Peak Oil, Climate Change, and Spiritual Emergencies

We had our first circle group meeting the other night, and in introducing myself I talked a bit about how my understanding of peak oil opened up my eyes to the fact that the future won't simply be a continuation of the past. This led to a opening of my eyes to other realities that will change our future, namely the indebtedness of our country and our families, and in the longer term climate change -- the greatest risk to the generations that will follow mine.

All of this created something of a spiritual emergency within me, leading me to question what's the point of it all, what does it all mean. In the end, I'm not sure that all of these current and future problems matter a great deal. I will always have the moment, I believe the birds will always be singing in the forest, and the optimist in me believes that when we really need to, we can adapt and come together more as a country and as communities as we face challenges in the future. (This is one of the problems I have with diehard peak oil gloom and doomers, they will accept no alternative other than complete societal breakdown, chaos, civil war, etc. etc.) I believe these people are largely ignoring the influence of women in this scenario they are painting...

I read an interview of Peter Russell which really spoke to me. He discusses the nature of consciousness, especially in light of our challenges--how we still need to act, and how we also need to have fun along the way. I also feel intrigued by the idea of preparing our local communities for the energy descent, which seems inevitable.