C-Realm Podcast

KMO welcomes attorney and transition theorist Jeff Vail back to the program to discuss a transitional mode between top-down vertical hierarchies and flat, peer-to-peer social organization that Jeff calls the Diagonal Economy. Does a bigger total pie make for a richer society if most of its riches go to a select few, or is it better to live within a more egalitarian society where the total pie is smaller but is shared equally? And if human satisfaction is our goal, what sort of metric could we use to measure the fulfillment of humanity's genetic ontogony? Music by Inspired Flight. I learned of Inspired Flight on BB's Bungalow: http://dopecast.libsyn.com/bb_s_bungalow_episode_34_with_special_guests_inspired_flight

What is 'nature?' Is it the beneficent giver and sustainer of all life, or is it the source of human misery from which only ingenuity and technology can deliver us and offer us a life of possibilities worthy of our noble humam spark? KMO and independent journalist Nathanael Johnson wrestle with the vagaries of the competing narratives over the value of nature and those foods and processes that we call 'natural.' Whatever that means. Music by the Uptones. Links: The revolution will not be pasteurized: Inside the raw-milk underground By Nathanael Johnson http://harpers.org/archive/2008/04/0081992 Lyrics to Laws and Sausage by the Uptones: http://www.uptones.com/lyrics/laws-and-sausage/ Conversations on Collapse Kickstarter campaign: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1456628185/conversations-on-collapse Doug Lain's Pick Your Battle Kickstarter campaign: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1354151079/pick-your-battle-foraging-as-revolutionary-self-he

http://traffic.libsyn.com/crealm/c-realmpodcast210.mp3 KMO talks a lot about the need to de-couple from sprawling, impersonal, highly-centralized systems of social control and support, but really, very few people are going to stick with a project like gardening just because they know they "should" do it. Making it fun, cost effective and easy will help people discover the joys of growing their own food. Joel Karsten is helping people succeed at gardening without all of the labor and expense that usually come with it. Music by Old Soul. I have reached my 7 GB storage limit with PodOMatic, so now for every new episode I post I will have to remove an older episode from the archive. To get this week's show posted I had to remove Episode 18: Down Under from the archive. You can now find it on the Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/Episode18_Down_Under I edited today's podcast in the kids' play area at the McDonald's in Lawrenceberg, TN. It is very loud in here, so please forgive me if the sound levels are off.

http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2010-06-09T14_26_27-07_00 KMO welcomes Tara Holste to the program to talk a bit about J.R.R. Tolkien and the so-called environment before moving into Tara's shift away from a pre-occupation with a standard bouquet of liberal ideological positions to a focus on food and farming, hearth and home. A Shannon Hayes clip from Diet Soap Podcast #59 and a reading from a recent blog post by Neil Kramer round out the episode. Music by The Same Damn Thing

http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2010-06-02T14_11_59-07_00 KMO welcomes Frank Aragona of the Agroinnovations Podcast back to the C-Realm to talk about a possible form of bioremediation which would make use of fungal mycelia to help restore the portions of the Gulf Coast befouled by the BP Deep Horizon oil spill. Later they discuss the merits of revelations received with and without the use of entheogens. The weeks readings come from Dmitry Orlov and Paul Stamets. Music by Thievery Corporation courtesy of The WIRED CD: Rip. Sample. Mash. Share. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycoremediation The article Frank wrote on Mycoremediation: http://agroinnovations.com/index.php/en_us/blog/69-mushrooms/146-mycoremediation-in-the-gulf Stamets' article: http://www.fungi.com/mycotech/petroleum_problem.html

KMO welcomes Corey Olsen, the Tolkien Professor, to the C-Realm to channel J. R. R. Tolkien's crankiness about technology. Tolkien lamented the dawning of the Robot Age when machines cease to be the tools for the expression of human skill and replace humans entirely. Professor Olsen weighs in on the regular C-Realm themes and laments how TV news degrades human intelligence like nothing that has come before it. Music by Mawaca Links: The first part of my conversation with Professor Olsen: http://www.tolkienprofessor.com/audio/KMO.mp3 Kickstarter Campaign for Conversations on Collapse: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1456628185/conversations-on-collapse Rusty McLellan's Shift Podcast: http://shift.podomatic.com/ The Flickers From the Cave Podcast: http://flickersfromthecave.blogspot.com/ KMO on the Occult Sentinel Podcast: http://stellarrain.com/2010/05/occult-sentinel-podcast-30-kmo-hope-in-the-darkness/ Here are the two links that Professor Olsen sent regarding Middle English: Sir Orfeo: http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/launffrm.htm TEAMS Middle English library (priceless!): http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/tmsmenu.htm#menu

http://c-realmpodcast.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-05-19T09_39_29-07_00 KMO delves into exploitation cinema with C-Realm listeners Mike and Marty who will soon present their own movie-themed podcast, Flickers From the Cave. The conversation starts with the work of George Romero and covers a wide range of film-related topics from there. Gore, flesh, and an irrational hatred for all things Michael Bay work their way into a conversation that KMO ties to the regular C-Realm themes with a reading from Douglas Rushkoff's book, Life Inc. How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take it Back.

