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April 18 2019 Something that's not all gloom and doom: Low-Tech Magazine [0] is publishing selections of their back catalog of articles in two volumes via Lulu.com, a print-on-demand service that caters to self-publishers. Volume I is currently available and arrived in the mailbox a few days ago, approximately 10 days after placing the order. It's a hefty paperback, clocking in at 710 pages. Article one outlines how they went %100 solar for their website (and why prolonged cloud-cover may occasionally make it unavailable). For some reason, perhaps following the reasoning of going from digital to paper, volume I contains select articles from 2012 through 2018; volume II will contain select articles prior to 2012. I've always enjoyed their pieces and overall premise, revisiting the past for useful lower tech approaches to accomplish some of the things we're currently doing less sustainably. The problem with online materials, at least for me, is a) I don't really like reading long-form articles online, and b) older articles seem "old" ; I want to read the new stuff. Somehow repackaging the same material in book form applies even weighting of relevancy and significantly improves readability. Lastly, paper is really the ultimate in low-energy, high reliability archiving; once a book is printed and delivered no further energy is needed, all that is needed is the ability to read. from the Introduction to Volume I: Low-Tech Magazine is an online platform refusing to assume that every problem has a high-tech solution. A simple, sensible but nevertheless controversial message; high-tech has become the idol of industrial societies. By contrast, Low-tech Magazine underscores the potential of the past and often forgotten technologies and how they can inform sustainable energy practices. One of the tenets of Deep Adaptation [1] is to try to preserve knowledge that may be of use both in the near-term should industrial civilization's collapse come on suddenly and dramatically, and for future generations, those who presumably come out the other end of some future Dark Ages. A deep reading of history seems to suggest this is an excellent idea. - - [0] https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com [1] http://www.scientistswarning.org/wiki/deep-adaptation-agenda/