The astonishing story of how a movement’s quest for rural simplicity drifted into a formula for mass death By George Monbiot, published on monbiot.com, 4th October 2023 Tourism sells to you the story of what it has taken away. It markets the “traditional” and “unchanging” and, in doing so, changes it. As the old joke…
You are though. I really don’t think you’re doing it on purpose, but if you read what you’re saying, you are.
On this, I wholeheartedly disagree agree.
EDIT: omfg, I’m so sorry, I am on mobile and somehow fat-fingered “disagree” instead of “agree”
Ok let’s assume it would be feasible for a second and the 50 thousand or so people from the nearby city would all move into your rural area. Not only would that totally destroy your rural community that you are so protective off, but it would also require a lot more resources that what they currently use, and that is already unsustainable. So what exactly is your proposal then? Just let these 50 thousand people starve to death?
(I’m going to answer both comments here)
I don’t know why on earth you think I’m arguing for everyone to move to rural areas.
I propose the abolition of capitalism, along with the abolition of markets, to be replaced with democratic planning, not, like we have now, an economy premised on one dollar one vote, in which the wealthy decide what we do. I want a society that looks something like “from each according to their ability, and to each according to their needs,” a classless, stateless society, in which people can live in rural places or urban areas, and we work together to make both sustainable, healthy, and pleasant.
It’s a big dream. I don’t expect to see it in my lifetime, but I also know that in my lifetime, the climate crisis is coming, and things are going to change whether we want it to or not. I think it’s worth dreaming the dream, and telling other people about it. I hope that the dream can influence the decisions we make when change is forced upon us.
But it’s also not just a dream. I am a member of research collectives and academic groups that are actively working on democratic planning. I founded a worker cooperative. I farm cooperatively with other people, too. I try to make the dream real in small ways, and I hope other people do too, because if we all do it, then it becomes real in big ways, and maybe things won’t be as bad as they look like they’re going to be.
That’s what attracts me to solarpunk, and why I’m here… I love the dream it embodies, with its unabashed utopian aesthetic.
Also omg I’m so sorry, I am on mobile and somehow fat-fingered “disagree” instead of “agree” lmfao.
Lol, ok never mind then 🤭