There is plenty of exhortation, and some people doing this and that… but what would it *really* take? Lifestyles of the 18th century? Of 5 k ago? Folks are unreceptive and scared because they have no idea what it all means in practice, maybe.

Some days I’m very idealistic. My optimism has me believing we can convince the 15% in time to save the living planet, and therefore ourselves. But then I think about what drives people, from an evolutionary perspective, and I’m back at cynicism again.

Can we bring down the industrial economy in time to save our species, and so many others? Almost certainly. That’s what gives me hope, and allows me to keep spreading the good news about economic collapse (from my pulpit in the Church of Economic Apocalyptarians, Recycled).

Will we? I can hardly bear to think about the alternative. So, head in the sand, I won’t.

Much of the thread of your comments have to do with the need for fundamental changes if we are to make it through the coming bottleneck and retain some semblance of civilization.

In your current post you pointed out the need for two miracles. Then you assured us that would not happen and point us to Hume who says (and I’m taking liberties here) miracles are outside the laws that govern nature and any past purported miracle is usually just a story made up to explain something by barbaric people and then used and amplified by people who stand to gain from it (read religious elders). Okay, there are no miracles, never have been, never will be.

In your previous post concerning a 10-Step Plan you talked about working toward the 15% solution, i.e. in the 60s 15% of the population of the US came to believe that the war in Viet Nam was wrong and exerted enough pressure on the government to cause a change in direction. That same 15% was responsible for the big social and environmental changes that occurred during that period also. Because you pointed to the importance of the 15% level as a tipping point to creating change and then returned to it as one of our 10 steps I’m guessing it’s important.

So here’s an observation and my question. I heard on the news yesterday that “Avatar,” the movie, became the #1 all time moneymaking movie. I observe that the story line (spoiler alert) is strongly anti-corporation, anti-military, anti-environmental destruction, and anti-technological superiority. And here’s the question. If more people than ever before are going to the movie theater to see a movie where the good guys are the tree huggers is there any chance of that carrying over and some of those folks becoming the core 15% needed to force changes in the US world view? That would be kind of miraculous.

Michael Irving

Frank Mezek