backing off

1. What words will better help us think about the future than "sustainable"? Why?

2. What was Alan Greenspan's explanation of the current economic recession? What large reversal does McKibben identify as the underlying cause? What's wrong with "bigness"?

3.What's different about America's idea of itself now, compared to 1775 (but overlooking James Madison's argument in "Federalist 10")?

4. (T/F) McKibben is excited about Mars (and other big projects) but skeptical about the conservative critique of Pythonesque big government.

5. Are we still fixated on expansion and growth? 

6. What will be ironic about a Jeffersonian future? What are the "most radical words" in the Declaration of Independence? What kind of independence do McKibben's Vermont neighbors display?

7. What has cheap energy done to our sense of neighborhood and community, with what psychological impact? Is this changing? What's instructive about the Farmer's Diner?

8. What's Wendell Berry's advice?

9. "The key projects aren't national anymore," with what kinds of exceptions?

10. Why is McKibben hopeful about the future of "community"?