undertow.com
October 03, 2013 13:00 - 44 minutes - 27 MB#249 -- JHK chats with Steve Ludlum of the Economic-Undertow.com blog about the contemporary economy as a waste engine. We venture into dark and distant corners of the economic story, including population overshoot, the potential for social disorder, and the role of gold and silver as currencies. The KunstlerCast music is “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast 248 -- JHK at the Farmers' Market
September 26, 2013 18:06 - 37 minutes - 23.3 MBIt's harvest time. The frost is on the pumpkin. JHK visits the Farmers Market in Cambridge, NY, and chats with the farmers (and sundry other interesting people) about the ag scene in Washington County and the fate of small town America. By the way, the magnificent old Cambridge Hotel right next to the Farmer's Market is for sale, if any listeners want to run a place of lodging in a lovely corner of the country. Restaurant and bar included. The KunstlerCast music is “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” fr...
KunstlerCast 247 -- JHK Yaks with New Urbanist Andres Duany
September 19, 2013 18:10 - 43 minutes - 26.4 MB#247 -- Celebrating the 20thth anniversary of the publication of The Geography of Nowhere (and release for the first time of an E-book edition), JHK yaks with New Urbanist Andres Duany about the campaign to create more walkable communities and places worth caring about. Duany came to the USA as a child from Cuba in the late 1950s. He got his architecture degrees from Princeton and Yale. He formed the firm DPZ in Miami with his wife Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and together they produced the most ...
KunstlerCast 246 -- JHK interviews Eric Zencey
September 12, 2013 19:43 - 44 minutes - 27.1 MBJHK interviews Eric Zency, author of The Other Road to Serfdom and the Path to Sustainable Development. He is deeply knowledgable about the issues that the KunstlerCast is concerned with: the problems of an 'infinite growth' economy, the relationship between energy and money, and the fate of the planet. Eric teaches at the University of Vermont and Washington University in St. Louis. The KunstlerCast music is “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast 245 -- Sailing America's Inland Waterways
September 05, 2013 17:31 - 35 minutes - 21.6 MBJHK chats with tugboat fleet owner Rob Goldman about the revival and future of shipping on America's inland waterways. Rob's company, NYS Marine Highway runs tugboats that push cargo barges through the Erie Canal system and the Great Lakes, as well as along the Atlantic Coast. Rob graduated from Rensslaer Polytechnic as an Architect, got into the pleasure boat marina business, and eventually started his shipping company. It's not your great-great-grandfather's Erie Canal anymore.
KunstlerCast 244 -- JHK Interviews Michael Klare, author of The Race for What's Left
August 29, 2013 19:13 - 39 minutes - 23.9 MBJHK interviews Michael Klare, author or The Race For What's Left: The Global Scramble for the World's Last Resources. Michael is also the author of Resource Wars, and Blood and Oil. He runs the Department of Peace and Security Studies at Hampshire College, a program that also serves the Five Colleges organization which includes, Smith, Mt Holyoke, U. Mass, and Amherst. The KunstlerCast music is “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast 243 -- Summer Break Special -- A Trip to the County Fair
August 22, 2013 21:58 - 46 minutes - 27.8 MB#243 -- Summer Break Special -- JHK and his friend Richie drop in on the Washington County (NY) fair for an extravaganza of cows, oxen, weird fried food, scary rides, and chats with farmers, tractor collectors, teenagers, and other civilians. The KunstlerCast music is “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast 242 -- JHK Talks with John Norquist of the CNU
August 15, 2013 14:24 - 44 minutes - 26.3 MB#242 --JHK talks with John Norquist, director of the Congress for the New Urbanism and four-term mayor of Milwaukee Wisconsin, about the state of the American city, the future of the Great Lakes Region, and the difficulty in overcoming decades of bad choices concerning how we inhabit the landscape of our country. The KunstlerCast music is “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast 241 -- Snake Oil: Richard Heinberg on the Great Shale Snooker
August 08, 2013 16:44 - 38 minutes - 22.9 MB#240 -- JHK yaks with Richard Heinberg about his new book, Snake Oil: How Fracking's False Promises of Plenty Imperils Our Future. Richard is also the author of the great peak oil primer, The Party's Over, and many other books about the converging dilemma's of our time, including Peak Everything and The End of Growth. He's a founder and senior fellow of the Post Carbon Institute. The KunstlerCast music is called “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
Kunstlercast #240-- Nobody Knows What God Looks Like
August 01, 2013 18:06 - 38 minutes - 23.2 MB# 240 -- JHK interviews David Orr, the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Science and Politics at Oberlin College, in Oberlin, Ohio. David is the author of Down to the Wire: Confronting Climate Collapse (Oxford Press, 2009) and many other books. He articulates the multiple predicaments of our time in clear, plain terms, and he runs the Oberlin Project, an exemplary effort for the rehabilitation of local economies and the towns at the center of them. The new KunstlerCast mus...
