Beyond Hope and Doom: Time for a Peak Oil Pep Talk
Awareness of Peak Oil, Climate Change, impending global economic implosion, topsoil depletion, biodiversity collapse, and the thousand other dire threats crashing down upon us at the dawn of the new millennium constitutes an enormous psychological burden, one so onerous that most people (and institutions) respond with a battery of psychological defenses-mostly versions of denial and distraction-in an effort to keep conscious awareness comfortably distanced from stark reality. I discuss this in "the Psychology of Peak Oil and Climate Change," chapter 7 of Peak Everything, where I conclude that the healthiest response to dire knowledge is to do something practical and constructive in response, preferably in collaboration with others, both because the worst can probably still be avoided and because engaged action makes us feel better.
Some people who are aware of global threats respond psychologically with a relentless insistence on maintaining mental focus on possible positive futures, however faint their likelihood of realization. Other knowledgeable people are irritated by this behavior and prefer to plunge themselves into prolonged contemplation of the worst possible outcomes. On various Internet discussion sites this split plays out in endless flame-wars between "doomers" and "anti-doomers" (the latter differ from cornucopians, who deny that there is a problem in the first place).
I generally try to avoid both extreme viewpoints. To me, all that matters in the final analysis is whether awareness leads to effective action that actually reduces the risk of worst-case scenarios materializing.
But the fact is, even those who do engage in practical action get bogged down from time to time in fear, grief, and a sense of helplessness, or they suffer burnout from working too long and hard for too little reward. I've seen enough of this lately to conclude that some sort of informed pep talk may be helpful. (By the way: I experience the same symptoms occasionally; this pep talk is aimed as much at myself as anyone else.)
Burnout and depression are certainly understandable given the scale of the challenges facing us, but these responses cause problems since other people depend on us. Each of us who understands global crises and has some capacity to work on intelligent responses to them represents an enormous cultural investment. I'm thinking not just of the decades' worth of resources consumed in order to keep each of us alive and get us to where we are today, but of the information so carefully sought out and digested, and skills learned. These are not trivial things. I don't say this in order to motivate by guilt; it's simply the reality. If one of us falters, there are not millions and billions to take our place. There may indeed be many millions worldwide who are engaged in some type of vaguely benevolent enterprise, but when it comes to the core threats facing our planet, the ranks are remarkably thin. There are probably more like a few thousand globally who really understand the world resource problematique and are doing something sensible to address it.
A pep talk might take the tack of saying if only we pull together, our problems will vanish and the world will be a marvelous place in short order. But the people to whom I'm directing my remarks won't buy that line of persuasion for a second. We all know that we are in for very difficult times, and that there is no guarantee that, even if we do everything we can, the result won't be human die-off and environmental devastation.
This knowledge evokes overlapping personal and planetary worries. And it's these worries that can undermine even the most psychologically robust of us now and again.
Who among us hasn't fretted over the likely impacts of societal collapse on oneself, family, and friends? Of course, it's perfectly sensible to make some preparations. We should have some food stored, we should be gardening and making efforts to reduce our energy usage and need for transportation. But the obsessive thought that it's not enough can be paralyzing. What if financial collapse proceeds to economic, political, and cultural collapse; what could one possibly do to insulate oneself in that case? Tough question. There are too many unknowns. No matter what we do, there can never be a guarantee that we will be immune to the consequences of Peak Oil and Climate Change.
But this quandary is similar in some ways to the universal problem of personal mortality: we do what we can to maintain health (we eat right, we exercise), knowing nevertheless that eventually we will die. Still, the point of life is not to spend every waking moment trying to cheat death; rather, it is to enjoy each day as much as possible, to grow, to learn, and to give of oneself. Time spent building a family emergency preparedness kit needs to be balanced against time spent helping make one's entire community more resilient, and raising awareness in the world as a whole-and time spent with loved ones, and time spent singing and dancing or whatever it is that makes us happy.
Planetary worries can be even more debilitating. What if there simply is no hope? Once one starts down this mental path, the argumentative ammunition is almost endless. If oil wars don't get us, the multiple reinforcing feedback loops of climate chaos will. Corporate interests will continue to prevent politicians from doing the only things that could possibly prevent planetary meltdown. How could it be otherwise?
Yet again there are so many unknowns. How can we be any more assured of absolute extinction than of the absence of any possibility that, following some early signals of collapse, policy makers-even corporate leaders-will actually wake up and start doing sensible things? If, when an opportunity to influence policy does arise, there are no articulate advocates of a clearly worked-out alternative pathway (because we who are currently working in that direction have all given up and pulled the covers over our heads), then doom will have become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I suspect that the burden of dire knowledge is exacerbated by the psychophysical impact of too much time on the computer and not enough outdoors. It's an occupational hazard: those of us who are aware of the impending collision of resource depletion with population growth and climate instability have acquired whatever understanding we have through countless hours tracking trends, peering at graphs, and noting
news items on glowing screens. Assuming you're reading my words on-line right now, you might want to bookmark this page and jump for a moment to http://homenet.hcii.cs.cmu.edu/, the site of an on ongoing research project of Carnegie Mellon University that has concluded that "Greater use of the Internet is associated with increases in loneliness and symptoms of depression."
