#6 Do not accept the homily that once the genie is out of the bottle, you can't put it back.
All it takes is public discussion and empowerment. Let's start that today.
#7 In thinking about technology, always emphasize the negative, as I'm doing, because that's what's usually left out of the discussion. This brings balance. Negativity is positive.
#8 Ask direct questions about the continued viability of any system that has an obvious, intrinsic need to drive constant growth on a finite planet, that is motivated by self-interest and profit and that is amoral in the face of obvious devastation.
Such a system may have been viable at a much earlier time on this planet when resources and nature were abundant. But it's now clearly obsolete.
My comments
I love these attitudes.
#2, Never judge technology by the way it benefits you personally, really stops me in my tracks because usually, I start with an item's benefits and drawbacks to me. I don't think I can or should exclude this personal orientation, but I do want to cultivate questioning how the gizmo will affect the whole world from its cradle to its grave (for seven generations?). This means re-orienting.
#5 Favor technologies that primarily serve the small community, like local solar and small-scale farming, over those that inherently operate on a large scale, like nuclear fossil fuels and monocrops. I love this idea, too. But even when a "small" solar system is installed on one household's roof, the global super-factory is engaged. The panels require mining, smelting, chemicals, water and inter-continental shipping of raw materials to assembly plants and the final product to the consumer. The system will need batteries or connection to the power grid; and both options have harmful ecological consequences. If we include a technology's manufacture, operation and discard, then maybe none is "small" or "local."
This really means naming assumptions and investigating them.
I recently learned that peat moss commonly used for potting soil is mined from carbon-sequestering bogs and takes thousands of years to replenish. In other words, I've got unexamined assumptions about almost everything, including gardening soil. To observe the Precautionary Principle, even with a "small, local" operation, I need to investigate my thoughts. Call this Attitude #9.
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