What’s Your New Beginning? - Rolling with Unprecedented Change |
by Jan Lundberg | |
18 April 2009 | |
At this historic time of transformation both on the Earth and of Earth
herself, we humans are playing roles active and passive. Our actions and
effects are to date increasingly negative in the aggregate. But there are
positive actions and effects as well, unprecedented and serendipitous.
Many people even say the crash is good for us.
We cannot run from climate change -- especially with diminished economic and financial capabilities. Millions more people every day are having to re-evaluate their survival strategies, thanks to sudden changes. This means people are questioning and jettisoning old assumptions. So we find the overwhelming force of change -- that dominant law of the universe -- knocking on our doors or kicking us in the teeth. The mainstream corporate newspapers have begun to report on lifestyle change and to explore aspects of economic adjustment that are remarkably positive in tone, for the most part. [They're catching up with Culture Change's two decade-old message.] It is almost all anecdotal, necessary when the usual statistics only measure such notions of gross domestic product and unemployment -- both measures being distortions of the real picture. But signs are unmistakable for a cultural shift beyond mere financial reactions: • The surge in interest in food production on a more and more local basis. It’s clear from the White House’s new kitchen garden, as the highest profile example, stretching to the other coast in northern California where home gardening (food, not smokables) is probably the most popular pursuit happening -- Arcata, my old home town. The reasons are many: health, economic, energy independence, and for climate protection.Despite these welcome developments -- or, as some would say, making the best of tough times until economic growth resumes (we shall see!) -- and despite trends that reflect painful adjustment to the financial collapse that hit last fall, we are collectively so far only scratching the surface of cultural change underway. Therefore, when considering out-of-control influences on all our lives -- the biggest ones being possible climate extinction and the peaking of global oil extraction -- we must face that the pace of change in our personal lives can only accelerate. These are still easy days. Time will tell who has fell and who's been left behind - Bob DylanThose who have endured such upsets as job loss, moving from a comfortable home to a more modest and crowded abode (or onto the streets) and the end of consuming at will for gratification, are discovering two sides of the same coin: (A) The rude awakening of money's limitations and the disappearance of material security thought to be assured or at least predictable, andHowever, as petrocollapse, "natural" disasters and political unrest start to hit like tidal waves, it will have become necessary to urgently make proactive change in one's life and community. The question, then, is "What is your new beginning?" The answer can be either the involuntary convulsing of your life, or the deliberate, planned transformation. Some of the former are: • Panic over becoming part of the burgeoning underclass, facing hunger, cold and the raw challenges of homelessnessOr, if carried out in anticipation of the above, • Finding a real community, if you're not living in one alreadyOne of many news features on our changing economy and culture was a Wall Street Journal "OPINION: DECLARATIONS" op-ed on APRIL 17, 2009: Goodbye Bland Affluence: Get ready for authenticity chic By Peggy Noonan online.wsj.com Her optimism for back-to-the-land, less-consuming living was not received well by most of the online commenters. I'm the exception, but my comment at this writing is hung up in moderator’s queue for days. What may be posted: What a refreshing essay for the times, especially considering the forum. * * * * *
"Economic survivalists take root" by Judy Keen, USA Today, April 17(?):
"Austere Times? Perfect" by Matt Richtel, New York Times, April 10, 2009:
"No cash? Barter for services with 'dibits'" by Marc Ramirez, Seattle Times:
"How Americans Spend Now: Thrift Nation" (seven stories) Time magazine, April 19, 2009:
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