Saturday, July 29, 2006

Love from me

I have been reading Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. We own a few books by the same author and all his books that I have read have the same message. The message is that humans are not meant to live the way we're living and unless we change our way of thinking we'll go extinct. He writes that humans see ourselves as above and separate from nature and the world, and therefore not affected by the changes we make to our environment.

I was saying to Partner the other day that I wondered if gas prices would climb so high that people couldn't afford to drive any more. What I really meant was, will this happen in the very near future? And if it does, how will it affect our lives, as a civilization? I think it could potentially be a very exciting or very frightening time. On one hand, law and order may collapse and anarchy ensue. Governments may declare martial law and citizens starve in their homes, with no food or electricity able to reach them. Or maybe it will happen gradually so that we become a bike riding and walking people, growing our own produce and eating only locally grown foods. I think if all the gasoline in the world suddenly disappeared tomorrow, a lot of people would find themselves out of their jobs. The more obvious ones like bus and taxi companies of course would become obsolete, but then think how much of the economy depends on the ability to ship a product from one place to another. I think we wouldn't be getting newspapers or books. We'd have to find another source of clothing than the local mall. I think the entire service industry would be severely crippled: stores wouldn't be able to receive stock any longer.

To me, it sounds like an exciting change. I think of all the positive changes that could be made. It makes me think of what I could do right now to be ready for it. Like study up on gardening. Buy a bike. Find out about solar panels and wind turbines for the house. Decide whether or not I want to live here permanently before all the airplanes are retired!

1 comment:

nobody_in_particular said...

I have read Ishmael myself, and I thought some stuff was rather silly (like the Cain and Abel stuff), however I have always thought we need to get back to nature. Being an American, I find it disturbing that most of our food comes on boats from other countries, and if I was not required by the government to pay taxes and insurance on my house, and neither hunt nor fish without buying a liscence and acting in the proper season; I would even now give up my job and grow my own garden, and spend my time basket weaving, and storytelling, with my family.