The subject of this post is a quote from a thought provoking op-ed by Thomas Friedman in Sunday’s NY times, The Inflection is Near? A chilling yet inspiring piece that takes an surprisingly optimistic outlook on what might come out of this hellacious nightmare we are in.
For the last few weeks I have been jamming into my little brain everything worth reading about the economic crisis (so I can begin to fathom the mess we are in) AND at the same, I am reading Hot, Flat and Crowded, Thomas Friedman’s call-to-arms about climate change and our crack-addiction to foreign oil and its impact. Note: This long, poorly structured sentence sums up why my head is about to explode. Trying to wrap my head around both issues is like dieting and quitting smoking simultaneously.
There is nothing in anything I have read about either issue – the economy or the environment – that doesn’t make me want to find a cave and start cooking up squirrel stew. In fact, I think there be a fast-food franchise idea here. I can picture “Squirrel-Stew-U-Likes” popping up in caves across our great land. But I digress.
The parallels between the economic meltdown and global warming are a little scary. Take this from Joe Romm, physicist and climate change blogger, talking about the intersection of the two:
can get this burst of wealth that we have created from this rapacious
behavior,” added Romm. “But it has to collapse, unless adults stand up
and say, ‘This is a Ponzi scheme. We have not generated real wealth,
and we are destroying a livable climate …’ Real wealth is something
you can pass on in a way that others can enjoy.”
Despite its alarming message I actually felt a little more hopeful after reading Friedman’s article. The Pollyanna in me has been mulling that maybe, just maybe, out of this stinky, crappy, twisted mess, we can hit the reset button. Maybe, we can start living as a society within our means. Maybe, we can get through the economic meltdown AND stop the planet boiling over at the same time. We have been living in a state of denial for a while, especially the last eight years. It’s time for the reckoning.
Friedman’s point – and I hope to all that’s holy that he is right – is that this could be inflection point. This is the point where we take some responsibility and do the the hard things that will fix the way we live and fix the planet. He calls it The Great Disruption. Friedman quotes Paul Gilding and Australian environmental expert:
will be a momentous year in human history. Our children and
grandchildren will ask us, ‘What was it like? What were you doing when
it started to fall apart? What did you think? What did you do?’ ” Often
in the middle of something momentous, we can’t see its significance.
But for me there is no doubt: 2008 will be the marker — the year when
‘The Great Disruption’ began.
Who’s feeling disruptive?
there you go! now that’s the Y chromosome in you, Hunter He-man! what are you going to do when we run out of squirrels? I, on the other hand, propose we uproot these empty luxury condos in my way, and start planting something we can eat. And I’ll start the basket we can cart the harvest off with.
Congrats! These thoughts should be shouted from the rooftops. I have contended for years that our Hummer driving, McMansion living citizens were in for a rude awakening. Well it is here. The notion that we can solve a problem that began with too much credit use with even more credit use is silly. We need to hit the reset button and finally live more ecologically friendly and down to earth in simplicity.
Sometimes we think, with great satisfaction, of our Cal 34 as our own Noah’s Ark. MOST of the world lives in less comfort than we enjoy on our simple boat. I offer to add Pacific Northwest crab and clams to your menu!
I yearn for that reset button.
Good post: I keep reading stories about global warming being much worse than expected, Amazon going, ice melting, deserts expanding etc and getting more and more and more depressed at how the politicians are doing little.
I read today how $50b could be spent to get sahara covered in solar electric to power europe – a drop in the ocean compared to the banks bail outs.
See:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126971.700-how-to-survive-the-coming-century.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/11/amazon-global-warming-trees
I have worked in the renewable energy business for 25 years. The current situation was inevitable give our direction. The sooner we hit “reset” the easier the transition. I’m afraid we’re going to be able to slow this enough to become the frog in the heating water. A real slap to the head is what is needed…and some heads are pretty thick. I now work in the wind energy business as both a lobbyist and a developer of locally owned projects. There is solid reason for hope. But only if people stand up and be heard…and felt by their elected representative. It only takes a handfull. And, I bought my first sailboat two years ago (MacGreggor)as a present to myself for getting my own wind tubine up and running.