Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The final source of support would consist of families and neighborhoods banding together to do
whatever is necessary to survive—grow gardens, keep chickens, reuse, repurpose, repair, defend,
share, and, if all else fails, learn to do without. People would move into shared housing to cut costs.
They would look out for one another to maintain safety and security. These extreme-local practices
would sometimes fly against the headwinds of local and national regulations. In those cases, even
if they're in no place to help materially, local governments could lend a hand simply by getting out
of the way—for example, by changing zoning ordinances to allow new uses of space. (Or in more
urgent situations, they might use land banks and eminent domain to take over unused real estate
identify vacant houses and commercial spaces and turn these into community gardens and meet-
ing centers. In return, as neighborhoods network with other neighborhoods, a stronger social fabric
might reinvigorate local government.
As discussed above, movements to support localization—however benign their motives—may
be perceived by national authorities as a threat. Where national governments see local citizens' de-
mands for greater autonomy as menacing, the response could include surveillance, denial of right to
public assembly, infiltration of protest organizations, militarization of the police, the development
of an increasing array of nonlethal weapons for use against protesters, the adoption of laws that ab-
rogate the rights to trial and evidentiary hearings—and in extreme cases, torture and the deployment
of death squads. Canadian activist Leah Henderson, in a letter written to fellow dissidents prior to
being sent to prison for her role in the 2010 G20 summit protests, observed tellingly that, “My skills
and experience—as a facilitator, as a trainer, as a legal professional and as someone linking differ-
ent communities and movements—were all targeted in this case, with the state trying to depict me
as a 'brainwasher' and as a mastermind of mayhem, violence and destruction. . . . It is clear that
the skills that make us strong,
the alternatives that reduce our reliance on their systems
[emphasis
added] and prefigure a new world, are the very things that they are most afraid of.”
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Altogether, the road to localism may not be as easy and cheerful a path as some proponents
portray. It will be filled with hard work, pitfalls, conflicts, and struggle—as well as comradeship,
community, and comity. Its ultimate advantage: the primary trends of the current century (discussed
above) seem to lead ultimately in this direction. If all else fails, the local matrix of neighbors, family,
and friends will offer our last refuge.
Complications
Scenarios are not forecasts; they are planning tools. As prophecies, they're not much more reliable
than dreams. What really happens in the years ahead will be shaped as much by “black swan” events
as by trends in resource depletion or credit markets. We know that environmental impacts from cli-
mate change will intensify, but we don't know exactly where, when, or how severely those impacts
will manifest; meanwhile, there is always the possibility of a massive environmental disaster not
caused by human activity (such as an earthquake or volcanic eruption) occurring in such a location
or on such a scale as to substantially alter the course of world events. Wars are also impossible to
predict in terms of intensity and outcome, yet we know that geopolitical tensions are building. It
is just possible (not very, but just) that some new energy technology—such as cold fusion—could
reset the collapse clock, enabling the global economy to lurch along for another couple of decades
before humanity breaches the next crucial natural limit. The simplification of society is likely to
