improbable?

just exactly what is it that we need to see the way forward? why are we so tied to a life-world that is so spectacularly dysfunctional? it all operates pretty well now, as we burn through the oil supply at a rapid clip. the solution is simple, but improbable. it has nothing to do with smart this or that, thought leadership, international conferences, or non-governmental organizations of benevolent intent. all that stuff is well and good, but it involves a whole lot of time and energy spent in spinning our intellectual wheels. the solution requires everyone to get their hands literally dirty. to produce. to be both intellectual and worker. yes, it is socialistic, even communistic. they weren't wrong on everything. they were wrong in thinking you can force people to do what needs to be done. that doesn't work in the long run. there is a need for leadership, for articulating direction and organizing resources, for intellectual work. but then you have to just get out there. boots on the ground. our culture is frighteningly top-heavy and stratified. there are too many people that work out and not enough that work. people expect jobs to be created for them and not to have to figure out what needs to be done, then go do it. maybe I'm getting prematurely crotchety here, it's just that I know that we can do so much better for ourselves and for our kids. I think it's actually easier than we make it out to be. but it means taking some degree of physical responsibility for the means of one's own existence, without which everything tends to become a thought exercise. it means not following the money, but following the real things - the essentials of our sustained existence. perhaps we can re-link money to these essentials eventually. right now, our system of value/money has become severely distorted so that money is a pretty poor indicator of long-term value. but to restore real value will require a social consensus that will draw on the experience of each of us taking responsibility for our part in the making of our world.

Then and Now

While foraging on the web for info on tech "guru" Esther Dyson (of all things), my wanderings led to this collection of color photographs from the Great Depression/1940s.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/07/rare-color-photos-from-the-great-depression_n_674344.html

It is fascinating to see the difference between then and now, what we have gained and what we have lost. Here's my list:

Obligatory hat-wearing

Paint on houses

Physical work and getting dirty

The mental and physical flexibility to lie down on a wooden porch floor and be comfortable

Horses as a part of everyday life

Separation by race

Extreme rural poverty

Lack of building codes