Life as Masterpiece

A comment in response to:
Economy of Poetics – A Sketch

Art is the forming and shaping of incoherence into something that is recognizable - in emotions elicited from memories, in associations drawn from patterns in our lives. Can we reshape this fractious world into a rediscovered ecological aesthetic that will manage to include the beer guzzling fans of violent games and nature raping machismo mating calls? What could possibly tear such eyes away from the pseudo-community of commercial patriotism, from the corporate mindset of winning at all costs - including the bankrupting of their descendants futures?  Perhaps by letting them into the bigger game, the wholeness of life itself... perhaps. But judging by my personal encounters with that all but unanimous horde, I'd bet that we'll likelier see the darkness of apocalypse than such a dawn. Only because of some fluke will any of them be reading any of this.

Threading the Needle

My response to another article on Culture Change:
Arab World's Turmoil May Spell Sudden Petrocollapse
found at: http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/702/1/

As I try to imagine how people will react to the collapse of civilization, to famine and epidemic, to the unavailability of drinking water (technical pump and energy format), to extreme cold and heat, to the loss of transportation and communication, to hopelessness and desperation... and fear... I wonder if there is any way we can avoid adding brutality to this misery. Some experiences of famine have resulted in weakness, in passivity - which conserved what little vitality there was, rather than in aggression and fighting. However, long before people reach such stages of acceptance and optimization, in situations where catastrophe looms yet 'defensive capacity' is still an option -- the horrible capabilities of humanity have emerged. Ultimately, if our species avoids premature extinction, population will fall to sustainable proportions. The question of how we'll get there... as kindly and gently as possible -- or after passing through the worst hell we can construct, haunts my imagination and fills it with anxiety. In these circumstances the emotion of fear is evidence based, and if we don't harness it to rationality and use it to motivate a quest for the softest landing we can obtain, it will darken our nightmare. But I know which strains my imagination more -- the easy to picture apocalypse, versus the difficulty of threading the needle to an eventual heaven on Earth.

Willful Decisions or Frivolous Whims?

These are comments I posted to the article on Culture Change:
 The “Stuff” of the American Energy Footprint
Found at: http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/689/1/

In my experience, while unfortunate, it seems true that most human beings are incapable of making intelligent conscious willful decisions based upon comprehension of facts. Habits, culture, tradition, comfort, convenience, emotions and frivolous whims always seem to weigh far more heavily on decision making than factual knowledge. It depresses me greatly that this seems to be the case. It seems that in all probability we will simply continue on our present course until factors external to our personal control start to limit our choices. Shock and anger, impossible demands, and ultimately -- conflict and war -- are predictable. Wars that will literally physically destroy the remaining functionality of civilization... which will eliminate most of the demand for material resources and energy (if there are any survivors at all).

I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that WAR will be our 'solution' which will 'solve' the problems of Peak Everything. What a horror. We should rename ourselves Homo ignoramus (literally: we have no knowledge), to at least get one fact straight.

How to make the Bulls on Wall Street Happy

One of the generally agreed upon, but rarely discussed and usually ignored aspects of reality... is that the Earth has not been  growing all that much larger lately. A lonely meteorite smashes in once in a while, that's about it. Yet we pray to invoke 'growth' as the salvation of civilization. It would indeed be a miracle if the Earth suddenly started growing significantly larger. New continents just popping up everywhere. New and improved oceans. Plenty of big new oil field discoveries, bigger than Saudi Arabia, daily.  Brand new phosphate mines. An ever expanding cornucopia of fresh fertile soils. Sparkling clean air.  Free xtra sized drinking water supplies. And, of course, increasingly larger dumps for all our crap, but NIMBY. It would probably make the Bulls on Wall Street very happy.

comfortably numb

This is a comment I left at Jan Lundberg's site: Culture Change in response to his article:
"Celebrate the Stampede or Step out of It? " 

Celebrate... Hmmm... We are on an irreversible slide that will take us through the house of horrors -- the valley of the death of billions. No happy ending, no way to wake up from this nightmare. Most are still absolutely unaware. Perhaps there is less counter-productive panic that way. If there's nothing anyone can do about Anthropomorphically Induced Catastrophic Climate Change and Peak Everything any more... If it is just -politically impossible- to alter our course, maybe we should just wallow in ignorant bliss, in the fast-lane, of course. AC and Stereo on, blasting down the road, feverishly texting. Maybe we should celebrate all this death and destruction with a co-linear global self mutilation and sadomasochistic festival... Ah... right, we're doing that St. Vitus's dance already, to the tune of the big band march. But some pain is seeping through the cracks, a few folks are feeling it, and even talking about it. Apparently we're just not delirious enough yet. Hmmm, well, it looks like we're going to need much stronger drugs to be able to completely ignore this emerging catastrophe. With the right (positive) mental attitude, we'll be able to totally immerse ourselves in the experience, without feeling or thinking at all. Then everything will be simply delicious fluff... no content... just pure taste -- sweet as cotton candy but without the nutrition. Hey -- we'll be able to celebrate being 'comfortably numb', perhaps forever.

Read between the lines, maybe you'll hear a low growl. The closest I can get to celebration is growling along with the tune. OK, I'm a bit flat, but what do you expect under this load?

On the Pain of Compassion

It hurts so much to care... to think about the suffering of others and all the sufferings to come due to environmental damage, and shortages of energy and materials...  to know that human beings have overpopulated this Earth, and that nature will balance things, one way or the other, in her own harsh ways. It hurts so much to know and care.

That pain seems like a good argument against caring. To just "forget about it" and save myself from the anguish by turning away. Perhaps I could find sufficient distractions. It's true that I'd  have to integrate my frustration and powerlessness and numbly accept those conditions as what I am.  But theoretically I'd be free of all the concerns and worries, at least over everyone else... But is there any way that I could also drop my concerns for myself? Especially if my whole reason for eliminating compassion towards others is an attempt to obtain aloof composure?  No, clearly I'd be in a self-centered mode, and therefor I could not drop my concerns over my own future and the suffering I'll personally encounter as a result of Peak Oil, and Catastrophic Climate Change.

So I'd still be anxious and depressed. And now also isolated. Alone in my own selfish concerns, and I couldn't honestly expect anyone else to care about me.

If my original motivation is to reduce my own suffering -- then the only path to that goal is to maintain my compassion for others. We're all in this together.   It hurts so much to care - yes, the suffering has begun, it cannot be eliminated, and the only way to reduce it is to face it.

American Boat People

Judging by the general consensus that Cuba is the most sustainable nation on the planet today, and the U.S. being somewhere near the bottom of that list... Will we see millions of American Boat People - Peak Oil Escapees - seeking to enter Cuba as an emerald refuge in the Caribbean? Naturally a mass migration-invasion of that sort would destroy the civility and sustainability of Cuba. U.S. citizens would be better advised to copy the Cuban efforts... if only there was enough time and determination. But with declining oil supplies predicted to hit hard in just 3 to 10 years, it seems likely that a burgeoning flotilla of Nouveau-Poor American Boat People is an all but certain future phenomenon. The New Pirates of the Caribbean could well be Ex-Suburbanite CEOs attempting to navigate their yachts. And they get really pissed when they run out of Grey Poupon Mustard.