…Y2K is not, at its roots, a technical problem. It
is a problem that arises from our social, economic and
cultural vulnerability and our blindness to that
vulnerability. When a [person] with a blindfold walks
over the cliff, the problem is not with the cliff, but
with the blindfold.
-Tom Atlee
One of
the primary results – and one of the primary needs
– of industrialism is the separation of people and
places and products from their histories.…In this
condition we have many commodities, but little
satisfaction, little sense of the sufficiency of
anything.…In fact, the industrial economy’s
most marketed commodity is satisfaction, and this
commodity, which is repeatedly promised, bought, and paid
for, is never delivered.…This persistent want of
satisfaction is directly and complexly related to the
dissociation of ourselves and all our goods from our and
their histories.
-Wendell Berry
We
join with the Earth
and with each other,
to bring new life to the land,
to recreate the human community,
to provide justice and peace,
to remember our children,
to remember who we are…
we join together
as many and diverse expressions
of one loving mystery,
for the healing of the Earth
and the renewal of all Life.
- Pat Cane
| What will our post-Y2K world look like? Will
it be a return to "life as usual," only
to await the next technological collapse? Is it
possible that we can take advantage of the
opportunity presented in this brief moment of
vulnerability – regardless of the severity
of Y2K disruption – to mobilize enough
momentum toward sustainability that we will never
turn back? Some say Y2K will be a speed-bump,
little more than an |
inconvenience. Others predict that it
will involve widespread disruptions, but that
those problems will be resolved in a period of a
few weeks, at most. At best, in this scenario,
government structures would continue functioning
and most communities would work well together to
surmount problems. At worst, there may be a few
toxic or nuclear accidents, some epidemics and an
occasional need for martial law. Others expect
truly catastrophic breakdown, with months or even
years of disruption (including widespread
starvation, etc.), and major changes in our
social structure (ranging from emergency martial
law to fascism to local gang control to the rise
of resilient communities). The end of the world
as we know it – or the beginning of the
world as we want it.
Moving
Sustainable Living Goals People in Olympia, Washington are determined to use Y2K as a step on the journey to sustainable community. Here is what Dorothy Craig (South Sound Y2K Community Action Group) has written: "Most of us probably think of sustainability as a vision for some far off future — a time when population has leveled off, consumption has been drastically reduced, and real wealth has been redistributed so all the Earth’s people are living a decent life in harmony with the natural world. "The possibility of widespread disruption caused by the now famous Y2K "bug" gives us an opportunity to think about sustainability in a more immediate way. Whether or not our lives will be seriously disrupted at the beginning of the new century, it is prudent to ask what would we do if this or some other emergency occurs. If we did have to adjust to life without our usual support systems — food from the supermarket, water from the tap, services from government agencies, and information from the Internet — we would have to quickly relearn skills that were second nature to our grandparents. We would have to grow our own food or rely more heavily on our few remaining local and regional farms. We would have to capture and store rainwater. We would have to depend on the information, skills, and cooperative spirit of our friends and neighbors. "Coincidentally, what we can do as individuals and communities to prepare for Y2K are the same things we would do to prepare to create a human culture that is sustainable in the long run:
For purposes of this discussion Tom and Doug are suggesting that a sustainable community has three critical characteristics:
Joanna Macy writes and teaches about three aspects of working for a life-sustaining society: "holding actions" (activism to protect biodiversity, for example), examining the structures that have produced our current situation and creating new ones (local currencies, for instance), and a shift in consciousness (which involves moving through despair to empowered intention). The vulnerable moment offered by Y2K and its anticipation is rich with possibilities in each of the areas Macy describes, and if we are to take steps toward creating sustainable communities, we will have to work in all three. |
The Role of Technology in Our Lives Both Y2K and a shift to sustainability raise significant spiritual and psychological challenges that are rooted in a consciousness that is influenced heavily by technology and consumption. It may not be too great a stretch to say we are addicted to "commoditized satisfaction." In fact, Tom has previously written of our need to "…deal with our addiction to the infrastructure and its seductive illusion of independence" and to replace it with "…conscious interdependence and partnership with nature and neighbor." Living sustainably would mean a dramatic
change in our |
relationship with
technology. In "Internet: The Illusion of
Empowerment" (Whole Earth Catalog,
Winter 1998), Jerry Mander asserts that the
computer revolution is "…disempowering
us, and our causes, and…leading to the
highest degree of corporate-controlled
centralization in history." Doug and a new
Y2K-introduced friend recently reflected on the
powerful distraction from more
"contact-full" living represented by
our computers (see question set #2 below)
A Holistic Approach to Sustainable Living There’s no such thing
as sustainable technology or economic development
without sustainable human We think that getting practical about sustainability involves a combination of building community, alternative technologies, and local economy. Here is a list of possibilities drawn from Tom’s article, "The Year 2000 Problem and Sustainability: Rediscovering Nature and Neighbors through Y2K," and The Year 2000 Problem: An Opportunity to Build Community, which Doug compiled for Northern California Earth Institute.
|
Questions for Discussion: 1) What in your social or natural environment could be most threatened by Y2K failures? What is worth sustaining in your own lifestyle? In your neighborhood? What could we learn by including those usually excluded (the homeless, for example) in our community-building? 2) How would you describe your relationship with the various technologies in your life? What technology in your life would you find most difficult to give up? What steps, if any, have you taken to bring more consciousness into your interaction with technology? How willing are you to explore the use of "alternative" technologies such as photovoltaic or wind power generation, solar cooking or greywater recycling? 3) What are your local stories, examples and inspirations of sustainable community? |
About our co-facilitators: Tom Atlee has dedicated his life to cultural transformation, peace and sustainability. One of his most popular articles was a critique of consumption, "The Conversion of the American Dream," published in the summer 1990 IN CONTEXT. In 1991 he spread the gospel of sustainability around the newly-free Czechoslovakia. His studies of collaboration and holism led him to found the Co-Intelligence Institute in 1996. Since he learned about Y2K last March, he's used his website (www.co-intelligence.org/) and his book AWAKENING: THE UPSIDE OF Y2K to suggest that we can use Y2K to create better lives and a more sustainable society. Doug Mosel is a student of deep ecology and an environmental activist, with particular interest in how humans can live more sustainably on Earth through natural building, application of permaculture principles, local economy, and community. He is Y2K Project Coordinator for the Northern California Earth Institute, and has just finished work on a five-session guide for Y2K study circles, which is now available through NCEI. He is also personal assistant to Joanna Macy and does occasional consulting on quality issues in health care. Most of his career has been in teaching and consulting in organization development and quality management. Doug grew up on a farm in Nebraska and currently lives in Oakland, CA. |
| This article was the introductory piece to the February1999 "Conversation of the Month" listserv. Click here for information on these conversations and how you can partake. |