survivalist
– I follow a lot of websites and Blogs on a daily basis. They are all over the map in their points of view. And I prefer it this way so that I know I’m getting a good cross section of things.
– Some of those I follow could be called survivalist or doomsters. Of course, long time readers will know I’d have to have a lot of cheek to be throwing that stone, myself, since my views about the future of the world are pretty bleak.
– Regardless, I still think I have a bit of the moderate in me. After all, I haven’t stocked up on a year’s worth of supplies, an arsenal of weapons, moved to beyond the beyond and gone off the grid <give me a few weeks, eh?>.
– The article, below, is written by a fellow who’s pretty deep into survivalism. But, having said that, I don’t think he’s far wrong. In this article, he’s gone over things pretty closely as to what he sees wrong and where it is all headed. And I have to say it is well written, well thought out and well worth reading.
– Give it a look and see what the folks are thinking who are beginning to get down in the trenches. You may find that a lot of it speaks to you.
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It’s taken me a little while to publish this 50th issue, because I have been pondering some deep questions about the future of humanity upon this planet.
At issue here is the notable accelerating environmental collapse factors, and how we have singularily failed to stop a single one of these issues. It is now plainly evident that we cannot stop, and the following short long essay is why.
I wrote this in a couple of hours on February 11th, late at night in one sitting. I’m going to take a break now as it’s time to let this all sink in, for you and for me. I will return to publishing… when I feel like it!
Collapse Is Built In
We need to build a new way of living; therefore we must design it from the ground up, as this present model has demonstrated itself incapable of self-change.
I see this as needing to completely unplug and to disconnect; to remove our dependencies from the system on what we require to survive; to provide for these things for ourselves as much as possible; and to share them amongst ourselves completely outside of the present system of control and distribution and material exploitation.
Unplugging is also the fastest non-violent way to bring down the machine. It is this machine itself, fueled by us, that is headed towards self-destruction.
The very existence of the First World existence (living standards and demands) encourages the rest of the world to seek after the same things as we do. This in turn will always lead to increasing levels of consumption throughout the world.
I have come to understand that the notion that we will voluntarily restrict ourselves and our levels of consumption is provably false, this we will never do. We may in fact be completely incapable of doing this as a society (which I do think is true now). We even experience extreme difficulty in doing this on an individual level. This alone demonstrates the extremity of our present situation.
Therefore, multiply our level of consumption and living standards by the population of the earth. 7 billion people are seeking to “come up” to the first world expectations, or some higher measure then what they already have (including us in the First World). Many could never acheive this as their environments have already been entirely denuded and stripped of resources. But the point is, this is simply not possible for all of humanity and has been widely documented. It is completely and factually unachievable. We do not produce enough food, energy or material goods for this to happen. There is not enough resources left either.
But these living / lifestyle standards for the entire population is also highly undesirable too, as the Earth itself can only truly sustain one lifestyle above all else, and this is the hunter / gatherer lifestyle, of small groups of people living and using local resources. Alll other lifestyles require increasing levels of consumption beyond true sustainability and eventually results in systematic breakdown of the Earth’s natural systems as population grows.
It was the abundance of energy the broke the imbalance of human population and the natural equilibrium of living. Once this was broken, it was never regained as energy sources were continually exploited to greater and greater levels, fueling human population growth of the planet, while destroying and consuming the populations of everything else. Extensive species extinctions have always followed after growing human populations. It was only where this did not happen did human populations remain low enough that sustainable living still existed, but even these areas eventually were “discovered” and then consumed, and have now experienced the same and often, worse results.
Everywhere this natural threshold was exceeded, resulted in environmental collapse.
Here in the First World, it has been exceeded by ten thousand percent. This is leading to a breakdown of natural systems the world over, as the First World now imports the majority of its consumption and materialism. This is also now completely irreversible, due to non-sustainable population levels now in existence world wide. Nothing can now stop this decline. Nor can we simply “stop” our consumption as has been often suggested (including by me). We neither have the will to do so, or even the means anymore.
