Emerging from the jungle

Here I am in my new little cabin in Hawaii, typing away at a much overdue update. . .

Gosh, have got a lot done in the last few months. I've got a small house, fruit trees, a koi pond, coffee growing in the yard and a bit of time to sit and think. It is interesting, having been removed from the screaming media mostly for most of 4 months, the shift in attitudes towards many issues that may seem incremental to many--but if you take a vacation from the noise it doesn't' seem so.

It's interesting how notions of peak oil, global warming, and the collapse of the US banking system have become mainstream ideas at this point. Talk about boiling frogs! The most alarming thing I find in these issues is exactly that--the more or less total lack of alarm. I'm scared shitless, and better prepared than many to weather this gathering group of storms. Even among those who are relatively educated, informed, and progressive--there is a complete disconnect between their views of the future and their actions. Just as the nice couple the other day who was quizzing me about my small homestead, and how to build--we discussed these issues all in depth. And then, they ask--well, how do you finance your homestead? Uh, of course, you DON'T. You pay for it out of pocket. And you especially pay for it out of pocket in a world with failing banks. And you certainly don't expose yourself to the threat of loosing your little home by lost jobs and missing a payment. You're better off to live in your car, if you are secure there--then take the risk in the forthcoming environment. But the question was telling--they ape the words, they enjoy the culture of apocalypse--but they don't fucking get it. We're talking about the real deal here, where knowledgeable intelligent experts are talking about the end of human civilization--not a recession.

Being counterculture so often is really just being component of the the culture, and the modern green ecologist is certainly THAT. It's Patagonia rather than Bebe, its Land Cruisers rather than Range Rovers--it's flying to Bali rather than Cancun, but it's all the same bullshit American consumerism. It's all about big dogs and babies too, frogs laying eggs in boiling water. Hell, I've got to say that at this point it's all but obvious that GW BUSH is probably the greatest president of all time, as he most accurately and broadly reflects the values of the American people; ie., ignorance, entitlement, and smug self satisfaction. But give it a couple of more months. . .