Post-peak pessimism: Looking for new tools

…”If you believe that the future is just more of the same, a long highway climbing, uninterrupted, all the way to the horizon, then you are right; you’d better have a good job, health insurance, a 401k plan, and a college fund for the kids. You’d better know how to navigate corporate politics, the stock market, and the shark-infested waters of the IRS.

“But if you consider for a moment that the future is not more of the same, but is radically different from anything you’ve ever known, then you are going to need different tools and different skills to meet it. You might need to know how to live on much less, grow your own food, and overcome a hundred crippling consumerist addictions. You might need to learn a whole new way of thinking. The trouble you’re in is not a bad place to start.”

That was it. No thunder, no lightning. Just a little something for me to think about. I’ve been thinking about it ever since. I started looking at the world without my “the-future-is-today-only-moreso” bias and quickly realized the storm clouds were already gathering on the horizon, for all to see: peak oil, climate change, water shortage, terrifying vulnerability to technology, industrial agriculture, and a dizzying host of toxic waste products in our water and food supply. And that was just the short list. Our way of life was obviously not sustainable. Why hadn’t I seen it sooner?

Well, now I saw it. I was convinced the Great Spirit had tipped his hand to me that night and given me a peek at what was coming.

So Long, Hydrocarbon Man