KunstlerCast # 239 -- Charlie Hall on Reality-Based Economics
July 25, 2013 21:00 - 46 minutes - 28.1 MB#239-- JHK shoots the breeze with Charlie Hall, distinguished professor emeritus at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse, NY -- just retired last month and founder of the Association for Biophysical Economics. We yak about reality-based economics and the relationship of energy to money. The new KunstlerCast music is called “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the new recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast 238 -- JHK flying solo this week# 238 -- JHK yaks solo this week following another surgical adventure -- neck bones this time -- with spotlight on the George Zimmerman verdict, the rumors of Larry Summers as next Federal Reserve Chair, $106 o
July 18, 2013 18:35 - 25 minutes - 15.7 MB# 238 -- JHK yaks solo this week following another surgical adventure -- neck bones this time -- with spotlight on the George Zimmerman verdict, the rumors of Larry Summers as next Federal Reserve Chair, $106 oil, Elliot Spitzer re-entering politics, and the questioning the dumb ideas of "urban issues" professor Ed Glaeser of Harvard. Back next week with a guest. The new KunstlerCast music is called “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the new recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast#237 -- The Trophic Conundrum. Chatting with Brian Czech about the paradox of economic growth
July 11, 2013 18:46 - 37 minutes - 23 MBJHK talks with Brian Czech, founder of The Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy and author of the new book Supply Shock: Economic Growth at the Crossroads and the Steady State Economy, published by the New Society Press. The new KunstlerCast music is called “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the new recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast 236 -- Talking with Farming Activist Severine von Tscharner Fleming
July 04, 2013 14:19 - 45 minutes - 27.4 MB#236 -- JHK talks with Severine von Tscharner Fleming, 30, a next ten agricultural activist, founder of Greenhorns and the National Young Farmers' Coalition. She also works with the Farm Hack organization, the Family Farm Coalition and is editor of the New Farmers' Almanac published by Greenhorns. She's a very accomplished person with a lot to say about the alternative farming scene -- that is, alternative to Big Agri-Biz. The new KunstlerCast music is called “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from ...
KunstlerCast 235 -- Talking to petroleum geologist Jeffrey Brown
June 27, 2013 15:00 - 50 minutes - 30.1 MB#235 -- JHK talks with Texas petroleum geologist Jeffrey Brown about the global oil export-import scene, the shale oil situation, and the public's misunderstanding of oil realities. Jeff originated the model for understanding the decline of global oil exports and what it means for us, the importers on the other side of that trade. And what it means is that our total oil supply in the USA is much more fragile than the public imagines. The new KunstlerCast music is called “Adam and Ali’s Wal...
KunstlerCast 234 -- George Mobus and Biophysical Economics
June 20, 2013 13:34 - 36 minutes - 22.4 MB#234 -- JHK jaws with George Mobus, systems scientist from the University of Washington, Tacoma. George is a member of the Biophysical Economics group -- not you mother's economists, shall we say. I'm pretty much on-board with their reality-based discipline, however listeners will probably notice that George is a bit more doomerish than I am usually labeled as. What I like about the Biophysical Econ gang is that they pay attention to the importance of the energy side of the equation. George ...
