26 Jan 2006
Think-and-Do-Tanks … learning from the Neo-Cons.
One thing that really struck me when I attended a lecture Bernard Lietaer gave the other week, was when he talked about the need for us to set up what he called **’Think and Do Tanks’**. He talked about the neo-cons in the US, we may not like them very much but they have been highly successful at making their vision for the world a reality. They didn’t just have an idea. They also worked out the fine details of how to implement it, prepared budgets and also drafted the legislation that would be required. They lobbied Congress very skillfully and now here we are as their vision starts to become reality around the world. If you aren’t sure what their vision is, then I suggest you read
One of the areas that fascinates me about Energy Descent, as regular readers will have noticed by now, is the whole question of how people change, and where transition comes from both for individuals and for societies. A lot of thinking in this whole field has been going on in the discipline of 
If I might be so presumptous as to suggest a few things you might like to read in the New Year…. here are 10 books I am really enjoying that you might find useful if you are interested in designing solutions for energy descent. They are things that I have found to be useful recently, either in part or as a whole, and I hope they prove to be of use to you. They are in no particular order, and there are many others that could have gone in here instead. I am told making lists is a peculiarly nerdy male thing to do, as in Nick Hornby’s ‘High Fidelity’, but there you are. What to do. You might like to add below any others that you feel to be essential reads. Wishing you an abundant and peaceful New Year.
