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26 Jul 11
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Yet acceptance is but the first step and not nearly as hard as what comes next. Adapting well to a drawn-out decline in resource availability is not something with which we are familiar. Thus we must pre-familiarize ourselves with the behaviors needed for the leaner times ahead. We must plan for, motivate, and maintain deep, yet meaningful, behavior change starting with each of us, where we are, now. And we need to start this transition while we still have a surplus of social, psychological and resource capital.
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To continue to thrive humans must reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and material and energy consumption, by over 80%, and do so quickly. Implicit is an expectation of diminishing and, eventually, leveling material and energy abundance, and an appreciation of the future climate disruption caused by our past consumption. This bio-physical reality is inevitable. What is not inevitable, however, is the nature of our response. I’m heartened by Antonio Gramsci’s notion of a “pessimism of the intellect; optimism of the will.” While the resource descent will be historic, so too can be our response. My work is focused on helping citizens to form an affirmative response.
The depth of the required response is unprecedented. It is needed, even overdue, but it will be hard. It will not entail a collapse, but rather a descent to a lower level of social complexity. To have a gentler transition we need to accept a slower and simpler pattern of living. Crafting such a pattern of living requires developing a psychology of transitions. We must plan for, motivate, and maintain deep, yet meaningful, behavior change starting with each of us, where we are, now. Shall we make the transitions needed while we still have options, or wait until our options expire?
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