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A nonviolent scenario
When
the human mind opens to possibilities without oil This
will signal the cultural revolution of all time Unmatched
for speed and reaching to every colonial outpost of Petroleum Civilization Old
and new ways will be held up to the light Some
will see only darkness and the rest a new opportunity What
will be the flavor of the transition? Tears
are enough, blood we dont need shed But
will petro-fed masses starve peacefully? Who
will be in charge of this revolution?
No one. No
one can hasten it, but is tomorrow soon enough? We
can understand it, prepare, and welcome it, or cling to a collapsing order that
can offer no more The
pain of the Earth, if that exists, will shift but lift So
much waste and theft will cease when false wealth slips its grip As
we clean up the mess, we rejoice in having to share Off
will go television, computer and refrigerator as energy is dedicated to
essential survival tasks and little else Rediscovering
our brains and talents we will meet basic needs, while we forget our
cancer-generating ways Simultaneous
restoration of the ravaged land will occupy us Good
luck to you in being a part of the whole cycle of adventure A
beautiful planet could not accommodate several billion anyway Learning
will accelerate as we watch the few preserved ancient trees continue to grow and
become top soil for new life So
many have guns today they intend to use if and when necessary When
their ammunition runs out, the gun and bullet factories will be useful for other
purposes or abandoned, with no more unlimited electric power The
human tribe did not go through long evolution by killing and cheating itself Before
the fall, one sang: "I
think its most peculiar to be using these machines
When
eating sleeping loving and a home is what we need
There
is no ahead or going back When
the living Earth and its glorious inanimate elements are a constant process Progress
and return are linear ideas obscuring the now and the best possibilities The
real priorities would be to gather acorns and enjoy their life-giving
nourishment Growing food will take more human work and love and responsibility; despite such limitations without fossil-fuels, Future
generations will retain the same or better world we will now care for and use in
balance Welcome
any cool fog and cheer the rain albeit falling harder from climate changes
supercharged evaporation Uncover the asphalt, expose and recreate the creeks. Fill in this last line as you please; its for you _________________________ I wrote the above on a Greyhound bus around Los Gatos near Santa Cruz, in what some call Ecotopia. It
is hoped that my twelve stanzas of visualizing cultural revolution will be
worthy to someone, about something, in the cosmic struggle.
For instance, between installations (now out my window) such as Camp Roberts |
Army California Guard and any of its suspect intentions, on one side, and on the other
side kindness and reason promoted and practiced by peacemakers.
Rather than a clash of entities, we are witnessing the beginning of
wholesale decay and rapid transformation. When a society bases its raison dêtre on material wealth for individuals (limited to comprising only a portion of the population), wealth is used up relatively quickly for the whole population, eventually including even todays wealthy. Rather
than a poor class taking the wealth from the rich, the rich will lose their grip
by virtue of losing access to unlimited petroleum and the exploited labor
of the globalized corporate system. People
will wake up to living their own lives to the fullest, for they must manage
issues on their own in concert, leaving behind the discredited ways that have
brought us to the precipice that we have in part already jumped off. There
are many kinds of concerted action appropriate now, but they lack the necessary
social context to take place on a large scale.
However, many kinds of direct action such as workers' going on strike
can achieve wide notice and an economic effect.
Clearly, though, successful concerted action will have to wait for
faster-changing conditions that most of society will be aware of and dealing
with. Small actions resulting in
arrests, as well as actions that break no laws, appear to offer little basis for
useful response today. I thought of
a good form of concerted, high-profile action when I began this paragraph, but
it slipped my mind despite my waiting three days to remember.
This may prove that circumstances are premature for instructive concerted
action in the eyes of the as yet unstirred masses.
I promise to pass along the idea (which was not original or spectacular)
if I can in a future essay or song.
Depaver Jan January 2004 California ***** Read Ecotopia by Ernest
Callenbach Back to Home Page Jan Lundberg's columns are protected by copyright; however, non-commercial use of the material is permitted as long as full attribution is given with a link to this website, and he is informed of the re-publishing: info@culturechange.org |
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