Much was lost when consumerism took over. It can be reclaimed as we cut back on fossil fuels and reduce consumption to minimize climate change. The life-based foundations <www.sustainwellbeing.net/life.html> of our humanity provide up-lifting opportunities as we work to secure a livable climate; particularly as our successes are attacked by fossil fuel interests.
When Success Brings Reaction: Preparing for Blowback
We need to end fossil fuel (FF) production and use.
As FF investments are restricted and some expansion projects put on hold—perhaps forever—the possibility of blowback increases. On occasions where renewable energy build-out doesn’t keep up with FF restrictions people can experience real, sometimes serious, inconvenience.
Counter-forces are already fighting back. Among accumulating examples, the province of Alberta has terminated its renewable energy projects. Some USAmerican presidential candidates are declaring that climate change is a hoax. They claim, if they are elected, that climate will cease to be an issue. What an appealing relief that would be—until reality bites so hard it cannot be denied.
Best not to be caught unprepared. What contingencies do we have to address such blowback?
Reality ebbs and flows. When something becomes widespread, it tends to stimulate its opposite. Rapid change is essential to stabilize the climate. On top of possible energy shortages, there is increasing concern about industrial-scale mining, manufacturing and waste from the enormous build-out of renewable related hardware. Populist politicians are eager to spin such concerns into a power base to set back our successes.
Even a total conversion to renewable energy sources would, if the consumer growth culture is not changed, leave our future threatened by continued natural resource depletion, inequality, the extinction of species, and deepening non-carbon pollution.
What is our next step?
A contingency plan
As the ebb and flow of society's transformation advances, we can feature possibilities for a truly sustainable world.
The vision of economic growth—ever more money spent consuming goods and services as measured by GDP—is past its best before date. Now it is killing us. It is time to pay attention to what the Earth can provide on an ongoing basis. “Progress” has to be measured in terms of environmental health and human well-being. This is the function of a Genuine Progress Index (GPI) <www.sustainwellbeing.net/mgpi.html>.
The replacement of unnecessary consumption with life-based activities can make up for a large part of any energy shortfall. These include relating with people and the natural world, appreciating the wonders of it all, helping, learning, sport, music, dance and other such activities rooted in living (rather than consumption). Life-based activities require little or nothing from the environment. Yet they can be so fulfilling that we don't have time for, or interest in, consuming at a dangerous level.
Such a transition can be introduced with the meme “More Fun, Less Stuff”—understanding that “fun” is anything that uplifts a person’s mood, without hurting anyone. This friendly, memorable meme shines light on a cultural form that can be sustained within an environmentally sensitive level of renewable energy production.
Thoughtful planning ought to include expressions of what we can look forward to in a post-fossil fuel world. It can be as simple as quietly mentioning “more fun, less stuff” <www.sustainwellbeing.net/Key.html> when “What can I do?” comes up in conversation, or the four syllables can lead on to a wide range of steps to advance the transformation. <www.sustainwellbeing.net/Less-is-More.html>
Carry on with your important work, and add on this hint toward economic transformation. “More Fun, Less Stuff” can provide a handle to draw the critical choice into public view: should economic activity aim for perpetual expansion, or should the goal of humanity’s efforts be to secure well-being for people and ecosystems?
Let’s be prepared for shifting attitudes as we shut down fossil fuels.
We can also realize that when the bad guys exert powers openly and brazenly, it is an indication that the regime has entered a period of crisis. The’ ‘Mortal God’, a human technology, a fabrication, aiming at total power. The world’s wisdom traditions have a great deal to say about human efforts to construct ‘gods’.
What can be counted upon is that such ‘gods’ always overreach and are never as omnipotent and omniscient as they believe. While history may be littered with failed rebellions, it is no less littered with failed empires, totalitarianisms, tyrannies, despotisms, and other would be pseudo-deities.
“The most important point to be made here is that as long as we remain egocentric beings, there shall always be sociopaths and psychopaths among us, who inevitably rise to authority driven by selfishness, greed, and apathy – who then capsize their entire sphere of influence despite the best intentions of all the rest of us. This perpetual cycle can only continue its descent until we undergo the spiritual and cultural transformation available by transmuting the egocentricity at its root.” – The Everyone Project
“The egocentricity experiment with human Design has run its course – its climax is our confluence of crises. It is now imperative that we develop metamorphic catalysts immediately – means and methods to efficiently transmute egocentricity and profoundly evoke our innate senses of interdependence and compassion.” – Care To Evolve? – Beau
Much was lost when consumerism took over. It can be reclaimed as we cut back on fossil fuels and reduce consumption to minimize climate change. The life-based foundations <www.sustainwellbeing.net/life.html> of our humanity provide up-lifting opportunities as we work to secure a livable climate; particularly as our successes are attacked by fossil fuel interests.
