Sublime

Fondé sur des outils entièrement dépendants des énergies conventionnelles, le monde moderne est à l’évidence – et en dépit des apparences – le plus vulnérable qui ait jamais existé. La disparition des énergies fossiles et électriques, qui tétaniserait tout le système et le rendrait en un instant obsolète, n’est même pas concevable. Ce sont en l’occ

crude oil was so cheap that there were no incentives to use it efficiently: American houses in regions with a cold climate, increasingly heated by oil furnaces, were built with single-glazed windows and without adequate wall insulation; the average efficiency of American cars actually declined between 1933 and 1973; and…

Some highlights have been hi

To deal with the rot problem, all sorts of preservation techniques have been proposed. One entails cutting down mature trees and burying them in trenches; in the absence of oxygen, the trees’ decay—and the release of CO2—would be forestalled. Another scheme involves collecting crop residues, like cornstalks, and dumping them deep into the ocean; in

limiting the use of cement and steel, and in some cases cross-laminated wood—made of layers of timber glued together into a stack—is sturdy enough to substitute for both materials.