I'm watching the doc "Escape from Suburbia", and a segment with James Howard Kuntsler just ended....

[marmar]

..... and a short, simple statement he made was so powerful and effective.....He was discussing a statement by Dick Cheney that when it comes to oil usage, the American way of life is non-negotiable.

Kuntsler's retort was: "If you don't want to negotiate your way of life, you automatically get a new negotiating partner, named Reality."


So, so true. And Reality holds all the negotiating trump cards. Sadly, that kind of thinking is not exclusive to Cheney. It seems most Americans - with their love for SUVs, sprawl, consumption etc. - also feel the American lifestyle is non-negotiable. And we refuse to negotiate at our own peril.


Note: "Escape from Suburbia" is a doc highlighting how Peak Oil will change the way we live, and what people are doing to adjust for it.

[rucky]

1. Is it on video?

[marmar]

2. I taped it off Sundance....but I'm pretty sure it's on DVD.

n/t

[rucky]

3. Cool.

I have some consumer-minded individuals in my family who need a wake-up call, and think I'm a lunatic when it comes to this kind of stuff.

Maybe this will help.

[MountainLaurel]

4. According to Netflix

It will be released on DVD July 1 of this year.

[izquierdista]

5. Is this the right link?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuYOymcCqAc

[marmar]

6. Yup....They probably have it broken into many segments on YouTube.

n/t

[HughBeaumont]

7. Remember this statement?

(By a Bush senior aide when the writer mentioned empiricism:)

"That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do. "

This is the way they think. This is the way they ALL think. If it's contrary to your belief, either pretend it's not there or declare you're right and that's simply the end of the discussion.

Doesn't matter, these people and their way of thinking will be long gone by the time the shithouse goes up in flames.

[Nay]

8. What's so ironic is that ppl like Cheney will be the ones most likely

to escape (and even profit from) the coming crash because of his enormous wealth and influence, so he's not exactly crazy for thinking HIS way of life is non-negotiable. What's so infuriating is that so many regular Americans think THEIR way of life will continue if they just bitch a little bit. Sorry, folks, Cheney wasn't talking about YOU when he said that -- he was just talking about HIMSELF and his cronies.