The challenge sites like this one face is to “walk the line” between alarm and reassurance. We must provide enough information about the challenge we face — the Triple Threat of peak oil, catastrophic climate change, and overpopulation — so that users come to understand the urgency needed. On the other hand, we must also focus on the concrete and technologically feasible steps that individuals, communities, nations, and the world can and should be taking to prepare for it. In time, this will be less of a dilemma; we will all understand the challenge, and LetTheSunWork will only need to talk about the solutions. Let’s hope, however, that you’re ready to learn about them now.
Think of clusters of challenges, and solutions for each.
We’ll need to have a safe and comfortable place to live, so there’s information here about shelter. We may be stuck with a house or apartment designed and built as if cheap fossil fuels would last forever, so we may need to find out about retrofitting. There’s lots of information about using passive solar principles and making the best use of convection to stay comfortable.
We’ll need food and water, so there’s information about that. And there’s information about harvesting rainwater from our homes and workplaces.
We’ll need energy. Well, mainly, we’ll need to figure out how to survive and thrive while using a lot less of it. But we’ll also need to make the most of new forms of energy that are practical and sustainable.
We’ll need to find community. If you’re harboring any plans to go it alone and fortify yourself somewhere with a shotgun and a truckload of Vienna sausage, put it out of your mind. The only way we’re going to survive this is by helping each other through it and collaborating with each other.
And through it all, we must remain human. Where and how will we claim and nurture joy?