"Collapse" is already happening, and it's speeding up.

What is it, if anything, you need to do to prepare for the changes it will bring to our lives? How will you thrive?

Here are some of the things going on in the world just from today's headlines (Mostly NOT in the Lame Stream media) that are going to drastically affect how you live and who you are.

• Japan's death agony continues  (Collapsenet.com) Typhoon Roke will pass right over Fukushima - 1 Million may evacuate.
• TEPCO says up to 500 tons of groundwater already flowing into Fukushima Power Plant (japantoday.com)
• China cannot save Europe when it's defaulting on it's own debt (Forbes)
• China Pulls The Rug From Under Europe, Halts French Bank Transactions, Makes Good On Trade War Ultimatum (ZeroHedge.com)
• Saudi King heralds the dawn of the new World Order (Yahoo Business)
• The new most dangerous cities in America (BusinessInsider.com) There are 25 of them....
• Eurozone crisis coukld push Britain back over the edge (independent.co.uk)
• There will be peak oil (Acklett's Energy Mix)
• Palestine: The move to vote on statehood begins Friday. I'm trying hard to imagine an outcome that won't trigger war or uprising. Pres. Obama has said the US will veto statehood (haaretz.com)
• Europe's Central banks load up on Gold (theglobeandmail.com)
•  Global energy use to jump 53% (CNN) The question is, how?
• The corporate bank run has begun (zerohedge.com)
• Mayor Bloomberg says world social unrest will hit America's streets (bbc.co.uk)

I could go on and on. The point here is not to be negative, but to be aware of what's happening on the planet. I'm not negative, but I am alarmed (as if that were an inappropriate reaction, and is a much better place than denial). Few of us are eager to contemplate, let alone truly face, these looming changes. Just the threat of losing chunks of the comfortable way of life we’re accustomed to (or aspiring to) is a frightening-enough prospect. But there’s no avoiding the current facts and trends of the human and planetary situation.

From The Waking Up Syndrome by Sarah Anne Edwards and Linda Buzzel:

What’s going on may or may not be inevitable, but we don’t have to speed it along. We can do at least one thing to ease or lessen the negative impact of these changes. We can join an environmental action group, plant a tree, bike to work, help with a protest march or write letters to our congressperson. Just doing our little bit to limit the damage eases the psychological distress we’re feeling, even if we’re not “saving the whole world.”  Taking even a small stand for what Joanna Macy calls “the life-sustaining society” (as opposed to the life-destroying one) gives us back our dignity and sense of agency.

Raise our level of consciousness so we can maintain some serenity and not burn out in the midst of all this change. We might adopt a spiritual practice of some kind, take up meditation, expand our understanding of ecology or history, or spend time reconnecting with nature, learning to live our lives in harmony with the rest of the earth.

To Learn More

Books

Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life by Cecile Andrews.
World as Lover, World as Self: Courage for Global Justice and Ecological Renewal by Joanna Macy.
The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community by David Korten.
The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change and other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-first Century by James Howard Kunstler.
Middle-Class Life Boat, Careers and Life Choices for Staying Afloat in an Uncertain Economy by Paul and Sarah Edwards.
Permaculture: Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability by David Holmgren
Peak Everything: Waking up to the Century of Decline by Richard Heinberg.
Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World by Richard Heinberg.
Reconnecting with Nature by Michael J. Cohen.

Documentary DVDs
The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream. www.endofsuburbia.com/previews.htm
Escape From Suburbia: Beyond the American Dream
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
What a Way to Go: Life at the End of the Empire. www.whatawaytogomovie.com/
Crude Impact
Collapse

Organizations

The Post-Carbon Institute www.postcarbon.org

Photo credit: Jos van Wunnik

Where Are We Headed?

People who know me, and not just through the Internet or my blog, pretty much describe me as outgoing, optimistic, and positive. I always believe things are going to work out, even if they seemingly aren't. Seemingly is the key word, and must be referred to throughout this blog, even the end results and conclusions.

This is a time in history when it feels somewhat difficult to be optimistic. I can't tell you how many people I've heard who are referring to "a shift" taking place...a turning of the ages, if you will, predicted for this time by sources long gone, including Nostradamus, the Mayans, and, yes, even the Bible. We no longer have to worry about predictions - we only have to open our eyes.

It's hard to be optimistic as we near the end of 2007 with all of the events and circumstances we now find ourselves facing. We face monumental problems unlike any humankind has ever experienced. For one, up until about 70 years ago, at no time in our history have we had the wherewith all to completely destroy ourselves, and even that scenario and possibility, despite the end of the Cold War, is still with us today. Ideologues, despots, religious fundamentalists, and madmen seem to control these fierce arsenals, and who knows what any of them might do as result of a perceived threat or to further their own means. We don't have took far to find them, either.

Wars might have broken out in spots, but most places were untouched by them at any given time and our survival as species was not threatened.

No longer.

We now have have Pakistan's leader, Musharraf, taking complete control of that country and it's nuclear arsenal. We have already seen the first resource war, the first Gulf War, where Saddam Hussein tried to take control of Kuwait's oil fields, and are seeing the second in the US occupation of Iraq. Make no mistake: Every war from here on out is a resource war, whether for oil or water.

California has it's own resource war ongoing on between the north and the south and the battle for the state's water is taking serious shape. Watch this one closely: it will be retold again and again across the globe over the next few years. LA has no water and rather than legislate, California's legislators are preparing two bills, one in favor of the south and one in favor of the north, to see which way the wind blows. Atlanta has a dwindling 4 month supply in it's aquifer and is ground zero in the epic drought that's tightening it's grip on the south. Use of middle America's Ogallala Aquifer, running from Nebraska to Texas, averages 25% above the rate of replacement - more bad news.

The Debt Crisis: Citibank just wrote down $11.5 billion in bad loans as a result of the sub-prime market. It wrote down another $6B just a month ago. Many are saying it's the first domino in a collapsing banking industry. That causes another serious problem:

The Stock Market: As a result of the Debt Crisis, the stock market crashes, losing approximately 25%, or more, of it's value. The dollar continues to fall.

As the dollar falls, foreign governments, particularly OPEC nations, switch to the EURO as the trading currency, further devaluing the dollar: Depression. Massive unemployment. Debt. Record bankruptcies.

Oil is going to reach $100 a barrel real soon. It hit $96 a barrel today. Up from $60 a barrel 4 months ago. Any predictions?

Global Warming. Coming down the highway like a giant big rig running on it's last gallon of diesel. More drought.

Population: 6+ Billion and growing.

I struggle for balance in the face of all the negativity thrust upon us as a result of increased awareness through being able to hold the "unholdable" perspective, and as a result, being more conscious than the average comatose individuals who have been intentionally lulled to sleep (the average people I know don't have a clue about what's going on or are in denial).

I look at these events with a belief that these are not random, meaningless events, but, rather, are occurring for the distinct purpose of waking us up, to stretch us into new territories of awareness. For me, that waking up is the profound realization that what we are now doing, as Americans, and as humanity, is simply not sustainable, and that there will be a shift, and things will be very different than they are now.