Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
In this Reality Roundtable, Nate sits down with documentarian Damon Gameau and three young activists featured in his documentary film The Future Council, to discuss their experiences grappling with the complex challenges of transforming a system that is actively harming our planet and what they think should be done to save humanity from itself.
In today’s Frankly, Nate highlights seven views of the future and how broadening our awareness to include others’ starting points might allow for greater discourse and understanding.
Those coming into power now on a worldwide wave of discontent appear to understand little about the ultimate underlying causes of that discontent.
After all, once recognizing that the simple political dream is predicated on modernity’s continuance and perfection, and that it can never happen, then what’s the point?
It seems that the last human societies on earth to live the mobile lifestyles that our species maintained for hundreds of thousands of years do so largely as equals—but equals who must be very careful to stay that way.
Democracy is built in our homes, our schools, our workplaces, our neighborhoods. We can join with our neighbors to build communities of care that meet our direct needs and show that another world is not only possible, it is already blooming.
In short — the key to the profound changes that our current polycrisis is calling for lies in the cultivation of the social soil. Every one of us can be (and is) a gardener or farmer of that soil.
Most big-think essays like this end on a note of inspiration and hope. For once, I’ll resist the temptation to go that route. Can we humans make ourselves useful to the rest of life? It’s an open question.
Now that we have another four years of supreme stupidity, it seems all the more important to follow this small path, to turn away from the things that are harming us, to build up our communities, to live our lives — because this is all we get and the idiots do not get to take that from us, not even four years.
In today’s Frankly, Nate describes some of the battles – or polarities – of our time: the tensions and dichotomies we face from the global macro level all the way down to the level of individual metacognition.
We need to act where we can most effectively act now, in our communities and bioregions, cities and states. We’re only going to make it working together, building the future in place.
Concern about a surprise acceleration in the decline of human fertility is missing the most critical factor.