KunstlerCast 233 -- A Conversation with Jim Quinn of The Burning Platform blog
June 13, 2013 15:20 - 34 minutes - 20.9 MB#233 -- JHK chats with Jim Quinn, author of The Burning Platform dot com. Jim Quinn spent most of his career as a financial executive in the corporate world and now works on the business side of a major university (name of it omitted at JQ's request). He's a keen observer of the financial scene and the way it expresses itself in the decay of everyday life. The new KunstlerCast music is called “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the new recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast 232 -- New Urbanism Special
June 06, 2013 20:19 - 46 minutes - 28.5 MBNew Urbanism Special. JHK chats with Andres Duany, a founding board member of the Congress for the New Urbanism about a new book (with a chapter by JHK) taking on the frauds and fakers at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and their so-called Landscape Urbanism program -- since they never tire of attacking the New Urbanists. Also on board is Emily Talen, co-editor of the new book and professor of Geography, Urban Design, and Sustainability at Arizona State University. The new Kunstle...
KunstlerCast 231 -- Conversation with Tad Padzek of the University of Texas
May 30, 2013 19:03 - 35 minutes - 21.4 MBJHK in conversation with Tad Patzek, chair of the Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering Department at the University of Texas. I'm twanging on the oil subject because the level of wishful thinking in the USA is shockingly high and we would benefit from facing reality and preparing for new arrangements in the ordering of everyday life. The new KunstlerCast music is called “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the new recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast #230 -- A Conversation with Charles Hugh Smith
May 23, 2013 14:49 - 35 minutes - 21.7 MB#230 -- JHK chats with Charles Hugh Smith of the blog Of Two Minds.com. Charles is also the author of many books, most lately "Why Things Are Falling Apart -- And What We Can Do About It." Charles describes it: "…That things are falling apart--that is obvious. But why are they falling apart? The reasons are complex and global. Our economy and society have structural problems that cannot be solved by adding debt to debt. We are becoming poorer, not just from financial over-reach, but from ...
KunstlerCast 229 -- Yakking With Dave Collum
May 16, 2013 15:47 - 56 minutes - 34.5 MBJHK shoots the breeze with David Collum, the Betty R. Miller Professor of Chemistry at Cornell University, who has become a regular and valued presence on the internet commenting on the financial system and the predicaments of our time. Dave is a live wire and lots of fun and he often disagrees with my point of view or corrects me… which is okay, 'cuz I don't pretend to know everything. The new KunstlerCast music is called “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the new recording Waiting to Fly by Mik...
KunstlerCast 228 -- Talking Shale Oil and Gas with Arthur Berman
May 09, 2013 14:04 - 43 minutes - 26.3 MBJHK talks with geologist and independent oil-and-gas analyst Arthur Berman of Houston Texas -- emphasis on independent. Art brings clarity to the muddle created by industry propaganda planted in the credulous and gullible mainstream media.
