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

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Stumbling Blocks to Figuring Out the Real Oil Limits Story

Click here to access article by Gail Tverberg from her blog Our Finite World. 

This widely respected specialist on peak oil issues describes the dilemma posed by the increasing costs of extracting oil from the earth without any other cheap source of energy in view. She is of the mainstream camp that sees no alternative to a capitalist system (TINA). Thus, necessarily the future of humanity looks very depressing. I have to give her credit for facing extremely unpleasant facts with directness and honesty, but I fault her for not factoring in the capitalist system which makes such depressing implications unavoidable. Why can't she see the necessity to imagine how societies could be organized in another way so that the contradictions she poses could be, if not avoided, considerably ameliorated?
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