Not Making The Cut
Certainly one of the sexiest parts of sustainability or paradigm shift discussion is what would it look like? Will the future be like a Road Warriors Movie? A replay of our grandparents time?
By definition, sustainability and paradigm shift would mean lifestyles and economy would be way different from what we have now. The ideal of paradigm shift is not to make the current "System" green. That is an oxymoron. We cannot make 300 million cars and trucks in the US green along with the freeways and suburbia. We can't make junk food green nor industrial scale animal agriculture. The ideal of the Primer is to move past capitalism and the consumer culture and that means a lot of products, past times and leisure activities we are familiar with now come to an end. Will that end be dramatic or gradual?
In another part of the Primer, I describe my own lifestyle. Lots of anecdotes. According to the Global Footprint Network's Footprint Calculator, my footprint comes out to about one earth. That translates to, one planet earth could sustain everyone in the world who consumed like me. That doesn't mean the same house, meals, recreation. It means an equivalent amount of energy and resources used. Wow! My lifestyle is very comfortable and secure. At least for me it is. Most mainstream middle class people would probably not want my lifestyle. The average American weighs in at 5 earths. Cnsuming something like 5 times what I use of resources and energy.
So what that means is, I am already living in the more or less in the destination of paradigm shift. Already. My lifestyle provides a real life idea of what products and services don't make the cut. I would not take the footprint calculator as the final word, in that part of the Primer I critique the calculator, nonetheless, my level of consumption offers a useful idea of what doesn't make the cut.
HERE is a link to that anecdotal content.
The implications of sustainability are enormous.. Many millions of jobs will not make the cut to sustainability and uplift because their jobs and services simply do not fit sustainability either for eco logical reasons, social reasons or both.
Of course, a good question to ask is, who decides what makes the cut? Of course, a relatively benign transformation from consumer culture to sustainability is nice dream. Still, people can make many positive changes in their own lives and neighborhoods. Run down apartment complexes can turn into eco villages. People can share cars or live without them. Many aspects of paradigm shift are totally reachable at small scale.
Another task of paradigm shift is to create as many examples of sustainability and uplift as possible as the current System runs its course. How that plays out will be very interesting. Much of the now and later comparisons below will take place one way or another. Best by choice rather than default.
Certainly one of the sexiest parts of sustainability or paradigm shift discussion is what would it look like? Will the future be like a Road Warriors Movie? A replay of our grandparents time?
By definition, sustainability and paradigm shift would mean lifestyles and economy would be way different from what we have now. The ideal of paradigm shift is not to make the current "System" green. That is an oxymoron. We cannot make 300 million cars and trucks in the US green along with the freeways and suburbia. We can't make junk food green nor industrial scale animal agriculture. The ideal of the Primer is to move past capitalism and the consumer culture and that means a lot of products, past times and leisure activities we are familiar with now come to an end. Will that end be dramatic or gradual?
In another part of the Primer, I describe my own lifestyle. Lots of anecdotes. According to the Global Footprint Network's Footprint Calculator, my footprint comes out to about one earth. That translates to, one planet earth could sustain everyone in the world who consumed like me. That doesn't mean the same house, meals, recreation. It means an equivalent amount of energy and resources used. Wow! My lifestyle is very comfortable and secure. At least for me it is. Most mainstream middle class people would probably not want my lifestyle. The average American weighs in at 5 earths. Cnsuming something like 5 times what I use of resources and energy.
So what that means is, I am already living in the more or less in the destination of paradigm shift. Already. My lifestyle provides a real life idea of what products and services don't make the cut. I would not take the footprint calculator as the final word, in that part of the Primer I critique the calculator, nonetheless, my level of consumption offers a useful idea of what doesn't make the cut.
HERE is a link to that anecdotal content.
The implications of sustainability are enormous.. Many millions of jobs will not make the cut to sustainability and uplift because their jobs and services simply do not fit sustainability either for eco logical reasons, social reasons or both.
Of course, a good question to ask is, who decides what makes the cut? Of course, a relatively benign transformation from consumer culture to sustainability is nice dream. Still, people can make many positive changes in their own lives and neighborhoods. Run down apartment complexes can turn into eco villages. People can share cars or live without them. Many aspects of paradigm shift are totally reachable at small scale.
Another task of paradigm shift is to create as many examples of sustainability and uplift as possible as the current System runs its course. How that plays out will be very interesting. Much of the now and later comparisons below will take place one way or another. Best by choice rather than default.
