I hope I'm an alarmist. I'm afraid I'm not.
I fear the world of my kids. Fortunately, and mostly independently of me, they fear the world too, and they are getting ready; they own about 400 acres. Even talking about making their own biodiesel. And, even more, I fear the world of my granddaughter; 8 months old.
We've seen a lot of changes in our lives; mostly for the better. I'm fearful we'll see a lot more, and for the worse.
Malthus is gonna get the last laugh after all.
Iraq, Iran, gay marriage, flag burning; they are all diversions from what is really important to our security. The 2 biggest threats to our species, at least since the Black Plague, and maybe since the time the population collapsed to about 2K cavemen, are Peak Oil and Global Warming; what a more eloquent writer dubbed "The 2 Horses of the Apocalypse". It's gonna take a lot of Da Vincis to get us thru this one. Despite what the techies think, there is no silver bullet waiting discovery. But, there are a lot of silver bbs, and not all of them technical. So, I remain what the PO movement calls a Pollyanna (the group between the cornucopists who think resources are infinite, and the doomers), hoping we can solve this before it solves us.
There is also the beginnings of a movement to deal with the psychological effects..
energybulletin.net
I don't think much of psychobabble, but there is probably an important role for it, too. I've known of PO theory for > 30 years, but I still got/get depressed by this. People on the Oil Drum talk about being depressed, about actually losing relationships behind it; doomers freaking don't relate well to their cornucopian partners, or vice versa. |
