collapse of the old society

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/7482593

Mark Freed experienced growing dread due to the increasing wildfires near his home in California. He felt a sense of helplessness and searched for safer places to live, but still felt disaster was inevitable. Experts define dread as being heavier than anxiety since it involves a tangible threat. With climate change, people dread future extreme events and the consequences of inaction. Constantly focusing on doom and helplessness can cause paralysis. Taking small climate-friendly actions and community support can help transform dread into hope and empowerment. While dread spreads awareness, constant focus on it harms well-being. Therapists recommend acknowledging valid emotions while reconnecting with life's meaningful aspects through nature or hobbies. For Freed, routine and spending time with his dogs now makes life livable despite managed dread.

https://piped.video/watch?v=LpitmEnaYeU

“Superheroes usually manage to roll back the various apocalypses but rarely use their powers to build a better world. The villains are the ones constantly dreaming up big audacious schemes to transform the universe.”

David Graeber, Super Position (2012)

Will our own elites perform any better than the rulers of Chaco Canyon, the Mayan heartland, and Viking Greenland?

archive link: https://archive.is/nP8Ps

“In March, Misaki Chen thought she’d found her romantic partner: a chatbot voiced by artificial intelligence. The program called her every morning. He told her about his fictional life as a businessman, read poems to her, and reminded her to eat healthy. At night, he told bedtime stories. The 24-year-old fell asleep to the sound of his breath playing from her phone.”

Aside for its length, it's amazing to me how much Sagan models the archetypal scientist warning from a disaster movie. At the end, he essentially -- but in very calm terms -- warns the US congress that for the next generation to avert catastrophe, we will need to find a global consciousness that supersedes our petty tribal grievances.

Was a realization that I've come to learn and internalize. It sounds fucked up to say and it is not to say I will stop fighting... But the weight and burden it's lifted is a powerful thing.

For much of my life I have been so focused and driven to learn all I can about environmental and social issues. The driving thought process being that the more I learn and understand, the better the chance of being able to help bring forth solutions or make a difference.

But internalization of the grief and world's burdens was and is not a healthy thing. It left me overly anxious, sick and angry (to skim the surface and be brief).

By refraiming it in such a way, I can prioritize my own happiness, feel empowered in the sense it would be wonderful by some small miracle to make a difference but it's also not my fault if things still go to shit.

To dance and love every moment, the newfound peace is liberating. All the while decoupling from the issues on a personal level has left me fired up and feeling most capable of making a difference, I'll be focusing on resiliency. (Specifically extreme weather resistant housing and food production).

Save the world, but it's okay if we can't. Save what we can, if we can. There is joy to be found in supporting one another and trying our best. The optimism of Solar Punk feels much better than complete resignation to collapse.

I am healing myself, so that I may help others through the stages of collapse awareness, and provide support through the crumbles.

That's where it feels our efforts might be best spent. Prepare for the inevitable and build the information hubs / resiliency arks and safe harbours. Fight for such resiliency to help give the next generations a fighting chance (however slim) or the chance of a more dignified decline.

Something something, a phoenix rises from the ashes?

A long and fascinating study on geopolitics centered on the ideas posed in limits to growth. It goes over a variety of scenerios in detail and how each amplifies global conflict.

Old society is not going to leave the scene peacefully. They will go down kicking and screaming, until their last breath leeching energy and matter from the planet and all of us. When they die anyway, why should they let us survive?

So, should we have a SolarPunk warfare available to defend the planet (including ourselves) against "apres nous, le deluge" strategy of planet destroyers?

There was an attempt to create similar kind of warfare, within the ranks of US Army, of all imaginable places. The 1st Earth Battalion, if not exactly what we may imagine, was certainly planet-oriented. https://web.archive.org/web/20110811190649/http://arcturus.org/field_manual.pdf

So, what do you think of the initial question? And if we need it, do you know any examples that could help us answer it and, perhaps, develop the idea towards implementation?

Morning coffee musings

Transition / Collapse solutions — how to get most out of collapsing infrastructure.

During slo-mo catastrophe, more and more infrastructure may become unused, but still technically working. This is what we have now with empty buildings / apartments for example. Or some abandoned industrial facilities taken over by their crews.

But there are more technical challenges. If the grid is down, what shall we need to redirect output of a local wind/solar farm to the local community use? How to start running local rail transport? How to salvage content of a logistic centre before it gets marauded? Etc. etc…

The inconvenience here lies in the fact that most of such actions are considered illegal under regular circumstances. But we will need them when conditions cease to be “regular”. I believe we should be able to discuss them under the general category of “civil / civic defense” or “communal resilience”.

What do you think?