[GPSCC-chat] June Column for MH Times

[Wes Rolley]

I am not sure what is going to happen with my column in the future.  The 
Editor of the MH Times was laid off this week.  However, he said that we 
should submit he columns to his ID and also copy the Editor of the 
Gilroy Dispatch.  So, since my date is Friday, I submitted the following.
____

Charles Dickens began his "Tale of Two Cities" by reflecting that "It 
was the best of times, it was the worst of times". He writes of that 
past and offers only comparisons to his own time. Today, I reflect on 
the current state of America and would paraphrase Dickens. "These are 
the best of times, these are the worst of times."

I might think that today is the best of times. At no other time in our 
history have we been able to posess the things that we do now: 
television, cell phones, ample food for most. Or to know what we can 
know about the world we live in as cable news keeps us more fully 
informed than any of our ancestors. I recently came across the wedding 
photo of my grandparents. They were married in 1891. It is hard to 
imagine what they would think of the world we now live in and all that 
we can do. Even the idea that I could sit at a desk in Morgan Hill and 
search the 1900 census records for the first mention of my father would 
have seemed crazy.

For all that we have accomplished, the world that we know is going to 
change and how we deal with those changes will determine whether or not 
these are the worst of times.

It should be clear to all that our climate is changing, and it won't be 
for the better. For those who believe it is just a matter of natural 
cycles, the fact is that we are just now coming out of an 11 year 
cooling cycle so that such "normal" cyclic variation will only continue 
to warm the planet. Every study that comes out provides increasing 
credence for the warming of our planet and its root cause in our 
continued use of fossil fuels.

The question we all have to answer is no longer what is happening, but 
rather what are we going to do about it. Doing nothing is no longer an 
option. The ecological changes that are happening will force changes in 
the way we are able to live.

Those who see an unlimited technological future as the way forward need 
only consider that our current path will have a world of 9 billion 
people by 2050. This surge in population will put increasing pressure on 
the limited resources that we have. Feeding an extra 2 billion people 
will be a major challenge. It might be that our fossil fuels would be 
put to better use as fuel for crops rather than fuel for transportation. 
Most of the nitrogen used in commercial fertilizers comes from natural gas.

Even the materials we are told that are required for the trappings of 
daily life... televisions, tablets, cell phones.... are called rare 
earths for a reason. If the future is to be held in lithum batteries you 
can count the mining sources of lithium without taking off your shoes.

The late Steve Jobs challenged a graduating class at Stanford to "Create 
the future you imagine." I don't think that most of us would want to 
future that we are now creating. It is time to imagine something 
different. Some are already doing that. They understand that unlimited 
growth is a Ponzi scheme where a few get rich at the expense of the 
many. They understand also that our politicians are not going to deliver 
a sustainable future as long as the premise of government is that growth 
is necessary to finance they way we live today. Listen to what they 
promise and ask yourselves how that can be.

Those every present television ads promise us a great future of energy 
use, at lest another century. But what does that leave our children and 
grandchildren? Only the problems that we were not strong enough to solve 
today. I think that we are better than that. At least I hope so. But if 
we are to avoid the worst future, we need a new manner of organizing our 
society including a new politics.

Transition California offers a new premise for society, locally 
organized to transition California to sustainable models, systems and 
structures. The Green Party offers the companion political solution, 
organized by grassroots action and with politicians who will not be 
bought by corporate donations. You might consider both as being 
unrealistic. I ask you what is realistic about selling our future in 
pursuit of an American Dream that can never be.


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