i tell you what i think is encouraging. The recession turned a lot of people on to frugal living. Perhaps not initially by choice, but now a lot of folks would not go back even if their income reached former levels.
A lof of people have found that not being driven by consumerist desires makes them happier and improves their relationships. i think that's actually a very big deal.
The less we are driven by the desire to work and spend, spend and work, the more likely we are to look around at what we do want, things that are less or perhaps not at all mediated by the market.
We may enjoy the outdoors and notice that some place we love is in danger. We may then spend some of our extra time and energy working to keep it safe.
Urban gardening, which is increasing like crazy and is no longer just a hobby of the well-to-do, is changing lives. People are much more aware of where food comes from and how it affects them. They are more in control of their lives as a result of something as simple as growing some of their own food. They work in groups, they meet neighbors, they reclaim neglected dangerous areas, and so on. Related -- i think the fact that Michael Pollen's books have been popular beyond the NPR crowd is meaningful.
The revolutions in the Middle East are amazing and encouraging in so many ways. i know Arabs who swore this would never happen, that Arabs don't form alliances, that they were never going to stand up to Daddy. Well they have and they did.
i think the fact that people can SEE how government failed to protect us from the predatory practices of the financial sector has also made people a question the benevolence of capitalism in ways we haven't seen since before Reagan. i wish there were more righteous anger about the causes of the economic crisis. But i believe that people are changed as a result of seeing the economic breakdown as not some mysterious correction in the system, but a result of unfettered greed on the part of previously trusted institutions. i think long term that people will question more and take less on faith. They will ask more of government, i hope.
There are many more people interested in the environment and in alternatives to oil. Government, regulated industries, and the auto industry have done everything they could for thirty years to keep us unaware of the real potential of alternatives, but they are beginning to be developed finally. Things like the small cheap solar panels that charge batteries in remote villages in Africa make such a difference. People save to buy them, and then make a little money from neighbors who charge their cell phones, etc. AND, this is huge -- school children are now able to study after dark because of this. More educated poor people -- that is a potentially powerful force for change.
As much as social media may isolate individuals and mediate what were once more intimate connections, it has also helped people communicate when they were in danger or when governments wanted them silenced. Again their role in the uprisings in the Middle East was important.
There are many encouraging signs. Ang San Suu Kyi was released. i mean Myanmar finally bowed to pressure.
i don't know. i see signs of awakening. i am hopeful. i am on the left, and there is a resurgence of activity there. For so long we were completely demoralized. But i think that there is a bit of a shift. People are willing to hear from us again.
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