Lance Michael Foster said...
I would like to discuss more about baby steps toward the necessary policy shifts you mention. As you note, it will probably be easier to effect policy and taxation changes at a local level first. The key to all of this happening can be looked at in the interdependency of the social, techno-economic, and ideological spheres (the Anthropologist Leslie White looked at this). Any insight on which is the best entry point for change? Appropriate technology? Economic (including taxation and land use) shifts? Social structure and interaction? Ideological (can Christianity, Science/ Secularism, and Other -including Druidry) ever have a chance of finding common ground...survival perhaps?
8/18/06, 9:55 PM
John Michael Greer said...
Lance,
Good questions, and they deserve more than a quick note on a comments page. I have another post to make about the role of technology in a deindustrial world, but after that, expect some comments on the issues you've raised.
8/22/06, 1:50 PM
taran said...
You have written elsewhere about the need for personal responsibility as it relates to our environmental challenges. Indeed, that we wait for policymakers to solve our problems is an exercise in futility. This realization was something of an epiphany for me, as one who closely follows politics and has some faith (though very much battered in recent years) in the value of public debate and discourse. I found myself falling into the trap of believing that the political process is the only road to salvation. Like economists who make policy based on past performance, policymakers will not acknowledge peak oil until it has already happened. No politician will risk his or her political career by taking a strong position on the subject of energy conservation. It's up to us.
8/22/06, 7:41 PM
