23.1.06

A grand idea

formed itself in my head one day. I wrote a letter to the governor of PA once, offering some encouragement on a recent speech outlining new energy strategies for the state. It was heartening, somewhat, to hear such a powerful politician acknowledging the severe crisis that awaits us all in the quite-near future.

To follow up on it, and ensure some kind of action or at least dialogue, I would approach all the professors in relevent fields here at Pitt and get them to sign a memorandum calling for more serious study of alternatives, power-down strategies, and possible implimentation of necessary technological, legal and societal changes. A real dialogue would be opened up and we would begin to raise community awareness of the coming changes and how we could meet them. The Guvner, having taken the first steps already, would use our plan to begin moving Pennsylvania towards a sustainable post-carbon civilisation, and our example would be a seed, a resource, and a beacon to other states and nations as the reality of declining oil supplies began to take it's toll.

Then I watched the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica. In it, the main character Adama tells one of his pilots, who he had previously ordered to assassinate a superior officer, "It's not enough to survive. One has to be worthy of surviving." And I wondered, are we really worthy of surviving? As a nation? As a species? I know some great people, and we've done some great things, but I have a hard time answering that question in the affirmitive. Maybe we aren't.