The end of the world as we know it?
Let’s get this over with right up front: I’m a believer in the apocalypse, at least the man-manufactured one that seems, barring a late-Act III entrance from some serious, ass-kicking deus ex machina, inevitable.
Additionally, I must confess that I came to my knowledge/world view late in the game, getting turned on to Kunstler and peak oil and other earthly delights after the vanguard, but apparently before the bulge of the curve. Ironically, I find this unbelievable: how can a political dunderhead like me be early to the party? Is it possible that the majority of my countrymen are more preoccupied, more obstinate, more—okay, stupider than I? For chrissakes, Will Rogers, American icon, pointed out the folly of ignoring the obvious more than 50 years ago; are people really so dense as to not get that, like land, at some point we will have burned through our supply of dead dinosaurs?
And really—really—does anyone actually believe in suburbs as an inalienable right? Of sprawl as manifest destiny? While we’re at it, does anyone actually believe in Manifest Destiny anymore? That some unseen power said “Poof! lucky white dudes! You really are my favorites! Grab what you want, pave over the rest and throw up a Starbucks every 500 yards! And get me a decaf Venti soy latte, while you’re at it—I’m cutting back on my caffeine intake.”
Besides, as Kunstler himself points out in, among other writings, this excellent review (of what looks like an egregiously irresponsible book), for this you’re chewing up resources? For 99¢ tacos and “Tuscan” minimalls and 3-Day Blinds and Axe? I’m no purist—I love In-and-Out and I drive my Corolla and I spend most of my waking life in front of a computer that will eventually kill off a square mile of rainforest or something when it hits the landfill, but Bratz dolls? Putting aside the allocation of precious resources to perpetuate several particularly nasty features of the patriarchy, on a purely aesthetic level, they are ass.
Like I said, I’m as bad as anyone else when it comes to much of my consumption, meaning it is thoughtless. I do not think about blood-stained oil when I curse the traffic on the way to my shrink appointment; I’m adding to the problem with almost everything I do, and thinking about the extent to which I’m stomping the world to death with boots—Australian Blundstones, borne to me across the ocean on fairy wings, natch—makes my head throb. How do I change!?! Where do I start!?!
Alertness, right now, is all I know I can do. And I know it is the thing to do in part because practicing it is so alarming. How starkly I am struck by my ability to take things for granted when the power goes out for 26 hours. 26, you see? Every last minute counted.
I’ve implemented a few things to help me stay aware and awake, which I’ll share not to lord it over anyone (who am I to talk?), but in hopes that it might help a few overwhelmed types like me find a place to start:
- I’ve trimmed down my possessions to the point where everything has a place, I can put my hands on most of them without too much thought, and there is plenty of space in between them.
- For the most part, I did it by reasonably “responsible” methods of recycling and reducing consumption. On the recycling side, I’ve increased my reuse of items—paper, mostly—before sending things off to the Magical Recycling Place. (I’ve always been a fanatic about reusing bags and rubber bands.)
- On the consumption side, I simply buy far, far less than I used to, purchasing used items where I can, borrowing where appropriate (e.g. the library instead of the bookstore), buying fewer trendy/disposable items and thinking about whether I can wait or do without before I buy.
- Also concerning consumption, I’ve dramatically reduced the amount of fuel I use by quitting acting (which is mostly auditioning, which is mostly driving) and working from a home office. I live a little too far from the public rail system to make use of it, and buses are notoriously slow here in L.A., caught in the same traffic as cars, so I still drive my beloved Corolla. I’ve toyed with getting a Prius or a biodiesel conversion, but without retiring my car, I don’t know how much good I’d be doing. The only long “commute” I have now is my weekly Toastmasters meeting, 10 miles away in the Marina. My plan is to finish out the year there, then look for a Toastmasters within walking distance of my home.
Not that much, really, but a start. And for anyone who’s interested, #1 has improved my life in many ways besides feeling better about not being such a piggy. My stress level is down and my productivity up—if not in all areas of my life, at least in some.
Besides the peace of mind that comes with a reasonable baseline of organization has got to have some salubrious effect on the world, as well, if only in that it frees me up to think more about serious matters. Right?
xxx
c
Image by C-Monster via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license
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8 Comments, Comment or Ping
Jeremy
If this is to be believed you are a lot further along in your enlightenment that some of The Enlightened Ones.
But it can’t, can’t, can’t be true. Can it?
Apr 24th, 2007
communicatrix
Holy crap. It’s like when you’re on a really promising date with someone and looking forward to all kinds of hanky panky and other goodness and then he says, “So…have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior?”
