I recently re-read Lester Brown’s World on the Edge book and it was a hard-hitting reminder like this article was about the magnitude of the environmental crises that we must solve. It also reminded me that common folks like you and me are already winning some battles, like the grass-roots movement that has almost placed a de-facto moratorium on coal-fired power plants in the US.
We all know that the elites are going to do everything in their power to keep business as usual going, but we are not powerless. Everyone eats, and yet not everyone knows or fully appreciates how profoundly consequential our food choices are for the environment (as well as for our health and for the lives of the unlucky animals that feed us). Animal agriculture is a big contributor to deforestation, loss of biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, unsustainable and wasteful water use, land degradation, you name it.
You don’t need permission from the powers that be to change your diet. You don’t need to convince the elites’ army of lobbyists of anything in order to dramatically reduce the impact on the environment that your food choices have. If you stop or reduce your purchases of animal products, changes in their production probably work their way up the supply chain in months.
I posted material I strongly recommend regarding this topic in this recent forum post. If you think we need animal products, you probably haven’t read enough yet of the right sources.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/21/giving-up-beef-reduce-carbon-footprint-more-than-cars
“The biggest intervention people could make towards reducing their carbon footprints would not be to abandon cars, but to eat significantly less red meat,”
Professor Tim Benton
University of Leeds
… that want to be eaten and can tell you so, but you really don’t want to go there.
Douglas Adams was already there.
http://remotestorage.blogspot.com/2010/07/douglas-adamss-cow-that-wants-…
(and no, this isn’t D.Adams’ work… but it’s close)
Good find on the CAFO’s, eat more chicken!
However, Chris I think for you and Adma to walk the walk you should swear off the use of air travel and cruises; consider broadcasting your conferences in Rowe so others can do the same.
“How many want change?” How many will change?"
I find it funny that anyone would suggest anything “crypto” after articles here and elsewhere that divulge what huge enery drain they are.
And you don’t need to stop eating beef, you need to stop eating big Ag beef. A grazing animal is a benefit to ecology, not a detriment.
The point I was trying to make is that the system obviously doesn’t work, and will soon implode, leaving the chainsaws and bulldozers silent. So you don’t have to waste any energy on how to defeat them.
Then without telecommunications, local people will meet up in small groups, and try and nut out what to do next. This is where it could all go right or wrong, so we need to spend some time thinking about what kind of plan of action would gain acceptance in the new circumstances. Should you recommend trying to reinvent BAU all over again? Or something new, fairer and kinder to all living things.
The article was very moving, but was trying to solve the wrong problem, and he doesn’t have an answer for how to start a mass movement anyway, (and nor do I). Post-WW3, if you are still alive, the problem will change entirely and be ripe for a completely different solution.
I agree with everything Chris is saying but I don’t really get what I will do as a part of the movement. I understand that we need to change from a growth economy but what does that mean? How does it actually work?
My understanding is that we need to make more money next year to pay off the interest from last year. That mean we need to make more stuff, spent more money, CONSUME MORE.
It looks to me like money is the problem. That is a very difficult concept for anyone to grasp. There are so many people who are trying to save the world by spending more money.
It’s really hard to get that spending money is consumption and consumption is the problem, whether it’s for buying oil or wind turbines or electric cars or gasoline cars. If you can get that money is the problem then you have to say having and making less money is good.
The poorer (and poor I mean without money) a person is the less they consume and the less inpact they have on the ecosystems of the world.
No one is willing to go there. More money is always better even if you are trying to save the world. We need more money to save the world even if too much money is what is killing the world.
Show me one person who is willing to decide they need less money. I certainly don’t want to be the first person to give up all my money to save the world. I struggle with the idea that I don’t need to make anymore money even though I have everything I could possibly need.
And that is why humans are not going to stop growth willingly.
