I keep being surprised by people I know and like talking as though pretty soon the world will be back to normal–that’s it’s time, say, to borrow heavily and invest in real estate again.
It isn’t. The world won’t be back to normal.
The world will never go back to the way it was. The world has fundamentally changed. For example, for the next few years, at least, when you buy a house you’ll be buying it to live in. Period. Not as a leveraged investment. Super leverage is dead. It’s unsustainable. I’m not talking about the credit crunch; that’s just a symptom. Ah, fuck it, look, let Robert Reich explain some of it to you.
No, I’m not exaggerating. No, I’m not being alarmist. And, no, there’s no need for panic.
The model we’ve build our society on–the continual expansion, constant finding/settling/using/abusing of the frontier, then moving on–will change. It is changing. It has changed. Only most of us don’t know it yet.
The solution? I don’t know. Yet. But, please, people, stop thinking along the old, rutted tracks. Take a breahth. Really think. Really look at your lives.
What will count are the really important things: community, education, fresh air, food, water, warmth, shelter, joy, beauty. At some point, the governments of the world will figure out they have to stop dodging the issue and look at food and farming, at power and sustainability, at slack in the system and building in redundancy (power, water supply, education, manufacture–everything). They are going to figure out that the industrialised world has been mad and must now get sane or die. Take, for example, climate. It doesn’t matter about the exactness of the climate models; everyone agrees we have to cut emissions more than anyone wants to or even believes is possible or we’re all going to die. Well, not us, exactly, but civilisation. It’s that simple. Most of our great-great grandchildren won’t exist unless someone, somewhere does something. That is, unless, everyone, everywhere, does everything they can. And much more than we want. And very soon.
Everything will cost more. We will buy less, use less, eat less, waste less. And, you know what? It will be fine. Just not as thoughtless and greedy and, y’know, convenient as before.
For now, please. Stop. Take a look around. Stop trying to win. Start co-operating.
Nicola Griffith 
Thank you! It’s hard to try and do something to help in your own small way if you do not get supported by those around you (like baggers who are lost on the idea of tote bags and still want to give you a plastic bag to put INSIDE of it – luckily not so uncommon anymore these days – or like an non-existent public transportation system, forcing you to drive every day).Yes, I know what you are talking about and I don’t do nearly enough on my end to help, even though I do some. Does it help? I don’t know, but I hope that more and more people will wake up and help to make a change. Journal entries like this are certainly the first step, thank you, Nicola!
In the US we don’t take sufficient notice that every time we turn a tap, we get clean drinking water! We flip a switch and the light comes on. We buy fresh local produce for not much money. Many of us can say what we want and live like we want. It all costs, and you’re right, if we can’t figure out we can actually afford, we will continue to be in big trouble.
tiegrr, barbara, I just want people to *think* differently. Behaviour changes follow naturally from that. But it starts with the thinking.
Sustain your life, people! Or at least try to keep the entropy down!
*grin* how come when you say that, people nod, and when I say it, I get two hundred emails with links to Senator Inhofe’s web page?(And by the way, when I first typed that question, I wrote: “emails with minks to Senator Inhofe’s web page”. I would love to send mink to Inhofe. However.)
Beautiful essay Nicola. Humility is truly a beautiful thing, something we ALL need to work on together as a whole. It will take time, but it will happen. Slowly but surely, it already is.
mordicai, new battle cry: strangle entropy!nick, the pretty face?realm, I don’t really do humility but, yes, working together = a Good Thing
Yes, beautiful essay. I think its natural to think that what we do as one individual may be inconsequential. However, when a person starts to think of themselves as part of the whole (including the “whole” world)I think a realization comes that you are not just one individual, but one of many individuals whose single actions facilitates change. I also think, as Barbara seems to be saying, that for the most part Americans don’t realize just how much we have compared to the rest of the world. I think change is the one constant and inevitably what is “normal” becomes not normal. One thing that keeps me coming back for more, Nicola, is how you bring these ideas together.duff
My pleasure, Duff. I have a pattern-seeking mind. That is, most humans do, it’s why paranoia is so rampant: we see patterns that don’t actually exist. But I get active pleasure from connecting the dots.