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I agree with Rees almost completely. He is a rare sane voice pointing out that the King has no clothes. I would go a bit further and state that it’s not just the cultural narrative that is pushing us towards this end (collapse) but Human Nature and, I would add, the nature of life itself. No organism self regulates its population. Rather, they expand until some negative (from their perspective) feedback loop puts them in check. So where does this leave us? We may possibly evolve into a sustainable species via biological and/or cultural evolution, but that would be a first and will likely require typical evolutionary processes: mass death with the survival of some oddball portion of the species. If we are to “fight”, then we need to fight on the ground that matters - the bio-sociopolitical “matrix” we are embedded in (culture, core beliefs, cultural narrative, etc). However, just like The Matrix, most people won’t see you and, if they happen hear you, you will be talking a foreign language to them. Most are “spiritual “ or religious in some fashion that enables them to feel special and separate from nature. I see no other “hope” but evolution via collapse. This is the way life operates. Evolution is the one constant and does not operate in a kind and caring manner.
But currently we are on a path to failure: NOAA greenhouse gases measurements in mid Pacific: gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/ Have we woken up in the last 9 years as Rees hoped?
Unmitigated economic growth became exponential from 1500 onwards. That's what killed us. Was it not the Church that encouraged exploration and discovery ( thru Papal Bull ), colonization ( enslavement in perpetuity of the inhabitants of those discovered lands ), globalisation, one world, one religion etc... ... thereby becoming among the wealthiest imperialists ? Now that existential threat is clearly upon us, The End Times, as they've repeatedly prophesied while creating the conditions for it, mebbe its time they are urged to liquidate & re-distribute all that wealth... in the gazillions... mebbe encourage massive debt forgiveness, Jubilee as it is called. They sure could help the poor ... who've built it up through the millenia. The Church is its People, right ? Thats what we've been taught by the Jesuits.
He´s all right in all of its speechs.. a brilliant man, and a real gift for all of us. But i cant see how the economical system may in any case switch from growth to contraction without getting into a collapsing state. Theres no soft shrinking in our money system .. only growth or collapse.. theres no soft way out of economies of scale. if you shrink it it will not shrink but collapse.. Thats the problem each Political active would face when ever he would ask for a planed economic resession. Which would be the only way to get out here. If .. the economical active parts of our society would aknowledge that for the forseeable future they can not make any surplus money, they would pull out their money out of the system.. which furthermore draws people into poverty by loosing the job which furthermore would make the situatioon worse.. a shrinking feedback loop so to say. In the end Banking systems would collaps.. killing the markets, and ultimately making it difficult for States to get enough tax revenues, to help society.. So this is the probem.. while on the long run.. Rees is right, we should act, no one will ever kill it selve because he´s afraid of dying.. Now way out? Maybe.. but untill we are dead we should go on trying
Thats Jem Bendell also talks about. This society wont save its self. Sorry to say our healthcare is part of this. Who wants lowtech healthcare. solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2021/02/how-sustainable-is-high-tech-health-care/
Thanks to all those Experts, Scientists, and Professionals discussing the issue of CC which really worths all attention from all people. Good job and big salutation and respect to all points mentioned by Prof. Bernhofer. Ali
The city's are the biggest producers of goods, and always have being in history. These goods are being exported, the income return of these Manufactured goods and crops $> does not return to the CITY'S It only returns into private hands. In regards to city's are not ecologically up to par.
People like William Rees are modern day prophets. He's not alone, there are other people fighting the good fight from their own areas of expertise. But like the prophets of the Old Testament, they're all ignored, mocked and the object of anger. God help us all. We're driving over a cliff, and the psychopaths - the politicians and economists - driving the bus are pushing their foot down harder on the accelerator, with virtually all the passengers egging them on.
A well thought out conference, unique in its approach. It will be a trend setter to the way we should approach common problems with diverse expertize, a nexus approach. I had an opportunity to present a paper in the conference.We look forward to DNC2017!
