Theoretical Aspects - The Problem

Nearly thirty years have passed since President Jimmy Carter officially notified citizens of an impending energy crisis and our need to become less demanding in the use of our natural resources.

The time that has passed since that address has only seen a further elaboration and detailing of the precarious nature of the crisis we are descending into. Yet most North Americans have taken the ostrich approach (head in the sand) to this problem and instead of downsizing our consumption patterns, we have actually increased them as if our Earth were primarily covered by vast regions of wilderness containing unlimited natural resources.* The problem of overconsumption becomes even more perplexing when we consider that despite having full rational knowledge of our destructive patterns, we, as a culture, have been unable to motivate ourselves to make any significant changes in the way in which we live. More information is not the solution!* We are already drenched, on a daily basis, with more facts and figures than even an intelligent person can make sense of. University studies have shown that continuous watching of corporate television news programs leads to increased confusion rather than increased understanding of complex issues.* All this would be merely of passing sociological interest if not for the reality of the ongoing destruction of the natural world, the foundation of our own existence. In addition, recent political events indicate that rather than awakening, at last, to the imperative of President Carter’s warning, we have shifted gears, and are now racing full speed toward a suicidal apocalypse.

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