'My point is that we have 8 bn to take care of .. surely. Not just a segment of western dissidents'
Point taken. A problem with trying to do this within the confines of market fundamentalism is that local, organic(ish) veg has to be priced at the point where the people who arguably need it most can't afford it, and it turns into a luxury purchase for the upper classes and/or tourists. It also means that only those privileged with savings, inheritance or other sources of high income can afford to throw themselves into it, when really the deepening collapse demands that as many people as possible begin to produce rather than consume, and directly for their own needs or small-scale trade, not as another entrepreneurial niche in the global market, doomed to failure.
More generally the problems facing civilisation appear intractable, and trying to solve them a recipe for madness - or tyranny. The momentum for this collapse has been been building arguably for 10,000 years, not just since Thatcher & Reagan, and trying to effect a major change in direction at this stage is impossible IMHO. All we can do is try to navigate the paroxysms with as much dignity and humanity as possible, something that everyone can take responsibility for on the level of day-to-day relationships. If there's enough strength to spread this out to workplace organising, local political activism and more revolutionary activity when the chips are down, so much the better. I'm just not seeing how national or international politics & economics are amenable to change at this point. BRICS is a positive development in many ways, but if it just results in new hegemons and empires, then the outcome will be the same for the climate, the biosphere, indigenous people, and finally the 8bn when resource depletion catches up with them too.
Anyway, maybe I'm being too pessimistic and there are pleasant surprises to be had along the way. I probably wouldn't spend so much time on this forum if I didn't believe that it was worthwhile keeping an eye on the bigger picture and trying to affect it in some way. Frustrating how all the positive energy gets dissipated and turned to dead ends, or co-opted in further service to the establishment. So much wasted potential, so many brighter worlds we could be living in than the one we find ourselves in today...
Thanks for the well wishes in any case
I
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