My next essay(s) will detail why our current crisis is manifesting in credit/finance, but has origins in and implications for energy, ecology and equity. I thought it would be helpful to first frame this situation from an academic perspective, by highlighting a recent Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences paper: "Overcoming Systemic Roadblocks to Sustainability: The Evolutionary Redesign of Worldviews, Institutions, and Technologies", written by a group of colleagues (professors and students) at the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont. It is a long paper but covers issues worthy of discussion - most notably an academic framework for averting collapse - a tall task. What say you? (Note: some of the authors may be reading/responding to comments, but it's finals week.)