Richard Heinberg's new book "Peak Everything" is now available from New
Society publishers, and it's a must-read, imo, for everyone interested in
facilitating the transition from what eco-philosopher Joanna Macy calls
"industrial growth society" into "life sustaining civilization" in the next
few decades.
What's great about Heinberg is his calm, reasonable and
low-key presentation of a truly stunning situation. We all know bits
and pieces of it -- climate change, end of cheap fossil fuels, overpopulation,
habitat destruction, etc. -- but he brings it all together in its
up-to-the-minute form so we can view the entire challenge and its current
direction.
"It is hard to escape the conclusion that while the 20th century saw the
greatest and most rapid expansion of the scale, scope and complexity of
human societies in history, the 21st will see contraction and
simplification. The only real question is whether societies will contract
and simplify intelligently or in an uncontrolled, chaotic fashion."
"None of this is easy to contemplate," he admits. "Nor can this information
easily be discussed in polite company: the suggestion that we are at or near the
peak of population and consumption levels" is especially taboo. "The
result: a general, societal pattern of denial."
In a chapter entitled "The Psychology of Peak Oil and Climate Change"
Heinberg looks at the role of psychology in the coming decades. He asks "Could
the scientific understanding of human psychology help change our collective
thinking proactively so as to minimize the chaos and suffering and maximize
positive adaptive behavior?"
"Those with psychological training may play as important a role in our
collective adaptation to Peak Oil and Climate Change as energy experts and
permaculturists. The former should perhaps be gearing up to treat not only
individuals but whole communities." Yes!
He also addresses other subjects I'm very interested in: the psychological
stages of waking up to our present situation; Joanna Macy's
despair-to-empowerment work; going beyond the Elizabeth Kubler-Ross stages of
grief into action; collective PTSD; using the addiction/dependency model to
understand "addiction to oil;" and social marketing.
I highly recommend this book.