Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of

hope at the end of our tether S 187
brought on in no small way by the profl igate American way of
life, few are willing to say otherwise. So we are told to buy hybrid
cars, but not asked to walk, bike, or make fewer trips, even at the
end of the era of cheap oil. We are asked to buy compact fl uorescent
light bulbs, but not to turn off our electronic stuff or avoid
buying it in the fi rst place. We are admonished to buy green, but
seldom asked to buy less or repair what we already have or just do
without. We are encouraged to build LEED-rated buildings that
are used for maybe ten hours a day for fi ve days a week, but we
are not asked to repair existing buildings or told that we cannot
build our way out of the mess we’ve made. We are not told that
the consumer way of life will have to be rethought and redesigned
to exist within the limits of natural systems. And so we continue
to walk north on that southbound train.
And maybe, told that our hindquarters are caught in a wringer,
the public would panic or, on the other hand, become so despairing
as to stop us from doing what we otherwise would do that
could save ourselves from the worst outcomes possible. This is
an old and cynical view of human nature that assumes that public
order and prosperity requires manipulating people into being
dependent and dependable consumers. People who do for themselves
make indifferent consumers and are a hazard to both the
economy and social stability. This is the kind of reasoning behind
the philosophy of Leo Strauss and his secretive followers, who
believe that elites have superior knowledge that the bovine masses
could never comprehend. Access to such hidden knowledge
licenses its possessors to manipulate the public and tell noble lies
to achieve higher ends. 1
Maybe this is true, and maybe gradualism is the right strategy.
Perhaps the crisis of climate and those of equity, security, and
economic sustainability will yield to the cumulative effects of
many small changes without any sacrifi ce at all. Maybe changes
now under way are enough to save us. Maybe small changes will
increase the willingness to make larger changes in the future.