http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2010-05-12T09_25_44-07_00 KMO talks with ETC site manager, Jason Deptula, about the swollen population of the earth and how it might actually help us get through the coming transition with less upset than if there were fewer people on the planet. The conversation turns to the concepts detailed in the book Lost Star of Myth and Time by Walter Cruttenden including the possibility that our sun has a companion star. Music by Jesse Miller. The letter I read from katuah included the following link: http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/world/africa/10aids.html

http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2010-05-05T14_05_40-07_00 KMO welcomes SF author David Marusek to the program to talk about a science fiction future in which technological miracles help the affluent realize their every passing fancy while ordinary people left behind in a hyper-competitive marketplace band together to try to keep their heads above water. In a world where technology has rendered mass production and mass consumption irrelevant, where clones and AI do all the work and an affluent few derive all of the benefit, what are people good for? Music by Honeychrome.

http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2010-04-28T15_22_52-07_00 KMO welcomes Eric Boyd back to the program to talk about the transformed role of technology in a possible energy descent future. Eric relates David Eagleman's 6 Easy Steps to Avert the Collapse of Civilization, all of which rely on the internet, and KMO reads from John Micheal Greer's blog for a grim view of a post-internet existence. KMO closes by reading a post from his ETC Journal blog. Music by The Plant.

http://c-realmpodcast.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-04-21T12_46_23-07_00 http://www.archive.org/details/202EmpathyAndTheLongLagProblem KMO welcomes Eric Boyd back to the program to discuss the themes of Jeremy Rifkin's new book, The Empathic Civilization. According to Rikfin, human consciousness expands as humans direct ever-larger energy flows into improving communication, but can we achieve an empathic singularity before we completely despoil the planet? Could our hypertrophied sense of individuality be the primary source for the anxiety and alienation that we feel in the midst of technological abundance? KMO reads opinions on the value of technology from Friends of the C-Realm. Music by Snowdrift. http://www.refresheverything.com/foodfromlawns

http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2010-04-14T10_36_27-07_00 In this episode KMO puts the thoughts and concerns of the C-Realm audience front and center. Feedback from the audience and kind words from Lorenzo of the Psychedelic Salon bookend a picnic table conversation between KMO, Albert K. Bates, and Joe of the Occult Sentinel Podcast. KMO closes by explaining why he has no intention of respecting the mainstream prejudices on the topic of "drugs" even if it means he will never cross over and find a bankable niche in the mainstream discourse. Music by Jesse Miller. Other links mentioned in the show: http://transitiontogether.org/ http://media.libsyn.com/media/twobeerswithsteve/The_Effect_of_Peak_Oil_on_Healthcare.mp3 http://www.canadaprepared.com/podpress_trac/web/173/0/Episode-22-CanadaPreparedPodcast.mp3

http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2010-04-07T00_56_32-07_00 In this 200th episode of the C-Realm Podcast, KMO blends content from Corey Olsen (AKA the Tolkien Professor), James Howard Kunstler, and Doug Lain of the Diet Soap podcast to concoct a brew that mixes fantasy, politics, and personal narrative. What can the long defeat of the elves of Middle-Earth tell us about our societal psychology of previous investment? Is it noble to fight a battle that cannot be won, or does finding our direction begin with abandoning our long-held ambitions? Music by Woodland 5-Track.

http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2010-03-31T13_50_28-07_00 KMO welcomes Nathan A. Martin to the program to discuss the problems with debt-based money. Nate has a proposed solution in the form of Freedom's Vision and the accompanying methodology of SwarmUSA. According to Nate, we have reached the point at which further infusions of debt-based money into the economy have a negative effect on GDP and that if we fail to take back the power to control the creation of new money from private bankers and introduce a sustainable money methodology that we are in for what he calls a "Nation Changing Event" which dwarfs economic crises of the past. Music by Zarathrustra You can find a link to the unedited recording of my conversation with Nate here: http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-33530/TS-332759.mp3

http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2010-03-24T10_41_17-07_00 KMO welcomes Carolyn Baker, author of Sacred Demise: Walking the Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse to the program to discuss ways that people can prepare themselves mentally, emotionally and spiritually to pass through the initiatory experience that the collapse of industrial civilization may present to us as individuals and to our communities. Carolyn will be teaching a distance learning course called Navigating the Coming Chaos of Unprecedented Transitions which will be offered through Post Peak Living. Carolyn and KMO discussion the spiritual dimension of the collapse scenario as depicted in the movie Book of Eli, and KMO manages to work in a zombie connection. Music by Mitch.