Ridicule is the unfortunate destiny of the ridiculous. James Howard Kunstler More Quotes by James Howard Kunstler More Quotes From James Howard Kunstler I'm serenely convinced that we are heading into what will amount to a time out from technological progress as we know it. James Howard Kunstler headings technological progress Anything goes and nothing matters. James Howard Kunstler nothing-matters anything-goes matter I don't like talking about 'solutions.' I prefer talking about intelligent responses. James Howard Kunstler response intelligent talking Our building practices for the past century have been plain stupid - especially the glorification of the single-family house in a subdivision, at the expense of all other typologies and arrangements. James Howard Kunstler stupid practice past Suburbia is not going to run on biodiesel. The easy-motoring tourist industry is not going to run on biodiesel, wind power and solar fuel. James Howard Kunstler tourists running wind Motion is a great tranquilizer. James Howard Kunstler In many places, the zoning prohibits the mixing of retail and residential. This stupidity has been accompanied by stupidities in municipal policy, such as disallowing accessory apartments - under the theory that renters are incapable of behaving decently. James Howard Kunstler mixing retail stupidity We will have to make new arrangements, or revive bygone ones. We may, for another example, see the return of the boarding house. James Howard Kunstler example house may The increment of new development will be the single building lot, if we are lucky, and most of the codes that are now enforced will be ignored because the redundancies they mandate will not be affordable. James Howard Kunstler ignored lucky development I abhor the word "consumer." Consumers, unlike citizens, have no implicit duties, obligations, or responsibilities to the common good. It's a degrading term. The use of it degrades the public discussion. James Howard Kunstler citizens responsibility use I think we'll see a leveling off and then a contraction of population, not a continued upward trend. James Howard Kunstler population trends thinking Once energy problems gain traction, there will be a large new class of economic losers, and consequently a lot of social turbulence. James Howard Kunstler gains energy class My skills are not of the highest caliber, but I know a thing or two, and I occasionally produce a painting that contains passages of truth and beauty. James Howard Kunstler painting skills two I am a sur le motif painter, always in-the-field, with a French easel that folds up into a box, with backpack straps on it. Many of the sites I haunt are desolately beautiful. Few other people go there. I am gloriously alone, unmolested, and absorbed in attempting to see what I am looking at. James Howard Kunstler fields beautiful people Painting allows me to use other portions of my brain pleasurably. Irony plays no part in what or how I paint. I paint the particular subject matter not to make polemical points but because I am interested in the human imprint on the landscape. I paint the landscape of my time and place with the stuff in it. James Howard Kunstler use play brain Peak oil is already upon us. It is destroying our banking system, that is, our system for marshalling capital, and that is about to put us out of business-as-usual. So, we have to carry on with business-not-so-usual. This could mean anything from your children finding careers in farming (rather than show biz or plastic surgery) to reorganizing households differently to traveling from New York to Boston by boat. James Howard Kunstler new-york mean children At the heart of our misunderstanding and infantile behavior is the wish for a miracle cure. James Howard Kunstler miracle wish heart I believe most of suburbia is unreformable and will not be fixed. James Howard Kunstler fixed i-believe believe [Suburbia] represents, after all, the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world. We built it during our most affluent period of history, and in the decades to come we will be comparatively destitute collectively. In short, we will not have the resources to retrofit most of suburbia. James Howard Kunstler affluent resources world Please, please, stop referring to yourselves as "consumers." OK? Consumers are different than citizens. Consumers do not have obligations, responsibilities and duties to their fellow human beings. And as long as you're using that word "consumer" in the public discussion, you will be degrading the quality of the discussion we're having. And we're going to continue being clueless going into this very difficult future that we face James Howard Kunstler clueless responsibility long
