By Tom & Carol Braford
There are two pathways to surviving and indeed socially thriving during the ongoing global temperature rise and downhill multi-polar slide as we rush past peak everything, according to world renowned writer and best selling French author, Jean-marc Jancovici. In his book, World Without End, which has just come out in a US focused version, he says there really are only two paths: “Sobriety” and “Poverty”.
The first is a conscious choice to collectively reduce fossil fuel use, while also lowering consumption, shifting to localized food and other production while building up civil society and democracy. We believe Communities of Practice and their influence on surrounding neighborhoods could accomplish this. The second path, massively expanding poverty, is the inevitable outcome of inaction. I think most of you would agree that we have enough poverty in St. Louis and should be moving in the other direction, so we invite you to join us.
A young man I met at Earth Day confided in me that at 29 he was recently forced to move back home because he could no longer afford to live on his own. I told him about our plans to develop Just Post Carbon Communities of Practice, built in part by the people who are committed to living and working there. I asked him my favorite question, “If you could have it be any way, what would your job in our Ecovillage be?” Without hesitation, he said researching how more people could live that way. After he left I told Rahul, one of the volunteers at our booth who is a professional researcher and who had agreed earlier to be a consultant to the project, that I had just found him his first apprentice. I am convinced that people do not want to go quietly into that dark night; they want to put up a fight, not with their fists or weapons, but with their minds.
Let’s build the society and economy we and future generations want and need now, right here in St Louis and elsewhere! What role do you want to play?
To learn more and to get involved, please contact us at: braford@sbcglobal.net or at www.ArizmendiEcovillage.com.