Westernised industrial civilisation is like an all night party with a live band in attendance. We've had a great time and hope it will continue. It is past 3.00am, the beer barrel is nearly empty and the drummer has gone home. The party continues but the band is missing the beat. Dawn is approaching and the hang-over will soon kick in.
Politicians seem to be blinded by the glare of populist opinion and have no desire to be party poopers. Most government initiatives relating to issues of climate change and Peak Oil appear to be to subdue public anxiety by token gestures and to encourage the party – goers to continue to party. All behaviour has consequences and deliberate and sustained self delusion ends in tragedy.
Like many other people I am concerned about the consequences of our life style and the rate at which humanity is consuming finite resources and dumping our waste into an environment with a limited capacity to absorb it.
There seem to be two main contenders for the cause which will bring the party to a sudden and tragic end: Climate Change and Peak Fossil Fuels.
Climate change is extensively covered by the media and has many high profile activists seeking to change political attitudes so that sufficient action can be taken in time to avert disaster. Films like "An inconvenient Truth" and "The Age of Stupid" have made their point.
At current rates of consumption, ignoring the growing demand by developing economies the world has remaining:
Charles Handy, the business organisation Guru and author in his book, The Empty Raincoat, describes the Sigmoid Curve. This is an S Curve graph and is an ancient philosophical understanding of the origins, progress and demise of organisations, cultures and relationships. On the curve he speaks of two points, A and B.
A is the point on the curve where it is rising towards its peak and B is a point on the curve where it has passed its peak. At point A the subject, be it an empire, a business or a marriage is moving towards ever greater success but has options to change and develop in different directions. At point B the subject has passed its peak and has no options to prevent its inevitable decline into oblivion. At point A the subject is able to use its knowledge and resources to reinvent itself and to take off on another S Curve to a different destination.
In my opinion the Party of Westernised Industrial Civilisation is very near or even past point A.
I could be wrong and would love someone to prove it.
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