So with this pep talk comes some friendly advice (again, I'm also talking to myself here): Take breaks. Eat well, and make sure you get enough exercise and sunlight. Ask yourself: What would I do for joy if I knew I had only a year left? A month? A week? Would I make love, spend time in nature, play music, or...?
Well, do it! But remember the rest of us, and don't drop the ball entirely.
In the end, there is no blame or guilt attached to any of this. And there is a limit to the utility of pep talks. Each of us has different brain chemistry, a different reservoir of past experiences that has shaped our character and repertoire of behavioral responses, all of which results in differing levels of tolerance for bad news and hard effort. We will each do what we can, given our unique makeup. But if words can help, let no courageous worker down tools for lack of simple reassurance.
We're all in this together. Let's rely on one another's reserves of psychological strength when we need to, and provide strength for others when we can.
My wife and couldn't stop laughing as I read your entry aloud. I will have to check the house for spycams to figure out how you have been listening in on our conversations. Thanks for writing this. We are indeed all in this boat together. I would go on but my little dog is chasing the chickens again in our suburban back yard garden. Si se puede!
Great pep talk, Richard! I especially like: "do something practical and constructive in response, preferably in collaboration with others," or as I simplify it, "Run to the light, not away from the dark!"
It's grey and dreary outside today, and I should be outside working on the fencing around our new garden or loading the biodiesel processor with waste restaurant oil instead of cowering in front of a keyboard. So I need to take to heart that while staying informed is good and communication is essential, nothing concrete ever gets done in front of a computer screen.
:::: Jan Steinman, EcoReality Communication Steward ::::
The problem is not that the Establishment is 'conucopian', this can be logically argued against.
The problem, is that they are 'utopian'. I was converted to this view by John Gray, professor of European thought at LSE, in his book: Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the death of Utopia, published by Allen Lane.
"The future WILL be better than the past, therefore there is no need to worry". this is such a deeply embodied article of faith for most people that it is almost impossible to shift them.
Hello from Australia
I read Richard's "pep talk" on the yahoo roeoz discussion list. I found his talk extremely relevant and useful. Here's my response, forged by bitter experience, for what it is worth . . .
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Diana Tod wrote:
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2008 14:56:43 +1100
> Heinberg's latest on the psychological wear and tear
> of global doom and gloom has some timely advice
> that no doubt we know already - enjoy life and get off
> that dam computer - but good to see it put so lucidly.
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Here's some off-the-cuff thinking-out-loud, prompted by this interesting post.. .
Thanks to Diana Tod for sending it in.
IMO Mr. Heinberg has addressed here a significant issue, for those of us who have experienced it, first hand or indirectly. And I predict that this issue - summed up by existential anguish or rather, purposelessness - will get bigger, as awareness of the global mega-problems becomes better understood by young people and students.
Traditionally in our society young people were sheltered from dark thoughts about a dark future, and fed optimism and purpose by various kinds of religious and social upbringing. But now with the world wide web this is not possible. A young person, if they so chose, will seek out what information they require to better understand the world and their personal future in it. And once they get on an intellectual "trip" there is no predicting where it will all lead or when it will stop.
Already there are psychiatrists in Newcastle, NSW, Australia, doing a research survey on the impact in Australia of public global warming doom on young people's mental state. Maybe they could include peak oil doom on that agenda, too.
Heinberg's acknowledgment of this socio-psychological phenomena - that can affect (a minority of) young, intelligent and idealistic people - is timely. It is his own ideas - packaged in paperbacks for mass consumption - that contribute to an emerging problem for some young people. I have been toying with the idea of writing to him about this, since it crossed my mind that some feedback on possible unintended consequences of his writing would be of interest to him. But maybe others have done this already? He has a very good response here that shows his awareness of existential mental states caused by doomerism. The fact that he wrote this personal statement adds to the respect in which he is held as an original thinker and energy philosopher.
A "Heinbergian consciousness" can change the way intelligent students view the history of humanity and also how they view current political issues (dominated by the aftermath of 911, with rendition, bombs, Iraq, Iran, and a plethora of political double-speak dominating the air waves). The Heinbergian outlook can accentuate the contempt young people have for their political leaders, who offer no badly-needed inspiration to motivate action against a looming catastrophe, but instead only offer cynicism and conservatism (such as what they received from "go for growth" WMD-spinning Bush-loving Howard).