As the SNL gals say, bye-bye ladyboner.
Apr 24th, 2007
Neil
If we really want to make change, I think we need both legislation and consumer demand. American automakers are already far behind in their production of hybrids and electric cars. It’s bad for our economy that Asian manufacturers are pushing the envelope. And we also need to figure out what to do about developing countries like China, that are just getting into their consumer-oriented mode. Of course, everything starts with the individual, but I don’t think the aim is enlightenment, but societal change.
Apr 24th, 2007
communicatrix
I don’t think it’s an either/or proposition, Neil. And look at it this way: consumer demand is not going to come w/o consumer enlightenment. I think what Kunstler et al are saying is that, unfortunately, people being pretty reliably what they are, it’s going to take an enormo bonk on the head–the lights going out, quite literally, and the infrastructure falling apart–before people wake up to what is already happening.
Worse (and I’m sorry to be Miss Doom & Gloom), apparently a lot of Them What Knows are saying that, to cop The BF’s phrase, the train has already left the station. That “An Inconvenient Truth” is hopelessly optimistic. I’ve done little reading on it—Kunstler, the occasional article that comes across in an admittedly liberal publication—but the bullshit that the “opposition” is putting forward is, as I’ve said, shockingly irresponsible from what I can gather.
For example, the point is not for American automakers to “catch up” in hybrid or alternate fuel or even zero-emission vehicle development; the point is that our way of life is not sustainable, period. Common sense bears this out: to paraphrase what I allude to in the post, we’re going to make more land? More oil?
Societal change, is right. But the level of societal change? I think it goes way, way deeper and far, far broader than most of us can grok right now.
Apr 24th, 2007
Jeanne
20 years ago I read a New Yorker article on CFCs (the chemicals that are wrecking the ozone layer). The one sentence in the article that I remember to this day is the concept that chemicals are not innocent until proven guilty. In essence, the concept that chemicals and gases and all the other things we are dumping into the environment are innocent until proven guilty is the foundation of the corporate-political argument for not doing anything until there is not one iota of doubt that things are going down the tubes.
Of course, as you say, things are already going down the tubes and will continue to do so for years even if we stop, today, all activities that negatively impact the environment.
That said, my family is trying to figure out ways we can live with a lighter footprint on the earth. And it’s not easy. It’s a learning experience each day (literally when you have a young child who questions everything).
Let us know if you find a Toastmasters closer. That is my challenge right now–trying to find things that are closer that fulfill our needs as well as those that are farther.
Apr 24th, 2007
Erin
I think that part of the problem too is that many people truly believe that as humans we can adapt to any, and I mean ANY circumstance. There are people out there who believe that if the sun burnt out tomorrow we’d find a way to light the planet and grow the plants within a week (maybe a month if we’re being gracious) or so. They don’t see it as an environmental need to slow down and take care of the planet, they see it as “well, we’ll build space ships and find a new one.” And that’s a hard kind of thinking to argue down. Trust me. I live with someone who thinks like that.
Apr 27th, 2007
Adam Kayce : Monk At Work
C-trix, I’m with you… and, not 100%.
I’ve hit my doom-n-gloom moments, too, and the almighty pessimism still grabs at me from time to time,,, and yet, I feel change — enough change to survive — is totally possible.
Is our (meaning the U.S.’s) way of life sustainable? On a vast scale, no — Jesus, of course it isn’t. But who says it should be, or that it would even be a good thing if it could be?
The alternatives exist. The way is pretty darn clear. It’s gonna mean a lot, but what option do we have?
A good book to read on this, btw, is “The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight” by Thom Hartmann. The best part is his section on solutions — rather than “compact flourescents and biodegradable toilet paper”, he focuses on mindset/paradigm solutions… and they’re great.
May 4th, 2007
communicatrix
Thanks for the book reco, Adam. I’ll put it on (one of my many) list(s). A rant is always fun, and a large part of my pessimism finds purchase there. But truly, I’m a strange kind of optimist.
No, I don’t see anything changing fundamentally soon, given where most people’s heads are at now. And we’re agreed, like Erin, above, that it’s a mindset/paradigm we’re in need of changing, not a light bulb.
But even though I don’t see everyone doing it, I don’t see that as reason not to keep evolving that way myself—to keep considering, conserving, reducing, enjoying in a fundamentally different way, etc. No fiddling while Rome burns; both things happening at once.
I realize that’s a weird stance, but it’s where I’m situated. For now, anyway.
May 4th, 2007