Sup y’all. It’s been a minute. How’s your apocalypse going? Yeah, mine too. Sending love to everyone right now. The chaos is overwhelming. Even more disturbing, it’s already normal. I write this as my windows are blanketed in smoke from the West Coast fires.
Great essay and call to action, Yancey. Fab to see the video of Donella Meadows. Please can you (or your reader) share more info about the conference where she delivered this talk?
Pity how it takes protracted pain to (hopefully and finally) get the masses on board to exact constructive, sustainable change before total collapse.
Total collapse. It happened before in societies that collapsed, it's going to happen again, I'm afraid. I speak of the Hohokam in AZ in 3BC who, in spite of not raising domesticated animals and only used wood modestly, a life 'apparently' based on sustainability, with the increase in population food became scarce, environmental changes, imposition of irrigation strategies/over-farming and social responses, er 'ceremonial activities' weakened their system's resilience and made their system vulnerable to the climate extremes. And the Norse society in Greenland in the 1720s sticking to established patterns, elaborating on its churches and 'ideological conditioning' of the population instead of its hunting skills. And so it goes today...
Right. Balance. Circular economy presents too much complexity. Okay by me if folks stop consuming so damn much. Mother Nature, however, gets it right and moves slow. We need to pay more attention to her.
Technology is not a panacea, and (‘thanks’ to COVID-19, and ‘undesirables’ of Mother Nature), the ‘herd’ is being thinned out. Diminishing returns, and the positive feedback loop are certainly in full-effect.
And sure thing about worker cooperatives. Professor Richard Wolff of the New School has been on point for a long time about worker-owned cooperatives and often cites SF Bay Area Arizmendi Bakery as a primo example of a sustainable and resilient offering.
Indeed, overall, I am with you. These crises should not be wasted since they are presenting opportunities—what was considered politically impossible is hopefully, now politically inevitable. Without hope, we are lost...
Great essay and call to action, Yancey. Fab to see the video of Donella Meadows. Please can you (or your reader) share more info about the conference where she delivered this talk?
love the songs..You recorded these? they are amazing
Pity how it takes protracted pain to (hopefully and finally) get the masses on board to exact constructive, sustainable change before total collapse.
Total collapse. It happened before in societies that collapsed, it's going to happen again, I'm afraid. I speak of the Hohokam in AZ in 3BC who, in spite of not raising domesticated animals and only used wood modestly, a life 'apparently' based on sustainability, with the increase in population food became scarce, environmental changes, imposition of irrigation strategies/over-farming and social responses, er 'ceremonial activities' weakened their system's resilience and made their system vulnerable to the climate extremes. And the Norse society in Greenland in the 1720s sticking to established patterns, elaborating on its churches and 'ideological conditioning' of the population instead of its hunting skills. And so it goes today...
Right. Balance. Circular economy presents too much complexity. Okay by me if folks stop consuming so damn much. Mother Nature, however, gets it right and moves slow. We need to pay more attention to her.
Technology is not a panacea, and (‘thanks’ to COVID-19, and ‘undesirables’ of Mother Nature), the ‘herd’ is being thinned out. Diminishing returns, and the positive feedback loop are certainly in full-effect.
And sure thing about worker cooperatives. Professor Richard Wolff of the New School has been on point for a long time about worker-owned cooperatives and often cites SF Bay Area Arizmendi Bakery as a primo example of a sustainable and resilient offering.
Indeed, overall, I am with you. These crises should not be wasted since they are presenting opportunities—what was considered politically impossible is hopefully, now politically inevitable. Without hope, we are lost...
this is like a rejected TED Talk candidate