"Things Could Be Lazy If They Weren't So Crazy"

March 2, 2010 by David Eggleton

My title is the first line of a song Dave Mason recorded roughly forty years ago.  The song's title is World in Changes.

I recently sat several times through a recorded description of this historical moment that declares the next twenty years will be very different from the preceeding twenty years.  Ours is a world of change, as it always has been.  What's different now is the ratio of givens to fabrications.  Humans have undone a great deal in order to put much in place.  They've moved farther and farther into their own spaces and have extended themselves greatly, not always knowing what they're doing.

Over the span of three DVDs, the author/speaker presents much economic and financial material.  He asserts and explains that our standard practice of reviewing the recent past as we make decisions cannot serve us well.  He is a Massachusetts resident and his name is Chris Martenson.  The recording is called The Crash Course and is structured as twenty chapters.  You can view all of them at no cost at his Web site.  Consider this a recommendation.

Martenson tells our story and presents a number of concepts to aid understanding of it.  I'll dwell on the distinction he makes between growth and prosperity because it pertains to the foundation of Woburnite.com.  Martenson says a society can use any surplus it produces for growth or for prosperity.  He regrets that so many people consider them one in the same because that carelessness diminishes deliberation.  If we want to thrive, not just survive, we must be conscious and careful lest thriving be only by accident.

In a forum on Martenson's site, in which some confessed or revealed confusion about the distinction, I restated it with this:

"Prosperity is an achievement I'll enjoy, if not celebrate.  Growth is a calculated risk for a different prosperity.  I can't have the party if I'm moving on by investing with hopes for a bigger and better party later on.  I must choose."

The choice is to say "That's good.  That's enough."  If we loved simple parties, we could party more.  "Things could be lazy if they weren't so crazy."

What Will We Think Of Next?

January 13, 2010 by David Eggleton

When I was a boy, the question What will they think of next? was in the air, water and food.  I cannot recall a time I wasn't aware that clever people out there were busy preparing newness for us.  My family and its relatives, friends and acquaintances all anticipated next things, certain that innovation and invention behind commerce were to be continuous and endless.  Cheap fossil fuels were making so much possible, and it was fun to live as an almost care-free, autonomous sampler of developments.  It was freedom's new form, achieved through the climb out of the Depression and the victories over fascist imperialism.  At once students and fans of The Beatles, we looked forward to doing our part, which we would discover along the way.  Opportunities, of which the space program was symbolic, seemed unlimited for us, though not yet for all, as the civil rights and antiwar movements, in parallel, made plain.

Something very significant happened in those days that was not brought to our attention:  peak production of petroleum in the United States.  As a result not commonly regarded as one, before I reached the age of 21, energy availability and cost had become issues of which all were aware.  The issues would not go away during my lifetime, despite various leaders' assurances that they, those clever and funded ones, would surely devise some means of continuity for all to adopt.  We did not need to devise a new form of freedom, the leaders insisted.  Thus, they encouraged and enforced complacency.

It's forty years later.  Global peak production of petroleum was recent or is imminent.  Post-peak, the price must rise, partly because the population of would-be consumers is growing and partly because the easy-to-get was gotten first.  Only politically-motivated manipulations can alter the outcomes of these dynamics.  As the manipulations become impractical and/or immoral, what has seemed natural, almost a human right, will become a luxury, remaining such until it leaves the scene.

Long before that happens, most people will need new ways of their own making.  I'm wondering What will we think of next?  I'm hoping we can think and make, after so many years of doing our parts while counting on them.

For The New Mayor

January 6, 2010 by David Eggleton

I heard Mayor Scott Galvin address a crowd in the spectacular WMHS auditorium Monday evening after he took the oath of office.  I wish him well and hope that circumstances beyond the city limits don't force him to make many detours from his plans.  Highly cognizant of Woburn's advantages, he's made his plans commendably optimistic and ambitious.  The Daily Times Chronicle reported that he said "living in Woburn will become the absolute best value in the Commonwealth."

The event's printed program included a reminder that the previous two mayors in Woburn didn't remain in office as long as did  each of the ten preceding them.  I wish we could know what part external forces played in coloring and shaping the voters' perceptions of them and their challengers.  And, of course, I wish we could have a crystal ball for knowledge of what's coming at us with the potential for disturbance.

We don't have access to such knowledge, but many people in the world are confident that the way things are and the way things go are at unprecedented risk.  I've written about some of them, noting that we're at the end of key supply lines.  I emphasize that point because this Web site is concerned with helping people find what they need.  I would like to know that Mayor Galvin has assessed and is monitoring our vulnerabilities.  I hope he is considering new ways we residents of the city might participate in reinforcing, adapting and sustaining the best value in the Commonwealth.  Such internal moves are economic development, too.  Any that are fruitful and viable add to the resilience of the community.

Two Huge Successes Call for a Third

October 28, 2009 by David Eggleton

Altogether, humankind is way out on a limb that is severely stressed by the mass and activity of humankind.  The mass (in terms of population) is increasing (nearly 3x in my lifetime) and the activity is both overpowered and increasingly abstract.  By abstract I mean that intellect and spirit are not in balance with body and heart; we do not live and love according to the comprehensive design of our home.  In that, also known as the web of life, we are beings interdependent with all other beings.  We are different, but not so exceptional that we can go it alone.  We’re needy and needed.

Humankind reached its precarious and isolated perch by way of two very successful structural changes, the Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution.  The first featured harvesting recent solar energy as never before and the second came to feature exploiting ancient solar energy as never before.  A third, unprecedented success must enable much, if not all, of humankind to move toward the trunk, if not to various limbs, before the overloaded limb snaps.  The necessary movement includes harnessing, as never before, solar energy as it arrives and as it almost immediately effects movements of air and water.  It also includes preparation for the time when forms of ancient solar energy will be very expensive, if even available.

I opened with “altogether, humankind.”  However, in many significant ways, humankind is not together, is not a unity.  The UN and WTO notwithstanding, there is no we that can act conclusively to the necessary degree.  Historical and cultural factors created and sustain divisions that produce indifference, mistrust, scapegoating and violence of many kinds, of many scales.  And nations – even communities within them – are no more unified than the world.  Many, many people everywhere feel uncertain and insecure, or live in fear.  Comfortable or not, they hope and pray the limb won’t break, and humankind won’t fall, during their lifetimes.

The lack of unity in and among nations makes timely political action for the third great structural change unlikely.  In a few weeks, we’ll observe a restructuring attempt in Copenhagen by representatives of over 100 nations.  Even if those talks produce an agreement, responsive and effective actions by the separate governments are far from guaranteed.

I recommend that each person begin to invest available attention, time and energy in proactive movement toward the trunk and, as possible, to other limbs.  This appropriately-powered and affordable movement follows a declaration of interdependence.  It entails closing gaps between people in their locales.  It entails closing gaps between humans and the other beings in their locales.  It entails the unprecedented balancing and integration of body, mind, heart and spirit of each human being.