Jeremy Rifkin was the guest on TVO's Agenda during the past two nights. His ideas flowed out like tidal waves so I can't remember everything he said, but his central idea seemed to be that the past 200 years shouldn't be thought of in terms of being market or ideologically driven but in terms of being driven by the discovery and availability of carbon - ie. coal, oil and natural gas. A carbon based economy, he argued, leads to "vertical" economic and social organization of the kind we've had for the past two or three centuries. The carbon that fuels the economy is something somebody gets for us and controls us with. Hence it puts some groups at the top of the heap and makes everyone else subservient to them in a highly stratified and multi-specialized system.
Ah, he then said, but the carbon economy has to come to an end, and in Rifkin's opinion it will end very soon. A carbon based economy can't last more than another 30 years or so. What then? I didn't quite fully grasp what he was saying, but it was something like vast horizontally organized networks based on green energy with everybody pitching in and everybody benefiting would come into being. It all sounded very beautiful though somewhat idealistic if one considers continued rapid population growth, diminishing agricultural potential, the growth of cities and global warming. However, it was interesting. If you want to hear what he said yourselves, go to the TVO/Agenda website and take a look and listen. Ed P.S.: Chris Hedges, co-author of "Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt" is on the Agenda tonight. I've read the book, and it's not an uplifting happiness pill.
_______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
