KunstlerCast - Conversations: Converging Catastrophes of the 21st Century

Latest Episodes:

KunstlerCast #122: A Grand Wobble Aug 19, 2010

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James Howard Kunstler takes a look at the systematic failures of our finanical future and the efforts by the U.S. government to sustain the unsustainable.

KunstlerCast #121: Modern Family Living Aug 12, 2010

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James Howard Kunstler muses on the suburban family living arrangement--past, present, future. Points of discussion include: adult kids living at home, caring for seniors, living in closer proximity to family members.

KunstlerCast #120: To Combat Sprawl Aug 05, 2010

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A listener asks what other ways average folks can combat sprawl without becoming a professional urban planner. JHK shares the story of his personal choice in 1970s to leave the big city and consciously live in a small American town with a livable urban fabric.

KunstlerCast #119: The Projects - Audio Only Jul 08, 2010

Show notes

JHK explores a mostly abandoned low-income housing project in Duncan's neighborhood. Two of the three 9-story brick "vertical slums" are boarded up and abandoned. They come complete with their own "rape-o-matic" tunnel for pedestrians to travel under the bridge ramp that separates them. Kunstler says these "towers in a park" are based on the ideas of Le Corbusier, the Swiss-French architect/planner whose "Radiant City" plans envisioned turning the right bank of Paris into a series of high rise towers connected by highways. Corbu's plans were not implemented in Paris, but his ideas didn't die. In fact they morphed into what are commonly known as "the projects," low-income high rise towers all around the U.S. and indeed the world. Taking inspiration by the housing projects in Troy, Kunstler explains the history of this style of low-income housing and its detrimental side effects. Sponsor: PostCarbon.org

KunstlerCast_118: A Great American Street: Audio-Only Jul 01, 2010

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JHK and Duncan celebrate the Fourth of July by touring Uncle Sam's neighborhood. They stroll down Second Street in Troy NY, admiring the 19th century architecture along the way. Destinations include: Russell Sage College, the county court house and one of only two privately owned and maintained residential green squares in New York state (the other is the famous Gramercy Park in Manhattan). They speak to some workers laying a stone street by hand, and explore the alley in an exclusive neighborhood. Sponsor: PostCarbon.org

KunstlerCast #118 Enhanced: A Great American Street Jul 01, 2010

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KunstlerCast #117: Berlin Jun 24, 2010

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James Howard Kunstler reports on his recent visit to Berlin, Germany...the one place where people know how to pronounce his name correctly. Thirteen years ago, James Howard Kunstler traveled to Berlin, Germany to research a chapter for his third nonfiction book, The City in Mind. On his recent trip, he discovered that the place has healed remarkably over the past decade. Of course he had to go check in on the Führerbunker which is now the site of one of Berlin's few surface parking lots. JHK notes that history is a great prankster and therefore it's no surprise that while the U.S. won the war against Germany, it's cities looked bombed out. While Germany lost the war and its cities are beautiful, civilized places. Listeners end the show with their reactions to the BP oil spill. Listeners end the show by sharing their reactions to the BP oil spill. Sponsor: Post Carbon Institute, http://postcarbon.org

KunstlerCast #116: Deep Water Horizon Jun 17, 2010

Show notes

JHK examines the tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the fog of incomplete information that surrounds it. Kunstler sees this incident as further proof that the peak oil story is real. Now that the low hanging fruit of our oil resources has been plucked, the paradigms of our car-dependent society are forcing us to drill under difficult conditions that are hard to control. The return of $4 gallons of gasoline is not far around the next corner and the trauma from this event is already provoking strange emotional outbursts and pockets of denial from the public who do not want to get off the path of Happy Motoring. JHK also believes that the escalating and increasing failures of liberal democracy in the U.S. are getting to the point where American people don't trust the government to be competent anymore. Ecological disasters are amplifying economic disasters, which are feeding a political disaster. In the end, this event may accelerate the process of America rethinking how its living and whether in fact maybe what we're doing is insane, especially this campaign to sustain the unsustainable which is underway. Sponsor: http://PostCarbon.org

KunstlerCast #116: Deep Water Horizon Jun 17, 2010

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KunstlerCast #115: Atlanta Jun 10, 2010

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James Howard Kunstler shares his observations from a recent visit to Atlanta, Ga.