KunstlerCast - Conversations: Converging Catastrophes of the 21st Century

James Howard Kunstler joins host Duncan Crary for a quick KunstlerCast "grunt" to react to the recent death of pop star Michael Jackson. Kunstler thinks Michael Jackson represents many of the bad choices that America made about itself and also its difficulty in telling the truth about it. To read Kunstler's recent obituary for Jackson, visit http://kunstler.com/blog. The KunstlerCast will return in full next Thursday on July 16.

James Howard Kunstler takes a look at various types of public artwork on display in Troy NY, a small American city. Kunstler notes that many public murals in America attempt to put a human face in places where people are noticeably absent. He notices that 20th century commercial advertisements painted on building exteriors exhibit more skill than most 21st century "art." He analyzes a painted steel, corporate sculpture that adorns the public face of glass box corporate building. He also discusses the role that formal statues play in adorning public squares. Visit http://KunstlerCast.com to view photographs.

James Howard Kunstler discusses public art in our cities and towns. Modern public art often lacks artistry and is an ironic representation of our 21st century junk empire. But Kunstler says we don't need any more irony. We need a dignified public realm. Instead of engaging amateurs and children to splash paint on the blank walls of publicly facing buildings, we need to stop creating blank walls in the first place. Even the skilled work of professional muralists often results in little more than a neurotic attempt to give our deactivated streets the appearance of life, when the real problem is that our streets are dead. Kunstler relates these issues to Potemkin villages, trips to Disneyland and do-it-yourself home improvement kits.

James Howard Kunstler addresses some issues regarding historic preservation. Kunstler supports historic preservation, because adaptive reuse is part of what makes the great European cities so rewarding to be in. According to Kunstler, the historic preservation movement really ramped up in the U.S. after the destruction of Penn Station in New York City. At times the historic preservation movement has gotten hysterical to save any scrap of anything built before WWII. But Kunstler believes that hysteria is understandable when one considers that modern Americans do not create buildings that are as good as the old buildings we are losing. Other topics include facade preservation, cheap cladding, a return of traditional building materials, passive heating, cooling and energy conservation. Follow along with this program with Google Street View windows at http://kunstlercast.com Sponsor: PostPeakLiving.com. Music provided by IODA Promonet.

New Urbanist Planner and Author Jaime Correa speaks about urban planning in the peak oil era. KunstlerCast Host Duncan Crary recorded Correa's talk on May 28 at the Albany Roundtable in Albany, N.Y. Correa speaks about how the end of cheap oil will affect communities in the future. He describes his peak oil action plan, which he calls The 40 Percent Plan. As urban communities begin to contract in the future, Correa has some ideas about what people need to do to successfully prepare for the future. James Howard Kunstler introduces Correa and chats with Crary about the role that Correa has played in the New Urbanism. Kunstler also responds to a question posed to him by Correa about his preparations for peak oil.Note: Curse words and adult language occur at 27:30, 27:37 and 30:17 Websites: http://correa-associates.com | http://albanyroundtable.com This week's sponsor is PostPeakLiving.com, offering online courses that prepare you for the post peak oil world.

James Howard Kunstler and host Duncan Crary take a moment to welcome new listeners and explain what the KunstlerCast is about. Kunstler gives a brief overview of topics covered in this program series and explains why these topics are important. Crary explains how and where to listen to the podcast. The program ends with two listener calls responding to the recent show about Detroit. NOTE: The KunstlerCast will take next week off and will resume on June 11. In the meantime, you can listen to JHK and Duncan on the C-realm Podcast at http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/

At the suggestion of a listener caller, James Howard Kunstler gives a virtual walking tour of Detroit, Michigan using Google Street View. Google Street View is an interactive photographic map that allows users to view photographs of streets and buildings in many cities throughout the world. Users can follow along with this program using the embedded Google Street View windows in the show notes for this episode at http://kunstlercast.com. During this "walking" tour, Kunstler examines the Michigan Central Depot Train Station, Tiger Stadium, the Renaissance Center, the People Mover, The Joe Louis Arena (aka the Aztec Mall of Death), The Grand Circus, the Fillmore and Fox theaters, and the Detroit waterfront.

James Howard Kunstler talks about two former industrial cities undergoing massive contractions: Flint, Michigan and Youngstown, Ohio . The local governments in both cities have adopted policies to manage the contraction to reduce public safety issues caused by large abandoned areas within their borders. Kunstler then responds to a listener call from suburban Chicago about the prospects of farming in the post-cheap oil suburbs. The conversation then turns to the future of former city farms. Sponsorship for this podcast comes from Audible. Visit http://audiblepodcast.com/kunstler for a free audio book download and 14-day trial. Music supplied by IODA Promonet.

James Howard Kunstler responds to a listener call about the 10 "high speed" rail corridors the Obama administration is seeking to restore in the U.S. The phrase high-speed rail is a little misleading, though, because what Obama is looking to do with rail in this country is actually just bring it back up to "Bulgarian" standards. These passenger rail upgrades and restorations will service trains that travel around 100 miles per hour, not nearly as fast as the high speed trains in Europe or Japan. Sponsorship of this podcast comes from the Congress for the New Urbanism. www.cnu.org

James Howard Kunstler talks about the recent outbreak of swine flu and the increased attention to modern-day pirates. Several bloggers have noted some similarities between current headlines and the scenario in Kunstler's novel, World Made By Hand, in which a severe economic downturn is followed by a deadly Mexican flu epidemic. A few years ago, Kunstler took some heat from critics for his chapter in The Long Emergency that addressed the potential threat of Asian pirates in the Pacific Northwest. Now that piracy is in the news, some people are going "hmmmm." The show closes with a listener call responding to the KunstlerCast about bad behavior and urban policing. Sponsorship for this podcast comes from The Congress for The New Urbanism, www.cnu.org