A Fundamental Shift

  • Posted by e4 on November 26th, 2007 filed in General

A while back I got to spend some time chatting with Larry Halpern, one of the speakers at the Community Solution conference. He pointed something out that I hadn’t noticed: People are no longer talking about what their government will do, or might do, or should do, or could do, to help with peak oil. Or climate change for that matter. And he’s right. The focus has suddenly shifted to what we can do as individuals.

There’s still some talk of government policy in a few places, just as there’s still talk of when the global petroleum peak might be. But it seems it’s being overtaken by two sentiments: fear that things are getting serious and motivation to act quickly. Especially with the US economy (and by extension, the global economy) seemingly teetering on the brink of meltdown, in spite of the billions upon billions of dollars being printed (er, funded), in spite of the regular interest rate cuts, in spite of all the tricks the Fed has pulled out of its sleeve in the past couple months. Recession is being touted as likely, even by the Bush Administration, with the Big D Word popping up in the background. Depressing, huh? And unfortunately, if recession or worse, that probably means government money and resources wouldn’t be available to help with solutions even if the will existed.

It seems that people who follow these issues have collectively decided that the Cavalry aren’t coming. They’re off on a business trip, golfing. And so we look around and see what we can do at home.

This fundamental shift in the conversation is both good and bad. Good that people are starting to take on much more responsibility for themselves, and bad because we’ve essentially given up on perhaps the biggest lever we have. But as long as corporate interests take precedence over individual interests, family interests, and everything else, putting your time and effort into personal action seems most prudent at this stage. You’ve heard the phrase, “death by a thousand cuts”? We should be thinking in terms of “life by a thousand bandages.”

–

Leave a Comment