Black Swans and bottom-up environmental action
Commentary by: Ryan King, special to mongabay.com
February 08, 2012

“History does not crawl, it jumps.”- Nassim Nicholas Taleb 

Here is the conclusion of the article linked to above:

“HOPEFUL SIGNS” – Towards a Framework for Post-Industrial Resiliency and Restoration

“Pure knowledge is the ultimate emancipator. It equalizes people and sovereign states, erodes the archaic barriers of superstition and promises to lift the trajectory of cultural evolution.” – E.O. Wilson

“The recent spread of Peak Oil resolutions and projects by cities and towns across America is thus a very hopeful sign. It’s going to take drastic changes and a great deal of economic rebuilding before these communities can get by on the more limited resources of a deindustrial future, but the crucial first steps toward sustainability are at least on the table now. If our future is to be anything but a desperate attempt to keep our balance as we skid down the slope of collapse and decline, these projects may well point the way.” – John Michael Greer

The preliminary steps towards a cultural conversion from the traditional, dominate economic and governmental practices are underway. A growing, organizing and increasingly active environmental movement has become capable of harnessing the power to deter large, well-funded projects such as the Keystone XL pipeline, as well as influence the energy agendas of entire nations. Massive protests following the Fukushima meltdown pushed Germany and Switzerland to phase out nuclear power. Germany closed eight of its nuclear reactors immediately after the Fukushima incident in March.

The seemingly overwhelming catalog of ecological crises presents the opportunity for the expansion of a wide variety of novel solutions and approaches where traditional methods have floundered. Instead of depending on the power and financial support of states, the success of these sorts of solutions are contingent on mass participation and networking as well as an unrelenting cultural shift from consumerist, materialist lifestyles towards participatory, exploratory, and restorative cultures.

The Black Swans of the modern age are by no means solely negative, catastrophic disturbances. Social movements and conservation measures often yield unexpected and positive results.

Following more than a decade of attempted conservation measures, mollusk expert Bill Ballantine was able to halt over-fishing in a two square mile marine area in Goat Island, New Zealand. Populations of lobster, rock oysters, snappers, kelp, and other species had plummeted due to mismanaged fishing practices. Ballantine eventually convinced enough local fishermen to create a protective reserve. The speed of recovery in the area stunned marine wildlife scientists and brought Goat Island into the international limelight, eventually attracting hundreds of thousands of tourists per year. The conventional wisdom of local fishermen was upset; Ballantine’s previously radical approach quickly proved a blessing in the economic realm as well as long-term conservation.

Ballantine’s approach and success illustrate the unyielding dedication and persistence necessary to introduce viable conservation schemes. In many instances, the mindset of extractive capitalism is so profoundly entrenched into culture that alternatives must by proven by example. Education, outreach, and restorative conservation programs are necessary to prevent governments from resorting to eco-fascism – the tightly regulated imposition of environmental protection regulations. In the wake of failed governance and business models, grassroots and self-organizing solutions offer impressive alternatives.

Since its onset in 2005, theTransition Movementhas rapidly expanded from the UK throughout communities around the world. Transition Towns/Networks generally consist of grassroots efforts towards radical re-localization and preparation for the pressures of energy decline and climate change. In less than a decade over 1,800 Transition programs across the globe have arisen. Transition movements incorporate a variety of techniques and knowledge including reskilling, education, restoration of derelict land, home and community food gardens, renewable energy, and permaculture. Transition networks offer training and organizational courses and resources, with the hopes of expanding techniques and education for the future of energy decline and environmental chaos. Transition Towns are part of a broader wave of “resilient community/intentional community” movements aimed at self-organized adaptation to the issues large governments and industries have ignored.

In many circumstances the information sharing potential of the internet provides resources more readily, affordably, and efficiently than traditional, institutionalized educational programs. Bottom-up movements such asresilient communitiesandguerrilla gardeningthrive by means of cooperation, self-organization and the free sharing of knowledge, as opposed to the relatively slower, more brittle rigors of academic, corporate and industrial institutions. As participation in these movements builds, even advanced, highly technical skills previously confined to specialized experts spread rapidly. The future of adaptation and societal progress through the coming period of energy decline and global disruption will depend heavily on the abilities of these movements.

Read more:http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0208-king_blackswans.html#ixzz1mV8xu0NX