When a Tsunami of Truth Rises out of 'Peak Everything'

[In her own Voice]

...it will wash over a populace in panic!

How may we even begin to prepare for the panic that will occur when
mainstream awareness of our most likely future scenarios begins to
dawn? On that day, I want to have something in place! I refer you to
my previous post: "Peak (Everything?) Stress Syndrome", and Peak Oil
Blues (written by my new netroots colleague, the peak oil shrink),
which will give you some background for making sense of this continued
effort I'm making here, today. My intention is to bring more awareness
and direction to these pressing needs by repeatedly giving voice to
this topic in my writings.

My dream vision would be to set up a niche, a sanctuary for all of us
who are having "peak everything stress syndrome". There are many folks
out there suffering situational depression--symptoms of PTSD because
of the "early" knowledge we have about the global crisis we are
facing. By "early" knowledge, I mean we are advanced thinkers, we see
ahead of the mainstream consciousness, and realize what the future
will require of us. We reel from the shock and when we get on our feet
and start speaking out and calling our mates, companions, and fellow
humans to action, we are scorned and repudiated and stripped of our
credibility. As we persist in disseminating our message--the "news" we
have (that is bad news no-one wants to hear), we are proclaimed to be
"doomers" and exiled from our close social connections. The more we
speak out about the "inconvenient truth" which now has piles and piles
of hard evidence to support it, the more the conspiracy of silence
builds the walls of denial stronger. (The monkey covers his eyes, his
ears, his mouth--don't see, don't ask, don't tell!)

This is a form of killing the messenger--making him believe he is the
crazy one. Then the messenger becomes swamped in his own anger,
depression, self pity, and desire to retaliate. This only deactivates
him and sabotages his ability to accomplish the original goal. That
goal is to warn: to call his colleagues into action, plan a strategy,
prevent the worst case scenario, provide safety in the storm to come.
I think this is what many have been going through--and I have been
through it myself. But it's time to snap out of it, regroup our
energies, and direct them in a productive and self-regenerating way,
one that is sustainable and has no hidden agendas.

What I have thought about doing locally (here in Houston), is to
enjoin a group of people, including our mayor's department of
sustainability, to consider supporting a foundational fund and effort
for building an eco-center which would contain information, classes,
not only on sustainability, but on mental health and the emotional
mastery of change. (Mayor Bill White, a friend of green construction
and a candidate for the 2006 World Mayor Award, was an attendee and
supporter at the recent Peak Oil Conference in Houston.)

Maybe the establishment of this effort could best be explained if
placed in coordination with a "heritage days" celebration, so as not
to scare people or incite resistance. Classes such as cooking, food
preserving, spinning, weaving, mechanics, and gardening with hand
tools could be offered--classes in which skills in living primitively
on the land, living locally, could be taught. Perhaps the reasoning
could be presented as how "our heritage from the past can meet the
needs of our future".

This eco-center could be a central source, an enclave, for storing
information and local resources on providers of green design
(architects savvy on LEEDS standards), on green builders, and on
suppliers of green technology. Maybe the center itself could be a zero-
energy design (one that supplies its own energy through wind and solar
means, reusing water, etc.) It could be, in itself, a model for
community use. This center could contain a database of current
information on renewable energy technology and information about
climate change and peak oil future scenarios. Films and videos could
be made describing these conditions and possible outcomes.

This beginning would lay the foundation for the mental health support
that will be needed when awareness of "peak everything" reaches a
notable level in the public consciousness. Then we will be teaching
about change, signs of stress--situational depression and anxiety and
the skills for dealing with it. At the time it's most needed, the
center will be established and already known as a place to go for of
information and support. I can imagine that the foundation's funding
could come through the use of an alternative/complementary currency
such as Ithaca dollars, Time dollars, or other database currency
points that become accepted for use in the larger community as Bernard
Lietaer has suggested in the Future of Money.

Another thing I would like to do through this center is to begin, with
a group of others, to envision a possible future beyond what we know
is inevitable--a livable and sustainable future in which we would like
to live. I would like to instill hope (beyond the depressing reality
we are facing) that we can still carve out a niche of safety, sanity,
beauty, and order--and some form of green mobility. I know we can't
count on technological innovation to save us from the power-down
energy crunch and from the relocations and massive migrations to come
with climate change, from the scarcity of resources and the potential
for resource wars/competition--from the future pandemic of death and
diminishment of our population. We who are in the know realize there
is no place to hide. We don't have mega-bucks to buy an energy
efficient fortress guarded by Blackwater troops.

But we have to believe we have some power to save ourselves, to create
something worthwhile that will help motivate us to go forward!
Accomplishing this will require a positive vision and good leadership.
I like to think of our future as being healthy, happy, green, and
mobile, and I believe that with as many enthusiastic people as I've
run into on the Daily Kos (environmental group) and in other areas of
the netroots, we can, together, come up with a plan and course of
action to build the future we want, in spite of our government and its
economy. It just requires taking our way of life into our own hands,
designing our own local economies and fortifying them with some kind
of god-juice that will protect them from the madding crowds--the
throngs of those who didn't do their planning.

And so I come back around now to the original point: that we must
continue to disseminate accurate information so that all people will
be adequately forewarned and forearmed. This information must be
presented in such a way as to avoid panic and predation. Once we do
this for ourselves in our local communities in the US, we need to try
to facilitate this same kind of activity in other countries--China,
India, Africa, Mexico...etc. The Netroots has a basis for building
these connective threads between our communities here in America and
out into our global community--our Mother Earth! I'm thinking of
calling this center MotherSource! What do you think?

[Cycling Instructor]

I think there are already different specialist groups that exist in
the various skill areas that you mention; in my own skill area, that
would be BikeHouston. But a unifying principle or structure is needed.
But the idea of setting up a "center" for Houston is itself car-o-
centric thinking. These skill areas are going to have to be taught and
learned locally, within 2 miles of the teachers. It would help to
consolidate virtual resources.



Peter


On Feb 11, 8:51 am, In her own Voice <Ldathur...@kingwoodcable.net>
wrote:

[In her own Voice]

Point well taken on the "car-o-centric" theme. I still think there
needs to be a "place"--a home for these activities--like Bo's Place is
for the grieving. As long as it is centrally located in Houston, we
would be doing the best we could to make it accessible to all without
fossil fuel use (by bicycle even!).

Perhaps considering new technology for green mobility would both be a
part of the studies at the center and a means for getting to it.
Maglev trains from the suburbs might be an option. But then there is
so much to be researched and built--in such a short time. This is
part of the overload we all feel in considering this more or less
existential crisis we are facing.

Linda

[Cycling Instructor]

I do like the idea of a "place" to go to. So long as it's built for
slow transport from the outskirts, by which I mean... showers and
guest rooms or at least a place to pitch tents. A 30 mile bike ride in
the heat really takes it out of you; for most people, down and back on
the same day will be impossible. A bike is not a car. A trip to the
city center may end up being a down on Saturday, back on Sunday
exercise. Think... slow.

Maglev? Who would pay for that? We can't even get local bus service
out in the suburbs.


Peter