Some great points raised. Wrapped up in the “horror of death” is indeed the realisation that a certain amount of life has been wasted or left incomplete. It’s common to see people “wake up” in the face of terminal disease with a renewed desire to “live”. This reinforces the idea that people have a natural inhibition to fully appreciate the negative aspects of reality. In other words they automatically refuse to see misery and instead latch onto hope. It seems that taking life for granted is pretty normal. Put simply it’s the “happiness instinct” and like all instincts, it is difficult for cognitive cerebral processes to mitigate.
Our cultture labels the few people who can face reality (like CM , the crew and some readers of PP) pessimists or alarmists. Society summarily rejects them while chanting “don’t worry, be happy” as if aspiring to blissful ignorance or religious euphoria is the path to success.
So it’s not surprising the majority of poeple, endlessly hoping for their fairytale happy ending, suddenly realise upon their death beds that there is no such bliss. The horror of that realisation must be terrible.
As for the future 20+ years hence; don’t forget the effects of the population story… Fortunately (for the planet) human life expectancy is decreasing. So while population will reach some ridiculously suffocating size, how long we each live will increasingly decline in the face of environmental contamination, plastic pollution or the effects of globla warming.
A corporatist plastic-wrapped sugar-gluten-and-starch food industry will continue to make the human race obese, rheumatic and/or diabetic. The medical industry will collpase under the pressue to treat it and expectancy will decline by another decade thanks to a statistical rise in cancer and autoimmune diseases.
The lack of money in that future also means fewer people achieve their dreams and die horribly, without the relief of paliative care that their grandparents took for granted, wondering why the Hollywood fairytale they were indoctrinated with from birth never came true.
On a positive note however, if an elightened human race survives that, the future might look something like the world in the book “The Synth”
An outstanding and very moving call to action.
I have never started a movement but have spent quite a bit of time listening to activists and people who have started movements. Some thoughts:
I wouldn’t underestimate the power of charismatic leaders. It can be a very good thing and Chris and Adam are very appealing and respectable.
I think getting the word out means telling people the truth. In a way that they can hear it. There is no point arguing with a delusion one needs to get across another way.
As Chris points out there is a growing awareness. The strategy needs to be thought out well and then people need a (sorry to say) SIMPLE plan of action. Planting trees is an outstanding example. There is a lot on the web and on this site about forming a movement which I won’t repeat here but it seems that people need the action plan now that awareness is growing.
It is the Kali Yuga.
The mistake is in believing we are amterial beings having a spiritual experience when in reality we are spiritual beings having a material experience
I’ve been a reader of PeakProsperity from before it was even called so (the old ChrisMartenson.com) but it took me a long time to see the point of prepping. A year ago the prepping bug bit me and I realized that I had no backup should the economy cease to function for a while. I covered many of the basics of emergency preparedness (water, food, some USB solar power generation, etc.), some still ongoing.
I recently realized that there’s a problem if you’re not careful with prepping: There is no natural stopping point. It’s almost impossible to get to a point where you say, “there’s nothing more that I could buy or do now that would not be useful under some hypothetical scenario that I can think of.” Or to be precise, there is only one natural stopping point: death – when you’re dead, you don’t need any more resilience, for sure. While you’re still alive and able, you can always use some more resilience. The hard part is defining what’s cost-effective and when to stop.
This has been something that I’ve struggled with, dealing with the anxiety of knowing that I depend on a functioning economy, at least in the medium term.
One example: I’m stocking up on water filters, but it takes months because I don’t live in the US, so I need to arrange for people who travel to the US to get me the filters that I want. I’ve had some anxiety about this for a while, until it struck me that the anxiety is of my own creation. I’m never going to extinguish risk from my life. What’s going to happen is that at some point I’ll say “my preparations are enough. I’ll deal with whatever comes with what I have, and I don’t care about scenarios for which these preps are insufficient.” And then I’ll be at ease, not because risk had vanished, but because my emotions won’t care about the remaining risks. We do this all the time with the myriad risks involved in daily life, but I don’t tend to be conscious of the process.
We are utterly dependent on a functioning economy not just for the basics of life but also for the comforts we’ve become accustomed to. So the idea that the economy may collapse, and particularly the idea that the collapse may be sudden and permanent, it’s very scary.
