What’s the poihnt of City Eco Lab? To understand why I believe these modest experiences to be important, take a look at today’s The Automatic Earth; it reviews once again the ways that economy, energy and environment crises are converging. The jolly editors of The Automatic Earth, who describe these times as “Debt, Diesel and Dämmerung”, rightly criticise politicians’ use of words like “probable recession” or “slow down.” Pretending that these are temporary problems disables people from preparing for the liklihood that they will be permanent.