The below referenced article makes a point worth facing. It is focused on the US but it applies to the whole world. The world is heading for decline. This is fully evident in the numbers and the science. Techno optimist talk about renewables and EV’s as if they will save us. The numbers and science appear to point to these technologies only being stop gaps and niche applications. The global financial system has grown to such a powerful force that generates capital and economic activity. This force is now spent. It may have years left but the real force of opening up the world to competitive advantage, economies of scale, and large stores of global capital are over. We are now seeing excessive debt, trade problems, and massive unfunded liabilities. These unfunded liabilities are not only in the developed world. These false promises are for the masses in the undeveloped world urged on to a better life through consumerism and growth.
It is clear the system we have become habituated to for decades is heading for a stall. How bad will this inflection be? Will this break point be sudden or multiyear? It will likely be all of the above and spread out over the entire globe but as a whole the process will be general decline. There will be pockets of real growth with sustainable value but the aggregate will be decline which will take everyone down in the long term. Decline means a whole new paradigm. It means dysfunctional networks, economic abandonment, and irrational policy. It means decay that will include some of what science calls chaos and turbulence. These phenomena cannot be modeled well. There is no exact formula for turbulence. We are enamored with techno grandiosity. We think AI will save us. We believe we have an energy transition ready. We discount and dismiss the planetary problems with the web of life and all the cycles that make the planet habitable. We discount and dismiss destructive decline because we believe technology will solve the many problems. The time value of the present habituates us because the lights still go on, gas at the pumps, and food at the store.
We can only talk and plan for the future abstractly. We are looking out 20 to 50 years with theory and this theory is compromised and corrupted by human delusions. It is clear economic affluence and population growth are likely not sustainable at least in regards to positive growth impulses that yield real value. We can grow cancerously with malinvestment and overpopulation and call that growth but it is not actual growth in the sense of being of value for long term betterment. All this growth represents is the blowout of a system that is coming apart in an uncontrolled way. Whether this means a cascading collapse or a long decline is uncertain. This system is self-organizing and beyond a coordinated management. The nature components of our human ecosystem appear to be tipped into a new regime of change. The many vital planetary support systems now appear to be in abrupt change. This change is converging with negative reinforcement and self-organizing meaning it is beyond human management. Different cycles and systems are forcing each other towards destructive change of a complex system. Succession is a powerful force in this situation where every aspect of the planetary system is in flux. This is especially true when you have a species such as ours that is very sensitive to the smallest of changes both economically and environmentally.
Our monocultures and industrial and financial systems do not take destructive change well. They can handle short term change but a longer-term general decline is likely a different story. This means food, water, and energy issues at a time when we are already in overshoot. This then should be a warning to all that it is at least a good chance a time of drastic regime change is ahead. We can’t know for sure but the possibility is strong. Strong means proactive effort to address what could be ahead. The problem is human behavior and the immediacy of life. We as the collective are not up to the task of changing. We are trapped in a situation beyond our collective control for many reasons but most of all the simple math of overshoot is staring us in the face. For some reason we feel exceptional and above the extinction event the rest of the planet is going through. This is going to bite us in the ass soon.
REAL Green Deep Adaptation is a call to action for the individual and small communities. You can face this trap and adapt in a relative way. The REAL part is acknowledgment of no escape. The Green part is using the best of the old and new to downsize with dignity and in a way that lowers your foot print. This footprint reduction is for better sustainability that will help mitigate the worst of what is coming. This downsizing also has a moral aspect for those who care. Some people deeply care about the planet. The Adaptation part focuses on going local and low speed. This should occur in a relative way in concordance with the status quo. You can’t leave the destructive status quo but you can harness the best of it to carve out a little bit safer local. Many people can’t do much but everyone can face the numbers and the science honestly. This acknowledgment can at least temper the bad behavior all people have today by being part of the status quo that allows so many negative activities to flourish because of economic and social reasons. Facing the writing on the wall can be achieved by everyone and this can change behavior towards better preparedness.
REAL Green Deep Adaptation is for those awakened to the science and math and capable of understanding the consequences. It is also for those who can do something. Many people can’t do anything for multiple reasons. Some are too old, young, mentally inhibited, and uneducated. Only a small amount of people will be capable of significant change but all people can begin the stages of mental acknowledgment of decay and decline. This means a social narrative paradigm change could happen to all. A social narrative realignment with planetary realities will happen so beat the rush. Those who have the mentality to digest this and the resources to change can take REAL Green to a different level. Those who can should change for themselves and their significant others but also the planet. This is about localization which in todays world is about downsizing. Downsizing if done properly makes the individual leaner and stronger. It must be done properly because the status quo of social norms and economic realities does not tolerate deviation from the plan society has established. There is the element of competition within the status quo that will squash you if you do not respect the rules established.
This means going REAL Green is about relative change with triage and hybridization. Clean out the dead wood per what is best for your local. Embrace some of what was once done when life was tougher and less affluent. Take the best of what is being produced now and the knowledge that modern life offers and combine it with the slower less complicated ways of the past. Do this in a relative way based upon your position in the status quo. Radical change is a trump card you save until needed. Until the day arrives where cascading collapse is self-evident then the call to action is a dance with the status quo. This means being vigilant to current events but not absorbed and coopted. Use the status quo tot leave it. This may not be True Green but only an even smaller amount of people can successfully go True Green. Most people that embrace green are not awakened. They think they are green and their actions will save themselves and the planet but these are really just Fake Green. Fake Green is doing the same thing but with a Green façade.
REAL Green calls on the individual to multitask with the status quo and Deep Adaptation. It is about life boats but also hospices. It is the preparation of pain and suffering and the realization that those close to you and your local environment is going to be torn apart. Hopefully you will be a lucky one and the degree and duration of this destructive process will be manageable. This is where REAL Green Deep Adaptation is so important. You will have prepared yourself mentally and physically for destructive change. You will have done this under the radar screen because you are still apart of the status quo. You will have downsized with dignity and actually added value to your life with meaning. The truth is the ultimate driving force of the awakened. REAL Green Deep Adaptation is about getting closer to the truth. In doing so the planet will fight for you because you will harness the flow of what powers life. What is powering life now is dramatic and abrupt succession of the planet and all its ecosystems. Embrace that instead of fighting it. The current human narrative is dualistic and in separation. Our isolated egos are being herded into a bad situation. Break out of the trap if you can and if you can’t at least muster awareness. We are all going to die but some will die without dignity and prematurely. Even REAL Green people will die this way but they will have gone through the stages of grief that offers truth and with truth there is dignity.
“We Will Have To Reboot Our Standard Of Living To Survive As A Nation”
https://tinyurl.com/y6qusmw9 project Chesapeake via zero hedge
“If we want to continue having a country worth living in we need to go back to what we know works and try to build up from there. We no longer have sufficient manufacturing capacity to employ all of the people in this country and any kind of welfare will not work without debasing the currency. This will necessitate 20% of the population going back to living on small farms to insure they have a job and sufficient resources to care for their families. Nothing else in our current situation will work. We have too many unemployed people living off of the state and this will end soon. We will either have a mass exodus from the country or a mass extinction within it. As unpleasant as it sounds that is our future if we do not make substantial changes while we still have time. That time is nearly up. Downsizing our lives and our wants will be a necessary change if we want to salvage something of our future. We have lived too long in fantasy land and now we must come back to reality. The west line has moved and we will never get back all of the production jobs we once had. We must accept that and accept that our country will be less productive and less prosperous in the future and learn to live within our means.”
REAL Green Adaptation 