Facing the Future

Transforming Society to Sustainability

Let’s face it: we have some big problems that must be addressed. Our political woes in the United States seem overwhelming, but we are not alone. People all over the world are facing similar situations, and many of them are rising up and working to restore some kind of democracy that works for all people. We will do no less here, if that is what is demanded of us. There is a solution—it is participation—and it will work.

Our bigger problem is that the industrialized society we’ve been building for hundreds of years is not sustainable. Climate change has come to remind us of what that means. For at least the next decade, we are going to experience increasing devastation from ever more intense and frequent storms and fires. There will be no solution to climate change until we divert our society from the path we’re on and shift to a sustainable future.

Many people are waking up to this reality and asking, “What can I do?” The answer is simple in concept but difficult in practice. The first part is to stop doing the things you do that contribute to climate change. Change your diet to plant-based, change your mode of transportation, reduce, reuse, recycle. Consume less, encourage others, and elect leaders who are committed to these values.

But even if a majority of us do our best to change our lifestyles for the greater good, it still won’t be enough. Consuming less is still consuming, and those invested in ensuring we continue to use fossil fuels and buy consumer goods aren’t going to stop their efforts to maintain the status quo. The government won’t be stepping in to regulate in ways that improve the situation, because for the last forty years, the government has decided that these interests are the ones it works for. We can hope that progressives reclaim our democracy, but that isn’t going to happen for four, eight, twelve years—or more. And then there are the people who won’t change and don’t care, and unfortunately, there seem to be quite a lot of them.

So, are we doomed to do the best we can in a losing cause? Not necessarily. There is another solution, and it involves technology—but probably not in the way you might imagine. To think that some invention will appear, a switch will be flipped, and our climate problems will be solved—while allowing us to continue on our current path—is technological arrogance. Our technological choices are, to a great extent, what got us into this problem. These choices always come with the promise of a better life. But have they delivered?

Those of us who are Boomers grew up in the golden age of our current society. We played in the streets and fields, ate TV dinners, watched *Howdy Doody* or *Bullwinkle*, learned to make and fix things, and had the best music. We knew people at local shops and looked forward to a bright and stable future—if we didn’t get killed in a foreign war or nuked. Our grandparents told us about the simple pleasures they enjoyed in a world without traffic jams, where you knew and relied on your neighbors.

I’m not denying that computers and cell phones have provided many benefits—but have they actually made our lives *better*? Those who support the status quo want you to measure this by wealth, material possessions, and other tangible, quantifiable things. But we all know—and have recently been reminded—that the most important things in life, and the only things that truly matter, are intangible. Our relationships, and our sense of belonging to a loving and caring community, are what really count. Everything else is just stuff.

So what if we focused on *this* in our education, rather than preparing our children for jobs that won’t exist in the future? What if we taught them to live together in a sustainable way, rather than continuing to contribute to the problem?

I know you’re still scratching your head, wondering what I’m actually proposing. So here it is:

**Teach the young people who are currently living in their parents’ basements how to farm—intensively, biodynamically, and sustainably—and how to live communally. Get them out on the land.** They will still use their cell phones and computers, but differently—and, perhaps, a bit less. They won’t be returning to a pre-industrial society, but will be living in an intentionally more sustainable way: making more, using less.

The communal living aspect is not some grand scheme for communist world domination—it is a practical solution to our need to reduce the human population. The nuclear family that replaces itself doesn’t support those who choose not to have children. Communal life will also offer many other benefits. Sports and the arts could thrive in local, community-based settings, improving the health and well-being of everyone, rather than being a system where very few participate and only a tiny fraction benefit.

Can you imagine a whole community that sings and plays together, instead of individuals apart, locked behind doors, passively consuming?

Now I know you may be thinking this is just a utopian dream—but it’s not. It is a solution to a problem. A big problem: how to transform our society. We know with absolute certainty that we cannot continue down our current path and expect our species to survive unchanged. But few are willing to commit to any vision of transformation. Most are just waiting to see what happens. Maybe doing their best, and waiting.

But there are too many forces working hard to maintain the status quo for us to just drift into the future. That will bring us catastrophe—it already has.

My solution will not be easy. Farming depends on healthy soil, water, and other resources we have squandered for many years. It also relies on stable and predictable weather patterns—and we can no longer count on those. New technologies will have to be deployed to overcome these challenges.

So go ahead and keep your visions of *Blade Runner*—with its flying cars, monorails, and endless skyscrapers piercing the clouds. I’ll dream of sustainable communities of people living on and nourishing the land—and their souls. And I’ll bet you that my vision will do a better job of preventing a world that looks like *The Terminator* than yours will.