Why is this relevant at all? This site has a focus on building resilience, but building resilience is mostly about how to insulate yourself, your family, and maybe your community from collapse. As I said, there’s no natural end to the need for more resilience. Of course, depending on how likely, imminent, severe and long-lasting you think such collapse may be, the more resilience makes sense that you build. But if you’re not careful, you can spend too much of your time and your money building this insulation and neglect opportunities to contribute to efforts to change the unsustainable the course of humanity.
Homesteading might have many advantages for those so inclined, but one thing it probably won’t do is solve the world’s problems. It’s a respectable life choice, one that may be fine for others, but I want to contribute my surplus time and money to working on global problems, not on figuring out in advance how to have a good standard of living if permanent economic collapse happens fast and severely enough. And for this, I need to continue being dependent in part on fossil fuels, agriculture, a functioning economy, etc.
I’m not saying resilience is pointless. I’m building resilience myself, and I’m not done yet. I get it that some stored food is better than nothing, some physical cash is better than nothing, etc.
Norman Borlaug is often called “the father of the Green Revolution”, and is credited with saving over a billion people worldwide from starvation. I can’t help think what the world may look like today if Borlaug instead of working on crop yields starting in the 1940s, had given up his career as a scientist and moved to a rural location to start his homestead and learn all the skills of a self-reliant lifestyle, maybe because he was anticipating a mass starvation and economic collapse. I’m not saying that any one of us will be the next Norman Borlaug, but it does give me food for thought.
As I mentioned earlier, I recently re-read Lester Brown’s World on the Edge, and it reminded me that it is possible to avert ecological collapse and progress is being made on some fronts. What we need to do is move faster changing key policies of governments around the world. No easy task.
But sadly, we won’t. Cite one reason to believe humanity will address, in a timely and successful manner: 1) overpopulation 2) increasing greenhouse gasses (also known as Climate Change). Even if it is actually possible to solve these and other messes we’ve caused, why would anyone think people around the globe will come together w the co-operation and sacrifice necessary?
We’re so far behind the curve on the big problems, i.e. the issues threatening our survival, that running out of time is pretty much assured. Essays like “Facing the Future” were needed 30-40 yrs ago, but would we have taken them seriously?
Optimism, no matter how unfounded, is valued and admired while pessimism, no matter how reality based, is derided and to be avoided. So this is one of the few audiences I would bother to say any of this to, as you are well informed and realistic. Unlike most, who just can’t handle the truth.
Chris, this is in no way a criticizm of you or your essay. All the info you’ve put out over the years has played a major role in my thinking. Maybe if I were in a position of influence like you, I’d feel a responsiblity to temper such doomsday pessimism. If the masses become convinced the fat lady has sung, things could get ugly. Our descent into a horrible future would only accelerate if everyone gave up.
I think it’s delusional to believe we can and will avoid ecological collapse. But while a horrible future is unavoidable, we can still slow down the pace of destruction and buy a little time. That is plenty of motivation to live as low impact a life as possible, and get others to do the same.
Unfortunately there is no way change is going to happen in time & with enough momentum to make a difference. The World had a big wake up call when Oil prices soared past $100/bbl. We had a taste of times to come: Lots of very angry people that lead to huge riots worldwide, and some gov’ts were even overthrow (ie North Africa nations). We also saw the beginnings of pandemics (SARs, bird flu, etc) Yet, nothing was done. All of the articles warning about declining resoureces practically disappeared once Oil prices fell. $100/bbl returnng is not in the distant future (excluding some long term global recessiondepression).
WWSD (What Would Spock do?) Since its illogical to believe the world can change and swtich to a less resource dependent global economy before the next crisis hits, the only pratical thing is to distance yourself and switch to a self-reliance lifestyle. If you ever board an aircraft, the flight attendant during the safety briefing will instruct passengers to put on their own oxygen mask before putting the masks on their children, so they won’t go unconscious and be unable to assist there children. Before you can help others you must first save yourself.
Whoa, heavy. Especially that video LesPhelps postd of the orangutan.
