Today’s Contemplation: And Now For Something Completely Different…
Olduvai IV, Chapter 1
January 1, 2023 (original posting date)
As I work upon the multi-part series regarding my thoughts on our energy future, thought I would throw together something a little different for this initial contemplation of 2023.
My journey down the rabbit’s hole of Peak Oil and related energy/societal issues began more than a decade ago after watching the documentary Collapse featuring the late Michael Ruppert. The information presented seemed to mesh closely with my educational background in biology and archaeology — particularly the rise and fall of complex societies. My thinking about virtually everything shifted significantly shortly afterward. The typical Kubler-Ross grieving process was followed with much denial, bargaining, and anger until I finally reached acceptance and really began to explore ways to better understand our predicament and to help others along that road as well.
The first method of talking to people about my appreciation/understanding of what we were facing did not go very well, perhaps because I was still overly ‘enthusiastic’ about my ‘discovery/enlightenment’. It took a while but I’ve learned to mostly reign in that ‘preaching’ tendency and offer ‘insights’ only if asked directly or the topic has been raised by others. My understanding of things still doesn’t sit well with most people, but I have grown to appreciate why — we have a host of cognitive/psychological mechanisms that keep us from holding anxiety-provoking thoughts for very long, if at all.
The second way I dealt with my new perspective was more cathartic in nature. I have always enjoyed writing. I’ve found it a pleasing and somewhat more precise method to both explain my understanding of our world and work out this understanding by way of the feedback I receive and reflection upon it (primarily during the process as I edit and rework the wording for greater clarity). Speaking — particularly in public venues — is not something I find that I can do with much confidence or clarity, although others tell me I do fine (I did, after all, spend 25 years in a career that demanded lots of it and pursue some voluntary leadership positions that required it). Writing is my chosen and preferred method of communication outside of my immediate circle of family and a couple of close friends/acquaintances. I leave it up to readers to conclude whether I do it well or not.
Anyways, I thought I would share some fictional prose. It is a chapter I wrote some years ago as I began putting together Olduvai IV: Courage, a follow-up to my first three novels. Writing on this book has come to a stop for a variety of reasons, mostly because I lost the motivation to continue it as I transitioned into non-fictional writing and have begun to enjoy it and I have grown to believe I need to be ‘acting’ on my altered belief system rather than simply thinking/reflecting upon it so have put much greater effort into personal actions — especially as it comes to learning about and practising food production.
Without further ado, here is the link to a PDF file of a chapter of Olduvai IV: Courage that has never been seen before.
Please keep in mind that this was written at least 6 years ago before some of the chaos of the last few years occurred and when my understanding was different than now, which is pertinent since I attempted to weave current events into my story and many of my ‘predictions’ of what might take place in an unknowable future are completely off the mark — such is the difficulty of making predictions, especially if they are about the future!
I may, depending upon feedback, share the other chapters I’ve already written (or mostly written) in the future. Difficult to predict…
If you’ve made it to the end of this contemplation and have got something out of my writing, please consider ordering the trilogy of my ‘fictional’ novel series, Olduvai (PDF files; only $9.99 Canadian), via my website or the link below — the ‘profits’ of which help me to keep my internet presence alive and first book available in print (and is available via various online retailers).
Attempting a new payment system as I am contemplating shutting down my site in the future (given the ever-increasing costs to keep it running).
If you are interested in purchasing any of the 3 books individually or the trilogy, please try the link below indicating which book(s) you are purchasing.
Costs (Canadian dollars):
Book 1: $2.99
Book 2: $3.89
Book 3: $3.89
Trilogy: $9.99
Feel free to throw in a ‘tip’ on top of the base cost if you wish; perhaps by paying in U.S. dollars instead of Canadian. Every few cents/dollars helps…
https://paypal.me/olduvaitrilogy?country.x=CA&locale.x=en_US
If you do not hear from me within 48 hours or you are having trouble with the system, please email me: olduvaitrilogy@gmail.com.
You can also find a variety of resources, particularly my summary notes for a handful of texts, especially Catton’s Overshoot and Tainter’s Collapse: see here.
It Bears Repeating: Best Of…Volume 1
A compilation of writers focused on the nexus of limits to growth, energy, and ecological overshoot.
With a Foreword and Afterword by Michael Dowd, authors include: Max Wilbert; Tim Watkins; Mike Stasse; Dr. Bill Rees; Dr. Tim Morgan; Rob Mielcarski; Dr. Simon Michaux; Erik Michaels; Just Collapse’s Tristan Sykes & Dr. Kate Booth; Kevin Hester; Alice Friedemann; David Casey; and, Steve Bull.
The document is not a guided narrative towards a singular or overarching message; except, perhaps, that we are in a predicament of our own making with a far more chaotic future ahead of us than most imagine–and most certainly than what mainstream media/politics would have us believe.
Click here to access the document as a PDF file, free to download.