http://survivalacres.com/wordpress/

April 23, 2008

Hump Day, Hump Year

It is a strange feeling to have all of your ‘predictions’ come true. For the past two plus years, I have been warning that there would be global food shortages that would even affect Americans in the land of plenty. These were not predictions, but simple assessments of where things were headed due to the domino effect of collapsing systems around the world.

The American media has finally caught on, barely, by reporting the growing shortages in newspapers, television and radio. But the “entire truth” of the situation still remains hidden.

I do not “know” the whole outcome of what is happening like some have hinted at, but I do know that we have only barely begun to see the horrors to come. I know this to be true for several reasons. History for example, paints an picture of intense human suffering due to things like famine and resource depletion. Climate change, still stupidly denied by many also paints a historical record of cataclysmic changes that effected ALL life on Earth.

We know now that these things are irreversible. We can do absolutely NOTHING about resource depletion or climate change. They are what they are and will be what they will be. We can no more put greenhouse gases back into the bottle (sequestering) then we can replenish the oil in the ground. It can’t be done.

The current crop of proposals I’ve seen suggest that we can in fact do this. I remain utterly unconvinced for a couple of reasons. Number one: most of the proposals are totally unproven. At best, they are “guestimates” which is a very, VERY dangerous proposition when you are considering what it means should they fail, or cause irreversible environmental impacts, even accelerating climate change.

Number two: humans have a propensity to squander any “saved” resources. The is Jevons Paradox as I recall, our alleged “savings” are quickly used up despite our best efforts at conserving. Energy for example, if produced by renewable resources, would simply spawn entire new industries and consumption. It’s “free” right? Might as well “use it”.

And thus the cycle of our destructive behavior would (and does) continue. It seems we are absolutely doomed to collapse, and I think we are. I think our own human history proves this over and over and over again. Why should “we” in this generation be any different? We are neither smarter nor more able to change things then they were, our ancestors. It could be argued in fact, that we are dumber and less aware then ever before. Sure, we have instant communications, but our entire paradigm of living is so out of kilter with reality and a world of finite and even fragile resources, that we yet stupidly believe we can “control” our destiny.

I think not. I think we are foolishly following in the footsteps of all those other collapsed civilizations from around the world who also believed that they would be immune from cause and effect. This is very hard for us to grasp, the world is indeed a big place, but just look back over the past 20 or 30 years. Human population and demand has swollen to unprecedented levels, we are as much as 85 times OVER our actual carrying capacity.

This is a hugely significant number. But it is meaningless to almost everyone. Our world view is of the modern world, we barely understand what happened right here only 100 years ago when wild Indians still roamed the land. And we’re all too busy to really concern ourselves with these things, we feel the need to press forward and ahead all of the time. The past is the past, after all, let’s embrace the future.

Well, I dare say, the future isn’t even remotely what everyone seems to still think it’s going to be. Blog readers know my thoughts on this. I’ve long been trying to create a picture from the mosaic of “dots” taking place around the world and my “predictions” of our future has not changed one bit I’m afraid. It’s still as bleak, if not bleaker then ever.

Like the scientist who are constantly reassessing their estimates of climate change and how fast it’s really happening, I’m doing the same thing. Here are a few things I now know to be true:

a) nobody is storing enough food. This is not an upsell at all — just a simple fact. You didn’t buy enough when it was cheaper and now it’s in serious short supply and getting worse, daily.

b) climate change is far, far worse then anybody has estimated except mavericks like Lovelock. Denial isn’t making it go away of course, but this is getting ridiculous. I wish I had a plug nickel for every idiot that claims it’s not true. I could build my own Eiffel Tower. Climate change is already have severe impacts around the world, but we haven’t see the real thing yet. The REALLY scary thing about climate change is the methane NOW being released from the Siberian permafrost. A runaway effect is starting that will destroy most life on earth. Yeah, I’m that doom about it now.

c) we can do NOTHING at all about stopping climate change — or resource depletion. For every cause and effect, we have Jevons Paradox at work. Our tiny, futile and utterly puny efforts to stop the Goliath of climate change are downright laughable. The only ’solution’ is to dramatically reduce global population, revert to Stone Age living and ride it out for the next ten thousand years. There you have it. Not going to be voted the most popular I’m sure.

