Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The great transition (beyond carbon)

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

Friday, October 8, 2010

The great transition (beyond carbon)

by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed from Our World 2.0.

If there is one thing that defines the 21st century, it is the end of oil. But not just oil. Over the coming decades, we face the prospect of terminal depletion of the world’s major mineral energy reserves, with major ramifications for the future of industrial civilization.

Unfortunately, his essays is weakened a bit by the omission of the prospects for fusion energy which, in my opinion, is a wildly optimistic hope of some people.

Notice, that he also is not able to use that unmentionable word--"capitalism". Instead, he uses euphemisms like "industrial civilization" and "post-carbon civilization". That's because capitalism is in today's world a religion, and it is taboo to use that word.