Please, do not use products that contain palm oil: this consumer demand is what drives the destruction of the rain forest habitat in SE Asia. Read labels.
I needed something uplifting after that, and checked out my favorite podcast series. 99percentinvisible. org. The newest podcast was about the seed vault in Norway and the fascinating history of seed saving as told through the story of Nicholay Vavilov.
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-vault/
I wish every business/marketing major in college now, was studying botany and permaculture instead.
And no disrespect to Adam and Chris, who have done a fantastic job keeping this website full of interesting content, but two middle aged white men is a demographic well represented in the sustainability world, as well as the BAU world. It feels like we need some different voices than the usual suspects.
Maybe more ties to younger, female, ethnically diverse communities? I know climate change/sustainability activism is alive and well in those tribes.
Just my two cents,
Claire
Chris, good article but I have several problems with the premise. The first being the definitive conclusion that the earth is dying and the end is nigh. The reality is NOBODY KNOWS what will happen or how the future will unfold. The nature of nature is constant, ceaseless change and flux. To even propose that the change we are headed for is “good” or “bad” is incredibly arrogant. We have no idea what is happening and no ability to determine that whatever IS happening is either good or bad.
When did man grow independent of nature, gain the ability observe it from a high place, and judge the universe to be headed in the “wrong” direction? You observing the universe is like a chimp observing a ferrari. You dont even know what you are looking at. Man is nothing more than a manifestation of the universe and nature itself. We have appeared, we will act out our natures, and we will disappear. The universe will take apart our particals and reshape them into something else. The time of our total existence as human beings will be like a fraction of a second in a man’s lifeime. What are you? You are a collection of tiny particals of matter shaped as a man. Matter can neither be created nor destroyed.What animates that matter? Some form of energy, which also cannot be created or destroyed. So, everything you are, matter and energy, has always been here and always will be. The universe has shaped you in this form for now, and it will break you apart and reshape you again and again. Being as thats what you are, just another manifestation of the “stuff” of an endless universe, what you do will be what the universe does. You are it. So you and I and all of us [ the trees, the rocks, the ants, the birds ] are going to do as we do. If our nature is to reform, go green, and make the planet one way then we will. If our nature is to destroy ourselves then we will, and the earth will adapt, heal, and go on. Our entire purpose might be to make plastic that some fungus will consume in a million years. And that fungus will be you.
Now, using the analogy of death is very apt here. People fear death and regret not living life fully. But what does that mean? Certainly it must mean accepting death as being inevitable as soon as possible, not living your life trying to prevent it? But isnt that what you are doing here? You lament the changing world and seek to halt it instead of accepting and living with the reality that things will change, nature will take it’s [ our ] course. Fear of death and fear of change, sorrow for what was, unappreciation for what is, and angst over what will be. This is a recipe for not living.
I once heard Rush Limbaugh make similar claims with regards to Climate Change. He said how arrogant of man to actually think they can have an effect on the weather or planet, that they have the ability to play god and change this if they so wish. Well, for one, Geoengineering has proven that you can alter the weather.
We also appear to have the ability to alter the balance of nature by decimating our wildlife. In parts of Africa, poachers are now targeting Lions for their teeth and claws because Tigers are now rare. And as Chris showed other species are in the crosshairs as well. I believe the White Rhino can now be classified as extinct as supposedly there are 3 left in the world.
If you look at the oceans and the amount of garbage being dumped into them you can’t with a straight face say to any of us that it’s a good thing when we have ocean dead zones around the world and the Great Barrier Reef is being threatened once again. Fish population is being stressed as well from ocean pollution and over fishing. We have close to 8 billion humans on the planet and many are dying from starvation and malnurishment. Now some of that is do to geopolitics but a lot of that is do to droughts and or flooding. For those parts of the world, Climate Change is real.
To me it appears the arroganced is flip flopped where we as a species think we can do whatever we want and the planet will not feel any effects or will just bounce back in time. I think science has the data to backup their theory that the planet is being stressed by arrogant humans who think business as usual has no effect on the planet so let’s party like it’s 1999.