KunstlerCast #227
May 02, 2013 18:57 - 41 minutes - 25.2 MBJHK chats with blogger Steve Ludlum of Economic Undertow dot com -- a favorite recent discovery. We touch on issues of energy, economy, and culture. The new KunstlerCast music is called “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the new recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast 226 --Chatting With Hayes Martin
April 25, 2013 17:29 - 39 minutes - 24.3 MB#226 -- JHK chats with strategic quantitative analyst Hayes Martin about what's doing in financial markets and money matters… in what is proving to be a turbulent month. We come from two very different points-of-view in the attempt to make sense of what's going on 'out there.' The new KunstlerCast music is called “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the new recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast 225 - The Vermont Sail Freight Project
April 18, 2013 04:30 - 35 minutes - 21.7 MBJHK talks with Erik Andrus of the Vermont Sail Freight Project. They are building a boat dedicated to shipping Vermont farm products to New York City and other markets via Lake Champlain, the Champlain Canal, and the Hudson River. Erik operates the 110 acre Boundbrook Farm as well as Good Companion Bakery in Vergennes Vermont. The new KunstlerCast music is called “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the new recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast 224 -- Bill Powers on Shale Oil
April 11, 2013 13:22 - 40 minutes - 24.7 MB# 224 -- JHK chats with independent energy analyst Bill Powers, author of the forthcoming book "Cold, Hungry, and in the Dark" about the American shale gas situation and its implications for how we live, published by New Society Press. I spoke to Bill by phone from his HQ in Chicago. The new KunstlerCast music is called “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the new recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast 223 - Rapping with Dmitry Orlov
April 04, 2013 21:08 - 52 minutes - 31.7 MB#223 -- JHK raps with Dmitry Orlov, author of "Reinventing Collapse" and the forthcoming new book, "The Five Stages of Collapse." We delve into some heretofore unpublicized details of Mr. Orlov's personal history as a young emigre from the old Soviet Union in the 1970s, and his journeys back to Russia (both Soviet and post-Soviet) since then. The new KunstlerCast music is called “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the new recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast 222 - April 1 Special
March 28, 2013 13:14 - 17 minutes - 10.5 MBApril 1 Special: The story of the Stones, by Samuel Beckett, featuring JHK. The new KunstlerCast music is called “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the new recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast 221 -- Real Abundance
March 21, 2013 18:40 - 53 minutes - 31.9 MBJHK chats with Ben Hewitt writer / farmer of Cabot, Vermont, Author of The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food and the forthcoming new book, Saved: How I quit worrying about money and became the richest guy in the world. The new KunstlerCast music is called “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the new recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
KunstlerCast #220: A House Divided
March 08, 2013 01:22 - 39 minutes - 23.7 MBJHK speaks with Rob Williams, co-author "Most Likely to Secede: What the Vermont Independence Movement Can Teach Us about Reclaiming Community and Creating a Human Scale Vision for the 21st Century."
Kunstler Cast 219 - Quant-O-Rama
February 28, 2013 23:15 - 35 minutes - 24.2 MB#219 In his never-ending quest to make sense of the financial scene, JHK chats with his old buddy David Aronson, a predictive analytics and data mining specialist, otherwise known in the financial sector as a "quant." Dave did not verify my own prejudices or validate my hypothesis about the exact nature of the mischief in the dark realm of money, but we had a lively conversation about it.
KunstlerCast 218 - Surveying the Local Ag Scene
February 21, 2013 14:09 - 55 minutes - 34 MBSome notes on the local farming scene. JHK chats with Washington County farmer Seth Jacobs and caterer Susie Quillio about the developing local ag scene. I met Seth at the Cambridge bluegrass jam, where he was playing mandolin. I've known Susie for twenty years.
KunstlerCast 217 - The God of Progress is Dead
February 15, 2013 13:16 - 50 minutes - 30.9 MBJHK hunkers down with John Michael Greer of the Archdruid Report -- http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com -- to chat about politics, economy, the condition of American culture, and the state of the nation. Jim parses Obama's State of the Union Address.
KC #216: Chatting with the brave younger generation....
February 07, 2013 16:25 - 35 minutes - 23.9 MBJHK banters with videographer Joe Schiappi, 27, who came to the Kunstler cave to interview JHK for a video about about technology, art, and the future, but also ended up as a guest on the podcast in Jim's quest to suss out the mood of the 20-something generation. Joe has been living in Switzerland, Norway, Australia, and New Zealand since graduating from the University of Wisconsin.
KC #215: JHK is back – Nicole Foss Interview
January 31, 2013 15:55 - 1 hour - 39.5 MBJHK steps up to resume the KunstlerCast solo without Duncan Crary. I'll do interviews with guests sometimes, and sometimes I will just yak on my own. This week I was fortunate to have Nicole Foss of TheAutomaticEarth.com swing by as an overnight houseguest and we got to sit down at the microphones for a chat. Nicole is a veteran of Canadian government's electrical ministry and has worked in the nuclear energy ministries of the UK and the European Union. She has lectured all over Europe, the...
