WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
First, survive. Then help those who have been hurt by the transition. This will not be easy.
New social structures should arise from a deeper continuity with animals and green things.We have financialized society. It used to be that the state, the civil society and the religious institutions allowed differing perspectives on how we relate to humanity. WE have now financialized these relationships and the tendency is to look to technology for a better future because it fits easily into the financialization approach: incentivised a better future , In the old world that is coming apart the major tension was between the citie that were dependent on the rural areas for food and the countryside that was paid as little money as possible. This tension should be replaced with cooperative relationships that honors the growing education of the once disparaged country people. , The old way based on money and alienation is a mistake. Think culture and social structure first. How should we organize ourselves and what attitudes should we encourage and discourage?
Almost all writing about climate change and related issues, such as soil and ocean disturbances, are terrific on what is wrong but not yet grappling with what we need. Gardenworld is one of what I hope will be many efforts to create an imaginable good future. In many conversations that are trying to be serious about climate the participants come to a strategic choice. Do we stay objective, or positive? My working assumption, supported by observations and community organizations and online, is that reality motivates while false optimism lessens the sense that something utterly different needs to emerge. But the collapse of morale in the face of being fully objective is also real. Perhaps it's cultural, the habits of thought of the population - stoicism vs consumerism, or working together rather than being trapped in our isolating homes. We are also trapped in our limited imagination assuming that the future will fit in with the nation state, capitalism, democracy, Internet and naive materialism. Our conversations are too small for the problems. The founding fathers looked at the histories of republics as a way of grounding their conversations about what to do to get out from under the monarchy.
The future is deeply about culture. For those in the West even if God is absent we live with a feeling for the world as if it is a single entity with a fixed purpose. Perhaps if we saw a bustle of gods, the gods of peace, arts, war, truth, family, humor, childhood buzzing around asking for our attention, we would do better. Now we are allowing our attention to be drawn by the single god of private property and isolating individualism, Internet, gizmos and gadgets, fast food and Teslas. Quality of life has reduced to managing an ensemble of gadgets and our children no longer talk with us.When John the Baptist was walking around the Middle East he is quoted as saying repeatedly “metanoeite, metanoeite” which gets translated as “wake up.” But the Greek has a deeper meaning that requires reflection. The Greek means “behind mind”. That is, pay attention to your assumptions.
One distressing fact of the world is that most religions point to good behavior toward each other, but we are not living it, despite the fact that all living people have grown up in a (weak) religious environment and have internalized values that they don;t live by, probably creating a sense of self betrayal. One serious question for the future has to be about belief and action and effects. In my own culture we are supposed to be christians and, while much of the tone of christian tradition is present, we do not act on it.