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Episode #50: Is There No Alternative?" ...well, no, not to me, not on this episode, since it's pretty much just an interview with me, in which I am compelled to refer to a wide variety of things as "stupid," plus some nice music and interesting audio excerpts.
5 comments:
Well, looking at Cuba I see a people (it didn`t started with their gouverment) who was able to change and transition acording with reality in a hurry.
Of course if we look at big groups of humans in a long enough term we will allways see stupidity (a lot). But maybe there are ways to have relativelly big and relativelly rational groups of people. Having gouverments ocupy a region small enough for people to be able to travel it by foot or at most at a bioregional scale may be one of them. Jarred Diamond and Bill Mollison make some good points about what could make a sustainable gouverment.
A book full of interesting insights on what a bioregional-scale government might look like is Ecotopia.
The Diet Soap interview was interesting: a polite collision of the standard, well-meaning, left leaning liberal idealism of the host, and your more realistic world view. (Your reaction to his use of the the word "WE" was particularly interesting)
I've been flirting with the idea of creating a "business"(for lack of a better term - no profit involved) out of preparing people and communities for the inevitable collapse but I haven't gotten past the flirting stage as not surprisingly those who have the money to invest to help with it are largely unwilling to spend their money to help others at this point in time.
The main issue from an investor stand point is that nobody I've talked to seems capable of comprehending the idea of not making any financial profits from their investments even though I try to explain to them they would be investing in their futures and not for profits - they just don't seem to care.
I've tried to convince them that it's better to spend their money now to help develop sustainable communities than to hold onto it till the collapse occurs and have that money become worthless and it becomes no help to anybody - but once again they can't grasp that concept in this money/greed-driven society.
If I had the investments for it it wouldn't be that difficult to start preparing people by putting together community gardens, community centers that would become community kitchens and residences in the event of a collapse, local bartering systems among farmers and small businesses to make the transition from money systems to bartering systems far more efficient and easy when the time comes and to hopefully ensure those local businesses can continue operating when the shit hits the proverbial fan.
There are other things as well that can be done but those are the main issues I've been focusing on in trying to find investors.
Why does nobody listen?
I guess it's true what they say about how even people who know the truth can be convinced to believe a lie if the lie suits their personal interests better or is shoved down their throats more forcefully than the truth is...
What a sad society we live in today, the only thing that matters is money and buying the latest overpriced useless piece of crap available. Nobody cares about the future, they only care about right now.
On a side note - I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed the irony in the fact the U.S.A is the only country on earth in which the 'pursuit of happiness' is guaranteed in writing and yet overall with it's one of the least happy societies on earth with most of it's population addicted to drugs - legal or illegal.
Must have something to do with the fact Americans have been brainwashed into believing that the 'pursuit of happiness' actually means the 'pursuit of wealth' and spend all their time working and focusing on money issues rather being with their families and enjoying life.
In most countries people are happy just to be able to survive, here we're only happy if we have a 5,000 square foot home and 3 cars and summer home in Florida and a big bank account.
We need to stop taking life itself for granted before it's too late.
Iaucaku mentions Cuba as an example of people who were able to change and transition. It is true they did adapt, but one needs to remember that they are not fully self sufficient, they depend on remittances from family who live abroad. According to this report in 2008 they received at least 1 billion dollars http://www.thedialogue.org/page.cfm?pageID=32&pubID=1845
You will also note this is a small country which makes change easier. It is not a democracy which makes change easier. And it has been forced by the US into a mode of some self sufficiency by blockades.
To have a somewhat enlightened ruler in a small country is obviously a better model for change than to have a unenlightened pseudo democracy in a large country that has been propagandized by the corporate media. Transferring Cuba's limited success (don't forget those remittances) to the US is a nice thought but not something that will happen. Just imagine a congressperson standing up in the House or Senate and advocating that we follow the example of Cuba.
Dmitry, excellent interview. So nice to hear an honest evaluation of the situation at hand.
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