Deep Economy: An historical experiment

[Thoughts from, about, and inspired by the book Deep Economy, by Bill McKibben.]

Reading this book has opened up a new perspective for me about our post-industrial, electric, consumerist society: that is, no one has ever tried this before.

No civilization has grown or innovated or consumed at anywhere near the rate that we currently are. There's a stat that I can't find just now that claims that in the last 50 or so years, we've used as many natural resources as in all recorded history before that. And we're consuming faster every day. Our society and our lifestyles are grand experiments upon the earth - but what is the experiment telling us?

I don't claim to have the inside scoop on resource depletion or global warming, but it's obvious to me that since no one has done this before, we better be on the lookout for results. If the icecaps are melting and there's good evidence that we're causing that, we had better watch closely. Or if we are clearing forests without understanding how their vital roles will be replaced, we need to rethink some things.

The short of it is, this great experiment might be a success, or it might be a failure. It may turn out that this type of society is not a sustainable endeavor. The truth is, no one knows for sure just yet - it's too soon in the experiment. But with stakes as high as they are, shouldn't we be proceeding more intentionally?