Howard James Kunstler in Tacoma

I struggle mightily with the central precept of Kunstler's The Long Emergency. I thought--before tonight, at least--that Kunstler really wants the Long Emergency to happen, that he wants to oil cripple the world economy, shrink the cities, transform agriculture, etc etc. I also seriously question the idea that the invisible hand of the market is incapable of handling the problem.

But the argument tonight had some interesting information--enough that I bought The Long Emergency as I left the event at the Theatre on the Square. I'm approaching it from a seriously skeptical perspective, so maybe that's the best way to go. I'll blog as I go through it.

That said, I greatly enjoyed Kunstler's presentation, even though I found much to disagree with. That the crowd at the Theatre on the Square was near capacity, if not sold out, was incredible. I saw so many recognizable faces--the most interesting would have to be Chip Vincent, manager of Advance Planning at Pierce County, and Professor Brian Coffey, Chair of the Urban Studies Department at UWT. There were lots of "regulars," as I might call them, in attendance but these two stood out.

I had Chip Vincent for a course at UWT a couple years ago--he toured the class around to cities and towns all over the Puget Sound and had us meet with planners in each of them. Very interesting stuff.

After the Kunstler event I went to Quiz Night at Doyle's, where my team won. I walked home wearing my prize: a Stella Artois bathrobe. I love bathrobes and I love Stella Artois. I was danged excited for this prize. Thanks, Russ!