Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of

hope at the end of our tether S 191
GNP. That gap ought to have reinforced the ancient message that,
beyond some point, more is not better. If we fail to see a vision
of a livable decent future beyond the consumer society, we will
never summon the courage, imagination, or wit to do the obvious
things to create something better than what is in prospect.
So, what does a carbon neutral society and increasingly sustainable
society look like? My list consists of communities with:
Front porches
Public parks
Local businesses
Windmills and solar collectors
Living machines to process waste water
Local farms and better food
More and better woodlots and forests
Summer jobs for kids doing useful things
Local employment
More bike trails
Summer baseball leagues
Community theaters
Better poetry
Neighborhood book discussion groups
Leagues in which no one bowls alone
Better schools
Vibrant and robust downtowns with sidewalk cafes
Great pubs serving microbrews
Fewer freeways, shopping malls, sprawl, and television
More kids playing outdoors
No more wars for oil or access to other peoples’ resources.
Nirvana? Hardly! We have a remarkable capacity to screw up
good things. But it is still possible to create a future that is a great
deal better than what is in prospect. Ironically, what we must do
to avert the worst effects of climate change are mostly the same