Do Nothing for Forest Frustration

I appreciate the work you do. However, please allow me to express my frustration. Sadly, the words expressed at the podium, despite being inspirational at times, have a hollow, sucking sound. I have read a library of books (including books by the speakers on stage) about our predicament, solutions to our problems, and better ways to conduct our business. We have more experts on what's wrong with our world than ever before and plenty of people with solutions.

The American dream has always been a fantasy despite the wealth the USA has generated since its founding, wealth created through violence, exploitation, and ecocide. All colonial and imperial powers throughout history have contributed to the destruction of life.

What kind of creators are we?

Overshoot, ecocide, omnicide, neocolonialism, imperialism, inequality, global heating, etc., are results of our species's unique abilities to use tools to exploit Nature and compete with each other for power, status, and control of resources. Rehashing the same old orations will not inspire domesticated and pacified people addicted to technology, entertainment, and supernormal stimuli who are energy blind, materials blind, Great Nature blind, stocks and flows blind, systems thinking blind, besieged by mysterious egregores, meme machines, false narratives, constant flows of propaganda, marketing, public relations messaging, and lies to sacrifice an hour a week for vague notions of movements that consistently fail.

The wealthy, powerful elite whose dark tetrad psychology and addiction to the Seven Deadly Sins designed, structured, and legally coded the system—its capital. The powerful elite own and operate our socioeconomic and political systems and regularly kill to maintain and keep them. This has been so since the dawn of civilization. The reactionaries know this; they understand power.

Concerned citizens audit "the conversations," read books, and get on with their business, or struggle to survive another day, but that is not enough.

If more than one percent of U.S. Americans want to build another socioeconomic system fit for posterity, they will have to fight and die for it. If we are too weak to act, circumstances, the most efficacious dictator will determine what's next.

Global fossil-fueled financialized modern industrial capitalism is a self-terminating system; it will collapse, destroying billions of lives while committing ecocide until its inevitable destructive end. Only exercising our will allows us to prepare for collapse and decide what's next.

You can not reform an omnicidal pathological system; it must be destroyed and replaced with something else, something very few people can even imagine, much less adopt. We are true believers. It's easier to believe than to learn; learning requires hard, disciplined work and sacrifice.

We are not in control of the narrative; even if we were, few would do the work necessary to create a new way of managing things. Talk is cheap, and billionaires control the narrative. Chris Hedges knows that believers cling to wilful ignorance to fit in and haven't the wherewithal or energy to entertain alternatives. People are trained to fear and hate alternative ways of living. Look at the past two hundred years of history; haphazard and even organized resistance is constantly and violently put down, and despite our victories, things are more volatile, dangerous, and destructive than ever. Contemplate our ongoing polycrisis; it does not indicate progress, enlightenment, or a reflection of the better angels of our Nature. We can't reform the system.

Can we convince people to use less energy and consume less? Can we talk about degrowth? Can we discuss alternative kinds of growth in the mainstream media? Noam Chomsky encouraged us for decades by pointing out our relative freedoms and good fortune. To what end? Are we better off?

Science, engineering, and technology have progressed, but what of our hearts and minds? What happened to our imagination? Must everything be commodified?

The Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee? Read "On the Abolition of All Political Parties" by Simone Weil.

I want to know what we replace global rapacious capitalism with. Would it be "A Simpler Way," a la Ted Trainer? How do we maintain a healthy ecosystem at our current consumption and energy use scale? We can't. We haven't even begun to address energy use. Who knows what Jevons Paradox is? Only a handful of us care. Who reads Vaclav Smel or pays attention to Howard T. Odum, William R. Catton Jr., Charles A. S. Hall, or Bill Rees? What became of The Club of Rome's efforts?

"Posterity doesn't vote, and doesn't exert much influence in the marketplace. So the living go on stealing from their descendants." —William R. Catton Jr.

How many generations will it take for people under more ideal circumstances to evolve into wise creatures capable of learning from and respecting Great Nature? Nature has all the answers.

So, how shall we manage things? How shall we live and be? Can we convince people that epistemic rigor, critical thinking, wisdom, and love are more important than diversions, competition, and unquestioning belief? What way of life will replace markets, capital on capital returns, usury, and rent-seeking?

People who are accustomed to consuming fantasy have little faith in Reality. A reality-based, science-based, evidence-based, nature-centric culture founded on moral principles, life-based ethics, compassion, and love of life; what organization is creating that, and are its supporters willing to die for it? Life begets life. Life depends on complex living systems. Who understands thermodynamics? Even if billions of us understood, are we willing to sacrifice for posterity?

We are more comfortable listening to speeches and discussing what's wrong with the world. Modern Techno-Industrial Capitalism has the capacity to kill everything. Look up "TESCREAL." The Elites don't respect Nature or Life; they'd, instead, turn us into machines or send us to heaven.

Show us how we should live that's fit for life and posterity and how we can sell the project to billions of people worldwide. Show us how to organize and fight. Be honest about what we must sacrifice for a radically different way of managing our affairs.

Skilled folks,

Colonize U.S.,

Don't criticize U.S.