When Success Brings Reaction: Preparing for Blowback
We need to end fossil fuel (FF) production and use.
As FF investments are restricted and some expansion projects put on hold—perhaps forever—the possibility of blowback increases. On occasions where renewable energy build-out doesn’t keep up with FF restrictions people can experience real, sometimes serious, inconvenience.
Counter-forces are already fighting back. Among accumulating examples, the province of Alberta has terminated its renewable energy projects. Some USAmerican presidential candidates are declaring that climate change is a hoax. They claim, if they are elected, that climate will cease to be an issue. What an appealing relief that would be—until reality bites so hard it cannot be denied.
Best not to be caught unprepared. What contingencies do we have to address such blowback?
Reality ebbs and flows. When something becomes widespread, it tends to stimulate its opposite. Rapid change is essential to stabilize the climate. On top of possible energy shortages, there is increasing concern about industrial-scale mining, manufacturing and waste from the enormous build-out of renewable related hardware. Populist politicians are eager to spin such concerns into a power base to set back our successes.
Even a total conversion to renewable energy sources would, if the consumer growth culture is not changed, leave our future threatened by continued natural resource depletion, inequality, the extinction of species, and deepening non-carbon pollution.
What is our next step?
A contingency plan
As the ebb and flow of society's transformation advances, we can feature possibilities for a truly sustainable world.
The vision of economic growth—ever more money spent consuming goods and services as measured by GDP—is past its best before date. Now it is killing us. It is time to pay attention to what the Earth can provide on an ongoing basis. “Progress” has to be measured in terms of environmental health and human well-being. This is the function of a Genuine Progress Index (GPI) <www.sustainwellbeing.net/mgpi.html>.
The replacement of unnecessary consumption with life-based activities can make up for a large part of any energy shortfall. These include relating with people and the natural world, appreciating the wonders of it all, helping, learning, sport, music, dance and other such activities rooted in living (rather than consumption). Life-based activities require little or nothing from the environment. Yet they can be so fulfilling that we don't have time for, or interest in, consuming at a dangerous level.
Such a transition can be introduced with the meme “More Fun, Less Stuff”—understanding that “fun” is anything that uplifts a person’s mood, without hurting anyone. This friendly, memorable meme shines light on a cultural form that can be sustained within an environmentally sensitive level of renewable energy production.
Thoughtful planning ought to include expressions of what we can look forward to in a post-fossil fuel world. It can be as simple as quietly mentioning “more fun, less stuff” <www.sustainwellbeing.net/Key.html> when “What can I do?” comes up in conversation, or the four syllables can lead on to a wide range of steps to advance the transformation. <www.sustainwellbeing.net/Less-is-More.html>
Carry on with your important work, and add on this hint toward economic transformation. “More Fun, Less Stuff” can provide a handle to draw the critical choice into public view: should economic activity aim for perpetual expansion, or should the goal of humanity’s efforts be to secure well-being for people and ecosystems?
Let’s be prepared for shifting attitudes as we shut down fossil fuels.
Further information can be found at:
Three Potent Steps to a Sane Economy = <www.sustainwellbeing.net/3potentsteps.html>
At your service for a sustainable world,
Yours, Mike Nickerson
sustain5@web.ca
www.sustainwellbeing.net
Nice. Bravery is heart centered and as you indicate - away from concepts and the brain. Concepts like artificial.
We can also realize that when the bad guys exert powers openly and brazenly, it is an indication that the regime has entered a period of crisis. The’ ‘Mortal God’, a human technology, a fabrication, aiming at total power. The world’s wisdom traditions have a great deal to say about human efforts to construct ‘gods’.
What can be counted upon is that such ‘gods’ always overreach and are never as omnipotent and omniscient as they believe. While history may be littered with failed rebellions, it is no less littered with failed empires, totalitarianisms, tyrannies, despotisms, and other would be pseudo-deities.
“The most important point to be made here is that as long as we remain egocentric beings, there shall always be sociopaths and psychopaths among us, who inevitably rise to authority driven by selfishness, greed, and apathy – who then capsize their entire sphere of influence despite the best intentions of all the rest of us. This perpetual cycle can only continue its descent until we undergo the spiritual and cultural transformation available by transmuting the egocentricity at its root.” – The Everyone Project
“The egocentricity experiment with human Design has run its course – its climax is our confluence of crises. It is now imperative that we develop metamorphic catalysts immediately – means and methods to efficiently transmute egocentricity and profoundly evoke our innate senses of interdependence and compassion.” – Care To Evolve? – Beau
https://bohobeau.net/2021/01/29/woke-world/