Self-reliance, population, and bringing children into a troubled world [VIDEO]
by Lisa Hymas.
This is the latest in a series of Saturday GINK videos about
population
and reproduction (or a lack thereof).
Chris Martenson is a
scientist-turned-corporate-executive-turned-evangelizer-for-self-reliance-and-resilience.
He’s put together “The Crash Course,” a series of videos explaining
how trends in economics, energy, and the environment are playing out in such a
way that “the next 20 years are going to be completely unlike the last 20
years.”
Here’s his explanation of the concept of exponential growth,
using world population as a key example:
This video is part 3 of his 20-part series warning that the
Big Crash is coming, à la James Howard Kunstler, Richard
Heinberg, and Dmitry
Orlov. Martenson does at least offer up realistic, hopeful suggestions for how
to start adapting; check out his
chapter in the forthcoming Post
Carbon Reader.
I’m never sure what to make of Big-Crash-is-coming talk. I can see the logic behind it, and I certainly get
the wisdom of becoming more self-reliant. (I need to get to work on that; I got
a low-to-middling score on Yes! magazine’s self-reliance
quiz.) But I’m more compelled (if not necessarily more convinced)
by Alex Steffen’s
vision of working to change systems and institutions rather than preparing
for their inevitable collapse.
My encounters with collapse theory do resonate in one key
way, though: They reinforce my decision not to bring children into an already-troubled-and-probably-soon-to-be-much-more-troubled
world.
Have a video on population or GINK thinking to recommend? Post a link in comments below.
Related Links:
The exploding-kids climate video everyone’s talking about
Urban revitalization via art contest in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Why I heart the Park Slope Food Co-Op
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