I believe we all share at least a hint of a feeling that when you consider “the planet” the economy and its political leadership; we all suspect that at least something is not quite right. If you’re like me, and you’ve looked into some of the details about the environmental impact of industrial globalisation developed over the past century, you know that a number of challenges loom very large. But I believe most people shut this out from their lives so as to stave off depressing thoughts and to not disrupt the flow of their already busy lives. Denial and inertia are possibly invaluable survival mechanisms, but if so, they may also prove to be tragic flaws.
In January 2007 I played hockey outside. Ball hockey, in running shoes and shorts. The heat wave had everyone talking about global warming. Al Gore’s film was very popular.
Later that year I saw Mr. Gore give his famous talk to a very large crowd of enthusiastic supporters. In hindsight I wonder if it sadly wasn’t just the topic of the day a fad that has passed into the shadow of the financial crisis.
Just before the financial crisis got bad (on July 11 2008), oil hit 147.27$ per barrel. While this doesn’t mark the date of “peak oil” it is most certainly not unrelated. (see Heinberg). Though peak oil itself still receives too little attention and tends to be misunderstood, the price shock certainly received much attention and ire across the board. We quickly forgot that a high price for gasoline is part of the solution for the problem we were so worried about in January 2007.
Then the bank giants started to fall, and a TARP was cast over our eyes.
The financial crisis seems to have hit the US much more directly than much of Canada. So far. All things considered, the longer the US founders, the more inevitable does our own descent become. Will a debt-based consumer economy come back to life and float all ships? Is that really how we want to proceed anyway? Rather, it is possible that down-scaling and localising our immediate economy is the best solution to the crisis. It is an appropriate response to problems of unemployment, the credit crunch and dependence on the energy-intensive practices of globalised trade. What better to replace both foreign production and disappearing credit than real work through local productivity here at home? *
David Suzuki also spoke at the symposium where I saw Al Gore – with profound and moving urgency. Two salient points he made resonate strongly in my memory. One is that it is no coincidence that economy and ecology share the same prefix, but that there is an alarming disconnect between the two in our ideological view of the world. This must be bridged. The second point was that interestingly the Japanese word for crisis also means opportunity. If this is true, then in an age where several large crises are converging there must be opportunity aplenty.
In the same spirit, Car Free Mile End is all about localising. Whether through political or community involvement we will develop our concept and shape our project ourselves with the aim of creating business and services where now there exists only a vague opportunity, and a bunch of unnecessary traffic.
(*Thanks here to Jane Jacobs’ account of import replacement for this musing of mine.)
In January 2007 I played hockey outside. Ball hockey, in running shoes and shorts. The heat wave had everyone talking about global warming. Al Gore’s film was very popular.
Later that year I saw Mr. Gore give his famous talk to a very large crowd of enthusiastic supporters. In hindsight I wonder if it sadly wasn’t just the topic of the day a fad that has passed into the shadow of the financial crisis.
Just before the financial crisis got bad (on July 11 2008), oil hit 147.27$ per barrel. While this doesn’t mark the date of “peak oil” it is most certainly not unrelated. (see Heinberg). Though peak oil itself still receives too little attention and tends to be misunderstood, the price shock certainly received much attention and ire across the board. We quickly forgot that a high price for gasoline is part of the solution for the problem we were so worried about in January 2007.
Then the bank giants started to fall, and a TARP was cast over our eyes.
The financial crisis seems to have hit the US much more directly than much of Canada. So far. All things considered, the longer the US founders, the more inevitable does our own descent become. Will a debt-based consumer economy come back to life and float all ships? Is that really how we want to proceed anyway? Rather, it is possible that down-scaling and localising our immediate economy is the best solution to the crisis. It is an appropriate response to problems of unemployment, the credit crunch and dependence on the energy-intensive practices of globalised trade. What better to replace both foreign production and disappearing credit than real work through local productivity here at home? *
David Suzuki also spoke at the symposium where I saw Al Gore – with profound and moving urgency. Two salient points he made resonate strongly in my memory. One is that it is no coincidence that economy and ecology share the same prefix, but that there is an alarming disconnect between the two in our ideological view of the world. This must be bridged. The second point was that interestingly the Japanese word for crisis also means opportunity. If this is true, then in an age where several large crises are converging there must be opportunity aplenty.
In the same spirit, Car Free Mile End is all about localising. Whether through political or community involvement we will develop our concept and shape our project ourselves with the aim of creating business and services where now there exists only a vague opportunity, and a bunch of unnecessary traffic.
(*Thanks here to Jane Jacobs’ account of import replacement for this musing of mine.)
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