The Crash Course - Chris Martenson [11]
I am concerned that we are on a path that will deliver the opposite of what I hope for. My worry is that the reflexive response of those in power will be to rather defensively attempt to perpetuate the status quo and that their earnest attempts to conduct business as usual for another decade will unquestionably lead to a world of less prosperity, not more. If we pursue this policy of attempting to sustain the unsustainable, what we face is a future filled with scarcity, conflict, and diminished opportunities. I cannot accept those outcomes.
But how can we change the future? Where do we even start? We must begin by taking an unflinching look at our predicament and facing it squarely. No more kicking the can down the road for the next generation to deal with, and no more pretending that real issues don’t exist. The measure of any generation is what it does with what it has. Luckily, we still have abundant natural resources, and we have all the information we need to make a better future. But our window of opportunity is closing rapidly. Solutions are becoming fewer, and options are shrinking. Someday they will disappear entirely, our opportunities to be proactive will have been permanently squandered, and we will be left to choose among an unpleasant palette of reactions to an unfortunate set of circumstances that are mostly out of our control.
To me, a world worth inheriting is one where the inhabitants are living within their economic and natural budgets. It is a stable world where people and businesses can plan for the future because they can trust what will be there when they arrive. It is a world in which the brittle architecture of our just-in-time food systems and businesses is replaced by robust, sustainable, locally focused operations. In this world worth inheriting, communities take on more responsibility for their destinies, and stronger and more fulfilling relationships develop among neighbors.
Right now we cannot even count on our money, the sacred contract that binds us all, to be there for us in any recognizable form in the future. Perhaps it will be worth a lot less; perhaps it will be replaced entirely. These are both possible and even likely outcomes given our current economic trajectory, and both are unacceptable. We can do better, and we deserve better.
But the issues extend well beyond just our money, and the sooner we recognize the dimensions of our predicament, the sooner we can get on with the work of responding intelligently to the numerous challenges that wait.
Step one toward creating a world worth inheriting is to become aware of what the problems and predicaments really are. Step two is to deepen that awareness into what we might call understanding. Step three is to craft intelligent responses to the issues as we understand them.
How do we accomplish these things? We begin by changing the stories we tell ourselves. The narratives that we run at the individual, national, and even global levels define the actions we take and what we prioritize.
Here is an example: Up until about 2006, the entire developed world was perpetuating an ongoing story that went like this: Houses always go up in price. As we now all know, that tale is not true, but it was a deeply embedded belief that shaped individual decisions and led even the most sophisticated investors in the world astray. That’s the power of a story. The right narrative can save the world, while the wrong one can be incredibly destructive. This means that we should take the time to examine our current stories and assess whether they are truly the right ones for our era and our set of circumstances.
Some of the stories that we might want to reevaluate include:
“Economic growth is essential (and good).”
“U.S. Treasury bonds are risk free.”
“The rest of the world needs the United States more than the United States needs the rest