An Introduction To The End Of The World (As You Know It)

Winter term at my educational facility is hell (think of an assembly line with people on it, ala The Wall, and then you might start to understand where I work). Who am I kidding? The whole year is hell. Who has time for a blog? Personal opinions? Forget it! Besides, such things are not conducive to the efficiency and productivity of a conditioning engine, which is, in truth, what educational institutions (at least at the pre-college level) are.

The anarchist dream.

But more on my anti-educational views another time. It is enough for now to note that it isn't that I haven't had thoughts in the past five months, but merely that my overlords have provided no time for their expression. This is a bad equation that I move swiftly to remedy, but in the meantime, I'm pressed to fall on older material, and in this case that material is really just informational. The following post is actually an email that I have "at the ready" to send to students that ask for it. During the course of teaching an English class, our discussions inevitably become derailed from matters of foreshadowing or juxtaposition as I try desperately to show students how the plights of the characters they read about are, in fact, their plights too. Connection and relation to literature is all important, and what makes a book a "good" book (in my opinion, at least) is the level of reflection it offers to the reader on themselves and their own surroundings. What do you learn about YOURSELF? Do you, like anarchist-prototype Huckleberry Finn, retreat to the bucolic safety of the raft when the structured decrees of the towns lining the river bank grow too oppressive? Or is it that simply that you wish you had a raft to retreat to? Are you, rather, like Bartleby, stuck in an "office" from which you cannot escape? These sorts of personal revelations are central to the importance of literature, and an approach to literature in this way inevitably brings current events and the social state of affairs into class discussions. Which brings me to the point of this post: the world is falling apart, and when current news has recently been finding its way into our discussions, it has generally been both provoking and controversial. My personal point of view is well known to those who speak often with me, and in summation, it generally is that industrial civilization, as humanity has known it for the past 200 years or so (since the beginning of widespread use of fossil fuels for energy), is at its termination point. Yes, class discussions sometimes cover what is probably more often relegated to Bible-study groups: the civilized world is about to go kaput. As you might imagine, a discussion of this sort has a powerful effect on some students, whose reactions vary from disbelief to downright fear. Because I never have a chance to fully engage the subject with them (which is too voluminous and deeply entrenched in mystery and misinformation to do with any brevity), I wrote the following piece to email them so they might do some educational work for themselves. Now, keep in mind that it is written to a high school student, so if I seem (more) condescending (than usual) .. hah .. it is only because of the "teacher voice" that often takes the stage in teacher/student interaction. Obviously, I'm also covering my tail. To reuse an analogy that I recently offered a colleague, the mostly depersonalized point of view I express is to ward off those parents that hear about the email and might fear that I'm teaching a bit too much evolution and forgetting their cherished doctrine of creationism. Of course, with me, the editorial opinion is never very far away, try as I might to mask it. Restraint is not one of my primary attributes.





Let me give it, in straight-forward fashion, for purposes of full disclosure. I believe that the end of industrialized society is nearly upon us. These stirrings of global economic depression are merely phase one of what is going to be a largely horrific collapse of globalism and what we perceive as technological modernity. All is tied to energy depletion, namely OIL, and I do not agree with the notion that any combination of alternative fuels will stop what some are predicting: a breakdown of global commerce and modern agricultural yields, which will lead to a) unemployment; b) civil unrest; c) starvation; d) a generalized die-off of the human race. I'm not talking extinction, but rather, merely the loss of somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-3 billion human beings. I understand that this number appears to be astronomical, but its subtraction from our current population leaves us in a much more feasibly sustainable position (as a species), and, of course, it will take a good 10-15 years, from right now, for it all to pan out. The spectre of global nuclear war also looms, unfortunately, and is one of the possible paths by which we may travel as energy depletion is followed by massive civil unrest across the "first world" regions of the globe. In either case, be it by war or decline of agricultural yields (or both), the world we have known for the past, exceedingly brief, 200 years, is about to disappear. Imagine a world with a lot less people and a severely reduced level of energy availability, all in 15 years, and then you have what I imagine is our near future.

"Raising the Roof," Amish style, circa 1900 (2020?).

So, finally, the purpose of this post. When I express these opinions to my friends and family, they often brush me off in disbelief, and I imagine a few mutterings of "lunatic" even cross their lips once I am gone. I would like, though, to be able to point to something collected and inclusive where I can say "here, look at all this, and when you are done, if you can still tell me I'm full of it, then fine." The following information is, of course, only a primer. If you devour all of this and want more, feel free to ask.





I think it is vitally important that this sort of information get out into the public realm because the possible severity of the ramifications is too sharp to be ignored, even if some miracle does actually pass in which a massively over-populated globe is allowed to continue in its present condition, far beyond the environmental carrying capacity of Gaia. Without further ado (I am good at further ado'ing, am I not?), here is your beginner's lesson in understanding the soon-to-occur end of industrialized civilization:





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Alright, to begin with, I hope you understand that I am providing a POINT OF VIEW on matters in the wide world. Yes, it is true, I believe that much (though not all) of what you will find on these sites is, in terms of information, truthful. Likewise do I think there are many mainstream, “accepted” news sources on television/radio/internet that are, in fact, disseminating false information in an effort (willfully or not) to keep people ignorant of what is actually happening. I am, unabashedly, a conspiracy theorist. My (admittedly brief) study of 4000 years of human history has led me to believe that humans excel at conspiring against one another and that, in truth, it is the honest man (or organization) that is the rarity.