KunstlerCast #214: A Small American City
December 28, 2012 19:11 - 44 minutes - 36 MBJames Howard Kunstler will be resuming the KunstlerCast, solo, in the near future. In the meantime, this is the "pilot" episode for "A Small American City," a new podcast series by former KunstlerCast host Duncan Crary. Jim helped Duncan launch the new series with this special interview. TROY, N.Y. - For many Americans, "The City" only refers to New York City, or one of the other major metroplexes in the country with populations in the millions. But North America is filled with smaller citi...
KunstlerCast #213: Duncan Steps Back From the Kast
August 02, 2012 23:18 - 8 minutes - 6.73 MBDuncan and Jim update listeners on the future of the KunstlerCast now that Duncan is stepping back his role.
KunstlerCast #212: Health & Technology Update
July 27, 2012 00:46 - 34 minutes - 27.3 MBJHK updates listeners on his recent health issues. Duncan gets listeners caught up on recent tech issues.
KunstlerCast #211: JHK's Edible Garden
July 19, 2012 21:51 - 21 minutes - 16.9 MBJHK gives a walking tour of the grounds of the Kunstler Compound in Washington County, NY and updates listeners on his progress in planting his own edible garden and orchard.
KunstlerCast TMM: Coda: A Systematic Misunderstanding of Reality
July 12, 2012 23:47 - 4 minutes - 3.45 MBAuthor James Howard Kunstler reads "A Systematic Misunderstanding of Reality" the coda of his nonfiction book "Too Much Magic" (Altantic Monthly Press, 2012: pp 241-243).
KunstlerCast TMM: The Multicultural Dilemma
July 12, 2012 23:42 - 4 minutes - 3.32 MBAuthor James Howard Kunstler reads "The Multicultural Dilemma" from Chapter 9 of his nonfiction book "Too Much Magic" (Altantic Monthly Press, 2012: pp 237-239).
KunstlerCast TMM: Social Relations and the Dilemmas of Difference
July 12, 2012 23:38 - 7 minutes - 5.56 MBAuthor James Howard Kunstler reads " Social Relations and the Dilemmas of Difference" from Chapter 9 of his nonfiction book "Too Much Magic" (Altantic Monthly Press, 2012: pp 216-221).
KunstlerCast TMM: The Futility of Party Politics in The Long Emergency
July 12, 2012 23:33 - 2 minutes - 2.01 MBAuthor James Howard Kunstler reads "The Futility of Party Politics in The Long Emergency" from Chapter 5 of his nonfiction book "Too Much Magic" (Altantic Monthly Press, 2012: pp 85 - 86).
KunstlerCast TMM: Kingdom Come
July 12, 2012 23:22 - 5 minutes - 4.15 MBAuthor James Howard Kunstler reads "Kingdom Come," Chapter 1 of his nonfiction book, "Too Much Magic," (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2012: pp. 19 – 22).
KunstlerCast #210: Too Much Magic
July 12, 2012 19:00 - 16 minutes - 13.4 MBJHK discusses his newly published nonfiction book "Too Much Magic: Wishful Thinking, Technology, and the Fate of the Nation." Kunstler considers "Magic" to be an update on his 2005 book "The Long Emergency." He says it was time to issue a reality testing report from reality central.
KunstlerCast #209: The NextGen New Urbanists
June 28, 2012 00:00 - 35 minutes - 26.1 MBJHK and Duncan speak to a group of NextGen New Urbanists during the Congress for the New Urbanism held in West Palm Beach, Fla. this May 9-12. NextGen New Urbanists are young professionals participating in the New Urbanist movement. Jim asks the group to tell him what they're up to and what's next for New Urbanism. After a quick history of the NextGen movement, topics include: Resettle America, the Braddock PA Initiative, Tactical New Urbanism, Growing Culture and more.
KunstlerCast #208: West Palm Beach Florida
June 22, 2012 00:00 - 44 minutes - 32.8 MBJHK and Duncan walk through City Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. and comment on the built environment.
KunstlerCast #207: Leon Krier @ CNU 20
May 31, 2012 23:19 - 42 minutes - 34.9 MBRemarks by Leon Krier, architect, urban theoretician and author Leon Krier at CNU 20, followed by interview between JHK, Duncan Crary and Krier.