In America and many other places in the world today (especially the First World) it is actually illegal to do this, as we are forced into participation into higher material standards and consumption. An important point, but not my main one. This just demonstrates how we have made it more impossible.
We are dealing with a form of Jevon’s Paradox in every human endeavor. Every efficiency and “gain” that we develop in technology or energy usage, allegedly to help us control our consumption, simply leads us to even more consumption. This in turn continues to fuel higher population levels.
The only solution to this is a total energy collapse, with horrific results for humanity. If I may ignore that for huge topic for now, all other human-devised solutions are self-defeating and completely unrealistic because they do not actually gain both efficiency and reductions as alleged. We always find ways to take advantage of these things and increase our numbers, instead of decrease our actualy consumption.
– More… ➡
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6233YW20100304
Dennis,
Frankly, I am getting fed up with all the doom and gloom. I think you need to get a grip on tings.
Do you remember the Birds song, Turn, Turn, Turn. here they are
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven
A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven
A time of war, a time of peace
A time of love, a time of hate
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time to love, a time to hate
A time of peace, I swear it’s not too late!
Now look at the article at the link I provided. Now think about the post you provided where a person describes a Buddhist viewpoint about oneness with the Universe. No good, no bad, that it is all following the path it is supposed to follow.
What is going on today is part of evolution. It is PO, neither good nor bad, it just is.
Get over it, Carpe Diem. You will be a happier person.
M
https://samadhisoft.com/2010/02/18/let-go-and-let-love-why-did-no-one-tell-me-its-so-simple/
Hello Dennis,
In my previous response, inter alea, I wanted to reference your post that I alluded to. However, I had a few things to do so I did not spend time to look for it. So, here it is.
Having provided that, I will now pick up on my point. In my convoluted way, I was trying to tell you that your bifurcated approach leaves me confused. On the one hand, you seem to have a metaphysical detachment going on, where it is all transitory as everything is interconnected and part of the master plan, so don’t worry be happy. However, on the other, you are preaching a doomsday come to Jesus message. You know, the sky is falling; can’t somebody do something before it all goes horribly wrong?
I am left wondering, which way is it? Or, is it both? If you accept the giant asteroid supposition, we could all be doing all the right things, and it could still be gone in an instant. Or, if the human race is doing all the wrong things as reported, then it also just might be gone in an instant. No one knows for sure about that, but you are as busy as a bee trying to prove it to be so.
So, my question remains, so what? What is the absolute worst thing that can happen? Is it that 7 billion marching towards infinity will be struck down in their prime? What if we did manage it better, would there be only 7 million? Would that be the right number? Should the magic number, what ever it might be, all sit around and eat bananas and meditate on their navels?
Remember, in the Asteroid example half the species on the planet were completely wiped out. But, the next phase brought us to where we are to day. So, if we were to wipe out ½ the species and kill off all the people, who is to say that the next iteration won’t be even better?
How about connecting the dots between your metaphysical new age sensitive side, and your deep, dark, gloomy side? If you could be Bruce almighty, what you would make happen? What would you have us all do?
I am very curious.
M
Consider if I were a psychotherapist and worked with mentally distressed people all day. And, of those, I only managed to really reach and help perhaps 20% and all the rest were beyond my ability to help.
Should I go home depressed each evening because my work day was full of other people’s mental anguish?
Should I go home each evening, depressed, because I was only able to help 20% of the people I worked with?
Or should I go home each evening happy that I had done my work well and that the world was a slightly better place because of it?
Some people believe that working to make the world a better place needs no justification.
Some people, like the Buddhists and the Hindus, believe that you should do the very best you can in all things but that you should keep a clear division between your actions and the fruits of your actions. What you do is your contribution. How it all turns out is not under your control.
You once asked me if it was insane that a person might keep doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a better result. I thought it was a brilliant insight.
Let me ask you: If a person does something to the best of their ability and it still turns out to be a failure, should they feel bad about it? I would say not. To feel bad at that point would also be a bit insane.
