Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Amanda Millstein Amidst the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, California’s Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM), whose stated mission is to “prioritize protecting public health, safety, and the environment in its oversight of the oil, natural gas, and geothermal industries” paradoxically issued 24 new fracking permits on April 3rd, authorizing the first new oil wells using hydraulic fracking in California since July of last year.
I have come to think that the themes we on the Left should be coalescing around are dismantling rentier capitalism, offering a new income distribution system in which basic income divorced from the performance of labor is the anchor, and reviving all forms of commons and commoning.
If the pandemic extends into the next harvest, farmers like Piro may be forced to focus on maximizing yield at the expense of innovation, quality, and conservation. The long-term consequences are not just for our palates or our pockets, but for the environment.
Increases in GDP and CO2 over the past three decades have had one easily identifiable cause in common: the reluctance of governments to curb the carbon emissions of the world’s largest economies for fear of slowing the growth of their own GDP.
This shock to the transport system has come as a result of a global pandemic, despite consistent and increasingly urgent calls for change in the face of climate change. It took a more immediate public health threat to give governments the power to declare national emergencies and to restrict movement and other individual freedoms.
The point that must be recognized and discussed, that begs our attention, is the fact that “normal” was killing us.
Most of our politicians and the for-profit media portray the economic disaster we are currently facing as strictly Covid-caused. It’s not.
What is so heartening is how permaculture design in action is proving resilient! Whether in small urban spaces or large land-based projects, designing for multi-functional uses is proving how valuable a permaculture approach can be.
This fundamental question is the one I ask myself in my research, as an ecological economist. What are the physical things (like energy, materials, infrastructure and so on) we need to live well? To answer it, we must understand what we truly need, and how satisfying our needs connects to well-being.
Once we have emerged out of this crisis, governments around the world need to unlock the barriers to change to create an international trade policy that supports farmers who use environmentally sound practices and provides all people with a healthy and nutrient-rich diet.
The beauty of the solutions to systems fragility may lie in redefining and reimagining a New Community where our neighborhood can weave together sustainable elements that secure food, energy, water and shelter.
If oil has been laid low by the coronavirus, then the nations whose economies most depend on it might soon be on ventilators. By any prognosis the great oil price collapse of 2020 has pushed the world’s most volatile commodity into Code Blue.
We might feel helpless and intimidated in face of this current health & economic crisis. But there are many things we can do to stay strong even in times of Corona crisis. And, perhaps even more importantly, there are many ways to NOW prepare for the crises to come and build a resilient future.