Aside: hopefully our new "inspirational" and "intellectual" leader Kevin Rudd, after the watershed healing of an apology to the stolen children, can offer some hope to young people as a cure for the mental toxicity which they had to endure under Howard.
Heinberg can change the lens through which we view motorization, and even the way we understand the history of slavery. Whereas mainstream media might talk about soldiers and bombs, Heinberg enables us to redefine these words as "specialists in violence" and "reigning terror from the skies". Morality simply becomes a secondary issue, a construct for leaders to justify a more important need of the human species - namely ENERGY, without which millions will die.
The old cliche "Ignorance is Bliss" has a certain paradoxical truth for some young people who take future doom too seriously.
A doomer mental state can be the result of an infinite feedback loop of selective information overload derived from the world wide web (too much time on the 'puter as Heinberg suggests). That, combined with TV news governed by the the post-911 Orwellian atmosphere, current US-led resource wars, lying WMD politicians, suicide bombers every night with the evening meal, can (not necessarily will) rob from a young person's mind a sense of purpose, direction & meaning in life. Especially if they are deep thinkers, and are highly educated.
This is an issue "doomer" parents (and there some on this list) will have to face, when they grapple with how to provide their children with a little optimism, a little hope, when they have none themselves. Dumb kids need not have such existential problems, so if your kid is dumb, be happy! Bob Dylan put out a song back in '79. It was "No Time to Think". Well, on the contrary, what can happen in these times is that some young students can have "Too Much Time to Think"! As they look the beast of the US Empire in the eye, and watch on TV the evil inflicted on Iraq by that superpower, all in the name of goodness and righteousness, and watch our leaders supporting such actions with perception-management sound-bites on TV, they suffer mentally as a result. Their world becomes like that seen by Franz Kafka - meaningless and absurd, pointless. Without the mental ingredient of purpose, direction and meaning in life - any human being is in trouble .....and the psychologists and psychiatrists will be having a field day as more young people present with a new syndrome that has not yet been given a name in the DSM yet, but it leads to suicide.
One potential antidote I have uncovered to the purposeless and meaningless of living in a doomed world, is in the writings of Victor Frankl - who taught prisoners in WW2 German death camps to find meaning in their lives. . .
Now if one's life can have purpose and meaning in a German death camp, then life can have purpose and meaning in current times, no matter how doomed they might be.
It was also very perceptive for Heinberg to bring up the issue of personal mortality. It could be true that once a person accepts and is prepared for their own death, then problems of the world can be put in a different, more psychologically healthy perspective (maybe, I'm not sure). But also, contrary to this view, once a person has reached that state, suicide can become rational, as a refusal to lead and a protest against a purposeless and meaningless life.
So, be happy, for you only live once!
Be creative, for it can bring joy!
cheers,
-- gam
I've been through the Peak Oil doomer mentality trough. I had it worst while in grad school, going for a masters in Ag. Resource Economics. I was working on a thesis on the economic impact of wind energy when I got bogged down, depressed perhaps, frustrated with my own inability to voice concerns about peak oil (though I had a fair idea of what my professor's response would be) and I bailed. I couldn't imagine any kind of future doing anything remotely connected with economics. I got a construction job for a couple years. I then tried an electrical apprenticeship for awhile and that sort of fell through. So for the past few months I've been working as a lab technician, and that will be running out soon. I don't know what to do to make money. I have lots of ideas but nothing is irresistably compelling.
There has been one idea I've had, that wouldn't let go. Unfortunately I don't make any money from it (or perhaps its fortunate). I think it was shortly after 9-11 when the thought occurred to me of resurrecting the Greek agora. Or, in other words, a public forum of sorts. What we've been doing now off and on for a year and a half, is called Corvallis Open Forum. We meet every week on Saturdays right next to our farmers market and bring chairs and a soapbox (a plywood box with "soap" spray painted on the side), and encourage people to express their thoughts on the topic of their choosing. In whatever format, prose, poetry, music, etc. We have a sign up sheet and give each entrant 4 minutes, yes we keep time.
It can be a little awkward when things aren't really rolling, but when enough people get involved it is absolutely fascinating. We hear others (strangers) viewpoints, we practice oration, we engage with each other, not on a computer screen. In real life.
I think this concept can be useful in the post carbon era. Not only does it require next to nothing in physical resources, it is a useful and enjoyable way to actively participate in and literally create a stronger community.
Interestingly, many of the comments come from doomers. Myself included from time to time. But the act of voicing your concerns in public is hugely empowering and beneficial to society.
If you would like more information, please visit our blog at corvallisopenforum.blogspot.com for the bare bones basics.
I encourage you to try something similar in your community.
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