Trying to make the world a better place is good in and of itself and needs no justification. Being aware of the difference between your actions and the fruit of your actions frees you from torment over how it all turns out.
I can think about how crazy the world is all day and when I go home at night, a woman’s smile, a sunset or a good book can still give me deep joy.
Why would I want to put on hair shirt and beat myself with a stick because the world’s insane?
Ok, the hair shirt’s in your court now.
Dennis,
That was splendid, but it really did not answer the test question. I think anyone with half a brain knows the situation. But the question remains, what to do about it? So, let’s examine your psychotherapist example. Here you had some kind of medicine that cured 20%. The important point is cured. On your web-site, you are posting example after example of the obvious, people are insane (in reality irrational because their actions are in effect their undoing, but they continue to act that way anyway). In effect, you are telling the patients they are nuts, but you are not offering the cure. It’s interesting to be a sniper, but what about becoming a healer?
So, I will ask again: If you could be Bruce almighty, what you would make happen? What would you have us all do?
By the way, I am not sure what a hair shirt is so I think I will pass on it.
M,
The hair shirt:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07113b.htm
As to your greater question – I wish I knew. The great irony is that I know a solution is possible. And the great poignancy is that knowing that, we still have to watch the world slowly destroy itself.
We have gotten a long way down the wrong road now. If I were appointed dictator of the world then, in order to put things on the right road, quite a few draconian things would have to happen.
I’ll pass over the details but at the end of the day, after that chaos, we would have a population of maybe a billion people and human culture would no longer be about consumption, profit and growth but rather it would be about how to maximize the quality of life for everyone while maintaining a constant and limited footprint on the earth. We would be in a sustainable steady-state balance with the biosphere.
In that situation, we humans would be able to live here on the Earth indefinitely without our presence closing out the possibility of further evolution among the other species with whom we share the planet.
And this would not preclude us from having comfortable and high-tech lives but it would preclude us from expanding our populations and impacts on the world beyond a fixed point. These are not incompatible goals.
It would give us tens of thousands of years of time to see what’s next for an intelligent species such as ourselves who have managed to survive their technological adolescence without destroying their cradle planet.
In truth, because of the concept of the Singularity, we cannot know what our future selves might think important past a certain point in time. So, all we can do is prepare things now so that we’ll still be here then to have those thoughts and let those future folks work it out for themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity
Pie in the sky, yes?
Probably so because the human race is too fractious to ever allow such a beneficent dictatorship. Even if the dictatorship’s aims were in humanity’s best interests.
But, even so, I think the best we can hope for is that someone will take over by force who has the wisdom in the long run to try to save us from ourselves.
The other alternative is that we will do it ourselves en masse. And I hold out extremely little hope for that possibility. For every person I see who would make a good citizen in that future world, I see 99 who would not. And we, inevitably, will go where the majority of us go – unless, of course, a benevolent dictator comes along.
So, why do I play ‘sniper’ rather than ‘healer’ as you say? I snipe to make people aware that there is great healing necessary.
It’s a matter of leverage. I could work in a soup kitchen and I would accomplish some good, no doubt. But, if I stood back a bit and tried to organize nationwide soup kitchens, then the same amount of effort on my part would be leveraged into a much bigger result.
I don’t believe that I personally have any chance of changing the world by direct action. But by writing, I may change a number of minds about the need for change. And each of those may change more minds as well. And, if we were very lucky indeed, one of those so changed might someday find him or herself in a place with great leverage – a bully pulpit, if you will.
I see this as my best leverage. And I know that if I do nothing, then for certain nothing will happen because of me. I also know that if I act, then something (even though very improbable) may happen as a result of my actions. I know that something, no matter how small or improbable, is preferable to doing nothing and thus being certain of accomplishing nothing.
And again, I separate my Blogging about all of this from my emotional life. I don’t intend to become obsessed and gloomy about all of this. I will do the best I can writing and Blogging here. And then when I’m done for the day, I’m going to enjoy my life and friends and the beauty that still remains around me.