Preparedness

Note:  The following is a chapter I was asked to write for an upcoming book being put out by the Postcarbon Institute that will feature a large number of author’s contributions including Richard Heinberg, Rob Hopkins, Bill McKibben and many other notables. 

I have an agreement with them regarding public distribution of this material prior to the book release so I ask that you not copy, paste and distribute this electronically.  You may print it out and share with whomever you like. 

It can feel pretty personally overwhelming to learn about all the economic, environmental and energy challenges in store for us for the rest of this century. There’s plenty of work to be done by governments and businesses, sure—but what about preparing yourself and your family for this quickly changing world? The choices seem overwhelming. Where does one begin?

There were a number of excellent responses in the comments to the last Martenson Report.  Here I will address a few of them in a post, rather than sprinkle my responses throughout the thread, where some may miss them.

There were a lot of excellent responses, and I will try to get to them all here or in the next report.

I wish I could have gotten to these 24 hours ago, but I spent the last two days in Washington DC, on K Street, attending a conference on population and sustainability.  I gave a short presentation there, but my highlights were the opportunity to hear Richard Heinberg, William Catton (Overshoot – the 1980 classic), and Dennis Meadows (Limits to Growth), among other notables, give their presentations, and then interact with them during discussion sessions.

So here I am, back in the office and charged up from the new energy that is surging through the various communities of dedicated people addressing facets related to the three Es.