Thanks for these two very engaging questions. Let my try to answer:
- Though last year my answer would have been completely different, this year I'm actually not taking any radical climate action, so here are some reasons why: My funds are low, but rent wants to be paid, ends need to be met, my wife is tied to this city by her job, my job is exploiting me more than I expected, and besides I have a piano. (This last point is not actually true, it is merely intended to symbolize that all the reasons listed are just excuses, really.)
- As for what could save us, my views are even less optimistic. What can change collective addictive behavior? Whatever it is, it is likely going to hurt... a lot! I have seen enough people struggling with addiction that affects only them and not everyone in their "normal" surroundings. Now a small minority of us may have realized our collective addiction to money and the privileges it grants, while most people aren't even aware of this addiction. Withdrawal is not pretty, and in serious cases it may even be fatal. Since most of us (even many of the urban poor in struggling 3rd world countries) haven't known anything else but this addiction, it promises to be horrible. But one thing is certain: we have to go through it. Because anything that's not getting us off the good stuff only prolongs our addiction. Certainly, a comfortable rehab would be best... and I can see that in the form of permaculture networks, homesteading circles, ecologically conscious communities, and the like. Unfortunately their numbers are too few, and more importantly the interest in them is far too little, to be a viable option for the urgent need this whole global society needs. To end on a brighter tone, I don't think we really need to be saved. I'm certain we all will lose something, and some may actually lose all, but in the end there will be survivors who come out of this bitter cleanse, hopefully wiser and more capable than many of us who are heading into it today.
i really liked your response and the framing of our current predicament in the terms of an addiction. i think it's totally this... you can see it when you start to talk about the necessary changes, like consuming less or consuming differently or weening off of fossil fuels or tv -- people get foremost defensive which points to the addiction revving up its protective mechanisms... sadly, as i said to ecoalex above, usually addictive behaviors only change when rock bottom is hit or things get really bad. perhaps this "really bad" will come from outside of us (in the form of climate catastrophe, wars, famines, etc), but that stuff in many ways is already hitting poorer parts of the world and it's still out of sight out of mind for the majority of north americans. but, again, thanks for this framing as i think it's a really great way to think about and understand these issues and also find ways to "tackle them"!