d) proposals to ‘reinvent’ our business models to ‘go green’ are stupid, wasteful and utterly misguided. They continue to practice resource depletion in one form exchanged for another, growth, capitalism and expansion. All the things that should not be happening.

e) contraction is ‘out of the question’ for all the leaders of government, enterprise and business. This spells their death knell. So what? Let ‘em all die. Needs to happen, the sooner the better. And yes, I know what this means. But I also know that if we don’t let or make this happen, we ALL die, as in the human species will go extinct.

f) are you fucking serious? Yes, of course I am. Our worldview is incredibly warped and distorted. We can only “see” what we have experienced and come to know as being “real”. But think about it. Our artificial, shrink-wrapped and food coloring added world isn’t real and never was. Injecting more hormones (stimulus) won’t make it anymore real either. Or lab grown meat. Or biotechnology. Or any other technical wizardry that says “exploit whatever you can for your own benefit”.

This is “stupid thinking” by technologists that are attempting deny the real world we live in. Cover it up, pave it over, master it, harness it and force it to “behave” for human pleasure and consumption. Look where it got us. Look where it’s going. Look at what is going to happen. How can anyone lay claim that this is “better”?

Yeah, we could have done whatever we had wanted and the planet could have absorbed it all — if we had limited ourselves and our excesses, but that is something we could not seem to do. So we didn’t — we went ahead and conquered it all and each other and launched thousands of wars to kill off those that just didn’t see it that way. We were right, after all, our way or the highway. Death to the infidels and savages and all that. Manifest Destiny was our mantra — and we killed our planet in the process.

Stupid is as stupid does and we’re still seeing a whole lot of stupid. This is because we have not learned to escape from this present paradigm of resource control (ownership) and consumption (greed). We have forgotten what life is all about and have replaced it with this artificial caricature of instant pleasure and selfish gratification.

So be it. Our destruction is nigh and overdue. The reaper comes and will wreck terrible vengeance upon us all. Nothing we can do about it now.

g) warning people is a waste of time, dangerous and will lead to panic. But it will happen anyway, so ‘get used to it’. Go with the flow so to speak. You and I and everyone else really can’t help anybody, we’re all going to face our personal collapse on our own anyway. You don’t see people helping those in real need now, right? I’m mean, a handout here and there isn’t real help, it’s a pity party. Nobody steps up to the plate and say’s, hey — let me really help you out here.

Well, some do, but on such a tiny level and scale that it’s obscured by all the current human suffering going on in the world. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it, it only means we’re not doing enough of it. Not even close, and not ever enough when the **** really hits the fan here.

No, my ‘faith’ in the human heart has not changed one bit. The same greed, selfishness and stupidity rages rampant. Those that predict a kumbaya future have absolutely no concept at all of human selfishness — or human history. It is not the meek who inherit the earth and never have — it is the vicious, brutal, violent and evil bastards that plunder and profit until somebody worse then they are comes along and takes them out.

Nobody is really getting ready for that world, not in the circles I run in at least. I strongly suspect that there are in fact groups preparing for this, but they’re well funded and well staffed and well trained. Yeah, I’m talking about the military here, they’ve got hidden bases all over this country and the world. And they have both the funding, scientist and researchers to know exactly what is coming down and headed their way. We have only the barest understanding what Continuity of Government actually means.

h) our self-imposed ‘isolation’ from one another is deplorable, predictable, necessary and evil. In other words, we’re already dead. We don’t like each other, trust each other or think we need each other. Only the latter is wrong. There will be no solutions for this until we start dying in droves. Between now and then, we’ll keep killing each other with a vengeance. We like doing this. This is why humans are at the top of the food chain, we kill with impunity. Nowadays, we do this with great efficiency. Expect much more of this in the near future.

i) anyone preparing for this future will be marginalized as ‘crazy’ using a variety of labels and terms to describe their demented state. This is only meaningful when they come to you with pitch forks and clubs. And they will, in droves. They won’t blame themselves for being irresponsible and clueless, they’ll blame you for being prepared. Irrational behavior will characterize their actions. We’re seeing this now in new housing developments, new roads being built and crop lands being planted in biofuels. What we will see in the future will be truly bizarre as they try desperately to cling to their chosen way of life..................