Here’s a nice little clip of Rob Hopkins at TED, speaking about the Transition Initiative, peak oil, climate change, and cultural narrative. For those interested but not well-versed in Transition, it’s a really nice intro.
In the video, Hopkins mentions the idea of “running into a wall” in terms of peak oil and climate change. He showed a picture of a truck crashing into a brick wall. (Some days I feel like that. Not the world, just me. But that’s another story.)
My Intro to Sustainable Engineering class calls this concept the “illusion of the cylinder.” We (society, individuals, corporations, etc.) are traveling through a cylinder, the walls of which represent our limitations – resources, ecosystems, etc. We are trying to avoid hitting the walls, tweaking systems based on “as much as possible.” Limit our impact as much as possible. Reduce consumption as much as possible. Minimize pollution as much as possible. As long as we can either keep ourselves from hitting the walls or, as we have done in the past, push the walls outward through technological innovation, we will be okay.
Except that according to my class (and Rob Hopkins, a bunch of climate scientists, sustainability activists, environmentalists… the list goes on), we’re not really in a cylinder. We’re in a funnel. The walls of the funnel are closing in on us, propelled by positive feedback loops in ecosystems, population growth, market pressure, resource availability, etc. As the funnel narrows, our options are increasingly limited and the time frame for consideration, discussion, debate, and action grows shorter. We have to start moving, and fast.
By the way, there’s a massive oil spill going on right now…
Are we in a cylinder? Are we in a funnel? Or are we in a truck with failed brakes, hurtling towards a brick wall? Discuss.
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Sorry. I have a final on race relations tomorrow and my poor battered brain can’t handle serious thought on both topics right now. But I can tell you that I am deeply disturbed by what I view as a reckless and arrogant squandering of resources in the United States. Sometimes it seems we will happily sell our souls to fry doughnuts! And while I am generally a fan of Obama, the idea of authorizing more offshore drilling before we have installed appropriate and adequate (preferably better than adequate) safety measures seems insane to me. It seems we have a huge problem with consumption in this country, and we need to get that under control. How’s that for random ramblings?
Love the random ramblings! I agree with you about the reckless squandering of resources. I often wonder if the issue is a lack of understanding, denial, or that people really just don’t care. Somehow the American identity seems to have become intertwined with our right to eat fried foods and watch too much reality TV.
And I definitely agree with you on the offshore drilling. Interesting article about the lack of mobilization on that issue in the wake of the oil spill – http://www.grist.org/article/2010-05-06-can-the-gulf-oil-spill-be-environmentalists-arizona-moment/
Hope your final went well!
[...] few weeks ago, I mentioned the funnel vs. the cylinder. It would be hard to do a shorter version than what I put in that post, but I’ll give it a [...]