That said, remember, this is INFORMATION. You have to decide for yourself whether it is true or false, “right” or “wrong” (whatever those two terms actually mean). There is no harm – no harm EVER – in filling your mind with more information. More information helps you to make decisions by giving you data that you did not have before. Whether you choose to think the data is good and integrate it into your thinking or, instead, decide that the data is bunk and throw it out entirely, is up to you. Beware the man that tells you that you should NOT be reading or listening to a certain point of view. Such men fear the tenuous nature of their own position and do not want alternative views potentially endangering it. Such men are tyrants, in their own way, within their own sphere of influence, however large or small. The following is INFORMATION.





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Current Event Sites





http://mikeruppert.blogspot.com/ If there were any site that I would visit regularly, it would be this one. In fact, I do visit it daily. I have kept up with Ruppert’s long history of predictions and valuations of our system and I find them to be eerily on target. Of course, understanding him will take some time. If talking about the “map” gets confusing, I would advise reading this post: http://mikeruppert.blogspot.com/2008/10/understanding-friday-oct.html. Read down to the point of the “Disclaimer” and make sure that, if you really want to know what he is talking about, that you heed it’s advice. Nobody ever said finding out this sort of information would be easy.





http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/BreakingNews.html Indispensable. Another site that I check daily. Loads of current events links are posted here daily (excepting the weekends – guess the webmaster lounges then!).





http://www.ricefarmer.blogspot.com/ Tidbits of good information, links, and interesting commentary often land here.





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Background/Informational Sites





The following are links that, while not loaded with current events, are hugely important as resources for understanding the deeper issues that underlie what is happening globally with the environment, the population, the economy, and more. Some of this information will seem foreign or even ridiculous. As with all things, I suggest you approach these sites with an open, and yet critical, mind. Use your own logic to determine whether or not things seem possible, probable, or even plausible. Do not rely on the judgment of others to dominate your view. Make your own decisions. A failure to do more than parrot the views of others is what I think got us all into this mess in the first place.





http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/ A very good introduction, albeit marginally complex, to what will happen if oil runs out. Also, it includes an explanation of HOW oil will run out. Required reading. Oil (energy) depletion is the lynch pin on which all other human forces on the globe turn, so when you understand this, you can understand many other things that might, otherwise, seem arbitrary.





http://dieoff.org/page125.htm Information about the possibility of a “post-industrial stone age.” This is the idea that if (when?) society collapses, it will never again achieve the level of complexity and technology that it currently has attained. Instead, it will be re-reduced to the stone age. I have some issues with this philosophy, though I think a fair amount of it is on target.





http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/100303_eating_oil.html This is a very strong essay – difficult to refute – that explains how a loss of oil will directly become a loss of food, leading to depopulation of the globe.





http://dieoff.org/ A complex and probably confusing site, but full of information and saturated with links to more and more. The “theme” of the site is human depopulation of the globe: when it might happen, how it might happen, how severe it might be, etc.





http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks3.htm This site is small on information and big on impact. Watch those numbers tick past…





http://anthropik.com/thirty/ The best site I’ve ever seen for outlining the ideas that are central to primitivism, which is the notion that mankind is best (healthiest and happiest) without modern civilization. The proposal is that living as hunter/gatherers is our biological destiny and that any other brand of survival is an attack on our well-being. There are no solutions on how to achieve this here. This is purely informational, that is, to convince of the validity of the cause. Another VERY in-depth site, though this one is quite well organized too. It could take you a very long time to go through it all, and you ought to do it in order.





http://ranprieur.com/essays/saveearth.html This site, on the other hand, offers some solutions. They may not be the ones you want to hear, but there are no real solutions (at least not, that I have seen) in which society, in its current form, is able to continue. The party’s been free for far too long…





http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/ If you feel like just watching something, this is the place to go. There are two, 2-hour documentaries here (make sure that you watch them in order) that you can stream, at low quality, directly through the web page. Alternatively, you could actually buy the DVD through them or bitTorrent .avi versions of the films. If you would like local copies to watch, I have both as .avi files; just bring by a big flash drive sometime. All in all, I would say these movies are essential viewing for people who are willing to consider alternative points of view about the history of America, and even the human race. They are dripping with conspiracy theory. I agree with the majority of the views they present. (Also, if these sorts of documentaries pique your interest, I have many others – though none quite as good as the first Zeitgeist – that I can load onto a flash drive, DVD-ROM, etc.)





http://www.fromthewilderness.com/ This is Mike Ruppert’s old site (prior to starting the blog). The information here is excessive, almost. Start on the left side with “How To Use This Website” and go from there. This one could occupy you for years.





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Lastly, and most importantly, if all of this depresses you and leaves you despondent, come and talk to me. Although it may surprise you, I do not find the majority of this information, which I take mostly as the truth, to be depressing. As with all things, there is good in what may, or will, pass. I promise that I can explain an angle on this that is essentially good, optimistic, and a favorable way of looking at what you will face as young adults, the future generation of the planet.










[A]ccording to the schools, I prove nothing. So be it; — I design but to suggest, and to convince through the suggestion.





-Edgar Allan Poe