Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The Logic of Abundance

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, March 25, 2010

The Logic of Abundance

by John Michael Greer from his blog, The Archdruid Report.

I am only posting this article because it is a very good representative example of the current thinking of mainstream environmentalists. It presents many accurate observations about the consequences and possible solutions to energy decline, but the core problem with dealing with this issue is obscured by assigning the basic problem to "the logic of abundance". This is like saying that a person's discomfort is caused by a headache when, in fact, the person has a headache because there is a tumor growing in his brain. Thus the prescribed treatment is aspirin instead of surgery.

To move from metaphor to reality, the problem with a so-called belief in the "logic of abundance" is due to the denial of capitalists that energy sources are declining. They are forced to deny reality because of their addiction to profits which depend upon an economic system that requires ever greater amounts of energy. The fact that intelligent people like Greer cannot identify this 800 pound gorilla in the room is puzzling to me. Is it because the security of their careers require it, they are just myopic, or what?