Getting Things Bloody Done!
Yes...it seems that there is a very fixed line. On the one side there are people who are under the illusion of progress, blinded by the belief that continues growth is not only the most desirable and sole thing to aim for, but that it is actually possible. Do they think that we will not one day run out of certain resources? And on the other side, we have people who are not caught up in this insane rush to consume Earth, which inadvertently (sometimes advertently) destroys the very life supporting systems which we and a whole host of other living beings depend on for survival.
We have been so mindless and down right stupid with the way we have used our energy and the way we have let those means adversely affect our habitat, our home.
What kind of being, pulverises, disintegrates and degenerates the precious soil with which we grow all our means of sustenance? What kind of being, pollutes and renders undrinkable and unlivable the very life of this planet that is water? Are we so stupid, to think that such a mode of living is desirable? Fair enough, we did not know how we were impacting the Earth when we started. But, in the last few generations we have progressively understood our interactions with the world in ever more subtle and accurate ways. The likelihood of catastrophic climate change is now well documented and well understood by most people. The unsuitability of our fiat, debt-based currencies is now starting to be accepted. But the underlying, root cause being peak oil and its massive impactions is still given little if any recognition if the mainstream media – which is the worst crime or violation against humanity and the larger living world that this planet has ever seen; perpetrated by the corrupt and greedy officials that preside over most governments, financial institutions and corporations. We are stuck in the mind-created idea that we can ride this fantasy, perpetual motion merry-go-round model of living indefinitely without regard to its thoroughly unwholesome impacts on all life on Earth. It makes me, at times; feel altogether disgusted at our race. But I also see a great potential that we have to go back to living in harmony with Mother Earth.
We need to focus more on brining awareness and fundamental change to our communities, rather than trying to go through the political system. It’s not the hot air of politics that we need right know. Its committed action that fundamentally changes the way we live and function on this planet. However, I would like to raise one very important point. We need to change our own individual lives within our own homes – become more self-sufficient, with food, water and energy needs. Personally, and being involved in the transition movement for some time, I feel that the Transition Initiatives are becoming more hot air, with too much talk and chin wagging, and not enough solid action taking place. You can only educate and bring awareness to people in so many different ways and through so many different mediums before you are just running through the same old things but in a different manner. To be frank, it only takes a little time to asses the predicaments we face and to see the solutions that we need to implement in our lives. After that, we need to just get the heck on with it and change the way we bloody live!
However, I fear that many people feel just too comfortable with their high-impact, earth destroying lifestyles, still relying on their food supply from the massively destructive supermarkets and so on. We are just not prepared to make the real changes, so we develop all these fancy means of “visioning”, of gathering people together, of netowrking and talking, talking, and talking, and so we end up running around in circles not getting anything done! Yes, these things can be done, and they lay the groundwork nicely, but we should not mistake them for the real buisness of changing physically the way we live.The means are there and have been for a long, long time. Low-impact housing is an ancient practice. Growing your own food is tens of thousands of years old. We have the ability to be self-sufficient with energy need with renewable (perhaps off-the-grid) energy technologies; which can be purchased by someone who is on minimum wage, saving up for only a few months!
So, there it is people! What or who are we waiting for? Do we want someone else to do it for us? We are the ones we have been waiting for! Do we want to talk our selves to death, literally!? Its time we shut up and got on with the real physical work of changing the way we live, while we still can. This is not a cake walk. We really will face very severe condition in the very near future.
Peter.
Indeed, Peter. I'm working in partnership with this impressive group who are doing as much as they can to facilitate such dramatic change. Well worth checking out:
Thanks for that link, Shaun, it looks good.
Totally agree about the hands-on approach Peter. There can be too much talk and not enough action. I've gone my own way in this by the following:
1) developed a sizeable veg-plot within easy walking-distance that could just about feed me at a push all year round - huge learning-curve;
2) tapped into and developed existing skills - fishing, gathering;
3) powered-down - annual mileage slashed by 50% in 2011 and aiming downwards again this year. Cut all my own firewood and use that for over 75% of heating and so on;
4) joined the writing-team at www.skepticalscience.com - where I can perhaps help make an actual difference in the climate debate;
5) the talking bit but with local people in my regular pub who are slowly learning about the issues we face (rather than packing the lot into an hour-long talk that they have to go to in the first place)
I think the realisation as to our powered-down future is growing slowly in many minds: the more adjustment you can make towards living in that way the better as people will see that it isn't so bad after all - e.g. I'm on a low income but despite consuming tons less resources than I used to I am eating better than I have for years!
Cheers - John
Good point, Peter, it's something I'm concerned about, too. There's probably a threshold or 'critical mass' that needs to be overcome to get concrete (!) results in any change of direction, whether that be on an individual or community / society level, so I'm not surprised at the present situation, sad to say. I expect it is easier to get things going in smaller, more distinct, communities than in urban settings, where it's often hard to identify the genuine 'communities' - by which I mean groups of people who feel themselves to be interdependent, rather than just having a shared interest, language or whatever.
Things are not made easier by the issue of land and property ownership as investment/commodity, which has led to the hyper-inflation in prices and raised the barrier to opportunities for finding sites on which to live sustainably. I was priced off stepping onto the 'ladder' when the house prices first doubled in the year I was starting to be able to contemplate buying a very modest house in rural Wales. With "affordable" developments being limited, it seems, to token provision within large, conventional, development schemes, the scope is severely limited for finding self-build plots for "alternative" constructions near enough to where it's possible to continue to earn a living. I suspect that any proposals to change land and property ownership to make access to a home a basic provision, regardless of income or savings, rather than an investment opportunity, would get zero effective support.
In the meantime, I agree, acting individually has to be the first step. Personally I do what I can given the limits of renting a small flat with no outdoor space. It's not realistic at the moment for everybody to be able to grow a whole veg plot, so buying in food will remain the majority need for a long time. I like the pub-discussion approach, John, sowing seeds is useful.
Perhaps there is also a need for Transition groups to select what kind of activites are most likely to bring about a small but real beneficial change in their own areas, focusing on getting even a modest observable outcome will have more impact than lots of talk or workshops on nice but, for most, unrealistic or unavailable options, however desirable in the longer term. There's an argument that, if it doesn't interest the 'bloke in the white van', then it's probably not going to get far. ?
Thanks for raising this issue.