|
Aleksandar Malečić
506 days ago |
When people discuss about the environment, they usually say that we should do something for our children and grandchildren. As years go by, it becomes evident that "children" and "grandchildren" are we. Our generation is in trouble. We still want to be entertained and get rid of boredom. I don't know what kind of intuition motivated Hermann Hesse to write his novel "The Glass Bead Game", but "the Age of the Feuilleton" is happening right now. Just look at all those socially accepted and popular people looking for the warmth of their careless flock. The mainstream media won't tell you much about preparation or possible avoidance of the perfect storm of all things weird and chaotic right in front of us. Things won't change if we ignore them. Science and technology can't do much about thermodynamics. Are you prepared for peak oil? We use the word "crisis" (bad life) to describe something benign in comparison to molten icecaps and permafrost (and feedback loops causing climate change going through the ceiling) and limited natural resources. Some scenarios about the future are more terrifying than we can even imagine. Banks and insurance companies will not be able to follow the change. We must figure out how to reconnect with our neighbours, friends and families. But how? They are painfully boring. Would life without show business and entertainment as usual be worth living? It would better be, because we (and our children and grandchildren) shall live it.
"The eternal growth" is behind us. We might not like this fact, but it's still a fact. It is time for maturity. No one knows how the change will look like, but you can bet it will be something enormous and never seen before. Also, it's difficult to regulate it by changed or adapted laws, especially because the time for such task is too short for politics as usual. The change will be very ad-hoc and random. In the meantime, it would be nice to have this meshwork (or something very, very similar) to make this change visible even in slow motion. Soon it won't be in slow motion, especially if we hesitate. If you can grasp causes and their effects, then you don't need to actually see them. It's better to be prepared. How? I don't know, but I do know that ignorance is not a part of the solution (if a "cushion" for less painful falling is a solution).
Local production of organic food, anyone? Or perhaps you prefer thinking about carbon emissions and fixing damage caused by climate change and unstable weather? Boooooring! But, there are worse things out there than boredom, such as killing other people for food, water and shelter. That kind of lifestyle definitely isn't for me. My children and grandchildren would also feel bad. The film "Mad Max" was made when I was a baby and I am still relatively young. Still, panic is a bad advisor, just like indifference and herd mentality.
|
