Runnin’ on Empty June

Runnin’ on Empty

Conversations with Caren Black on the View from Oil’s Peak

June

Bye, Bye Miss American Pie

In March I invited you to join the revolution for energy independence. So, if you haven’t already taken steps to withdraw from the party that’s about to crash, this month would seem an appropriate one for declaring your independence. Flags and bunting have been everywhere for weeks. It’s red-white-and-blue time, time to wave small plastic flags made in China, eat hot dogs made in Iowa, drive to parades of fossil-fuel-powered vehicles idling down the street, watch fireworks made in China and India, shop the “Hot!” holiday sales of goods made in China. It’s the new “American Way”, what Robert Alicea of Tampa Bay’s Post Carbon Outpost calls “the commodification of consciousness.”

As part of my little “Runnin’ On Empty” Independence Plan, I was all set to re-introduce those old standbys, “Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.” The first two are the most important because they actually address our consumer addiction, rather than simply using more energy to recycle commodities into another form. (Recycling, however, is always preferable to trashing something!) “Renewables” has a nice ring too, because it promises we will be able to shop again in the future. “Relocalize” might be worth some quite substantial consideration, since we’ve become a subsidiary of Big Global Inc.

How about “Rethink”? Because, we can’t shop our way out of this one, folks! Not only are we nearly out of gas, we’re running smack into Mother Nature’s declining sense of humor about our meddlesome habits. I kinda think she’d like us to get a clue. So, as the last fireworks sputter out and our Fourth of July holiday melts into a short work week, it’s time to think about our new struggle for independence, even more vital than the one 229 years ago.

Independence from fossil fuels: We can deal with energy decline or it will deal with us. Personally, I’d rather sing “I Did It My Way”.

Independence from global corporations: Our wealth has been transferred to them while our jobs have been cut by their outsourcing and downsizing.

Independence from government: only three of ten amendments in our Bill of Rights remain intact, while where we shop and what we buy and what we eat and what medicines we take and what we owe and what we read and what internet sites we visit and even exactly where we physically are at any given moment are now all accessible by the government’s Promis software.

What have we been doing as our old independence eroded? What have we been doing to create a new independence? We’ve sort of followed the old list, “Ten Ways to Successfully Ride a Dead Horse.” You know:

1) Give the horse a break and he’ll come to his senses,

2) Remember that he’s no worse than other dead horses in the past,

3) Switch riders,

4) If the rider is rigged to the saddle, then support him and find ways to work with him,

5) Appoint committees to study the dead horse,

6) Listen to speakers from places where they ride dead horses more effectively,

7) Create tests measuring riding ability and hold the horse accountable,

8) Take other people’s dead horses,

9) Expect a technological innovation any day now,

10) Switch to a dead mule.

True independence must begin with understanding interdependence. No one in the world is immune from the mess we’ve all gotten ourselves into. The only way out is by working together, locally.

June 17-19 some two dozen people from as far as Vancouver BC, San Diego and Boulder, Colorado converged on Astoria to plan just such work for their local communities. From Pacifica’s Livability Project to Portland’s Permaculture Institute, they are giving classes, leading local policy-making groups, planting gardens, and changing lives. They came to work with Kevin Danaher, Matt Savinar, Dave Room and Richard Heinberg at The Lifeboat Conference, a hands-on seminar for creating positive, practical post-carbon social models. They spent their time re-learning, and left making plans for expanding their programs, holding family meetings, altering their homes.

Things they were re-learning:

1) We can no longer leave anything to “them,” anonymous beings or agencies supposedly acting on our behalf. Soon there will be no service industries to clean up after us or to satisfy what we somewhat archaically consider our “needs.” Soon we will do without many of the things we feel we “need.” Soon we will deal with situations we never dreamed of facing, live in ways we never dreamed of living.

2) We can direct the changes we face towards a more positive, equitable lifestyle.

3) We have waited too long to simply reclaim our independence from those who see us as commodity pawns. Now we will have to struggle for it.

4) We are “entitled” to nothing, except death. The rest we must do for ourselves, and for each other.

In the chaos that’s coming to our global political and environmental climates, let’s reclaim the opportunity and the independence to build a better, simpler life for ourselves and our community. Our communities need people willing to work on:

local food and water sources not dependent on fossil fuels

local waste plans not dependent on fossil fuels or landfills

local renewable energy generation

local trade guilds

local manufacturing powered by renewable energy and providing local jobs

local medical care and local medicines

local shelter for all residents

local servicing of all local debt

local education and re-training

Will we be New Patriots or Continuing Consumers? Independence: It’s our heritage!

For community involvement, contact TLA or ColumbiaRiverVision.

"Common people must be free from all 'Foreign or Domestic Oligarchy."