The Lockdown earlier this year was tough on a lot of folk but for some it was a ‘time out’ that forced us to think about whether the life we had been leading is the one we wanted to lead.
As the pandemic has continued to rage overseas it’s clear our island nation is going to be in self – isolation for some time to come and stores are beginning to report some imported products are out of stock because of shutdowns overseas.
If this situation keeps going long enough then the solution to these shortages will either be to do without whatever it is we thought we wanted (no bad thing because how much stuff do you really need in your life?) or for something vital we either repair whatever is broken or make a new one ourselves (again no bad thing because we develop a more self-sufficient economy).
For all the terrible misery Covid-19 has caused through loss of loved ones and ongoing human suffering, some things are better.
Morning traffic volumes are down as former office -based workers around the globe have found ways of operating from home. World-wide the air is cleaner and there has been a significant reduction in greenhouse gasses along with water and land pollutants.
Proving, if proof were needed to the deniers, that YES human activity IS having an enormously detrimental effect on our climate and we had better mend our ways or nature will get rid of us.
New Year’s Day is now just a week away – the traditional time to take stock of our lives.
Will you be taking that opportunity?
Bryan Bruce is one of NZs most respected documentary makers and public intellectuals who has tirelessly exposed NZs neoliberal economic settings as the main cause for social issues.
Some very good thoughts there Bryan.
I took stock about 20 years ago and recognised most of what the mainstream told us (and still tells us) was utter bollocks, and was simply anti-environmental behaviours geared to someone somewhere making a short-term profit out of destruction of the habitability of the Earth.
Sadly, those with a social conscience and environmental awareness amount to perhaps 1% of the populace (at best), and the other 99% can’t wait for the Covid emergency to end, so they can get back to ‘fucking the planet’ super-fast, via the purchase of goods that provide short-lived satisfaction (if any) and completely unnecessary travel. Even in this constrained world, many hit the consume button every other minute. Because they can.
When you consider that the government is pouring money and resources into promoting the egregious overconsumption of the America’s Cup scam (rich people’s playtime at the expense of poor people’s welfare), how can there be hope?
I know, it’s all about ‘innovation’ and putting NZ in the spotlight, whatever that means. And jobs. Jobs for supermarket shelf-fillers and checkout operators; jobs for bar staff and waiters in restaurants; jobs for the boys and girls at TVNZ, and some advertising revenue to keep the whole Ponzi system going a little longer.
The good news is, America -epitome of dysfunction, planet-fucking and phony finance- is in terminal decline, approaching complete collapse.
Charles Hugh Smith hits the nail on the head (yet again):
‘From the point of view of evolution, the most hopeful scenario for 2021 is the sudden and complete collapse of everything that is obsolete, inefficient, ineffective and sclerotic. When obsolete systems and entities pass away quickly, the cost and pain are processed and absorbed quickly as well: enterprises go bankrupt and their assets are liquidated, failed ventures close, and schemes that didn’t yield the desired benefits are scrapped.’…..
The worst-case scenario is our weak and/or corrupt government and central bank keep all the doomed zombies on life support, a process that bleeds the economy of adaptability, flexibility, innovation and resilience. The path of least resistance, the politically expedient path–over-borrowing and devaluing the currency by over-issuing “money”–leads to decay and collapse. There is no other possible result, no other possible outcome.’
https://www.oftwominds.com/blogdec20/most-hopeful12-20.html
Sadly, all the evidence indicates the Adern government will follow the path of least resistance, the path that generates the worst outcomes, i.e. propping up failing systems, because to do otherwise requires courage and intelligence.
I have seen no indication of either courage or intelligence from anyone in the government. Nor anyone in parliament, for that matter.
Back to the preparations for the economic meltdown.
Presumably, this includes the propping up of the property market using ‘accommodation supplements’.
If our nearest neighbour is indicative of NZ, then the rich (property owners) got a lot richer over the past year:
‘The combined wealth of Australian billionaires has risen by more than 50% over the past year, new figures show, prompting concerns that the pandemic-triggered recession has “turbocharged” the gap between rich and poor.’
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/29/australias-billionaires-became-50-richer-during-pandemic
Though this blog is far too rational, and not sensational enough for far too many kiwis (not sure whether the level of debate has dropped since I left the country, or whether it was always as juvenile as it is now that I’ve arrived in time for lockdown), I wholeheartedly agree with the thrust of your post.. We need desperately, to become self sufficient again.. It was what made us so capable of adapting and thriving wherever we went. There are no good excuses for us not becoming self reliant, but we can assume the same fools that put us in the vulnerable state we are in now, will continue to blindly agitate for a continuation of the utter stupidity that Roger Douglas Hoodwinked us into supporting, and John Key created into the most anti human system possible.. Purely on the basis of being useful to people who are no friends of this country… The only people who won’t see the current situation as a golden opportunity to get back to our roots, as such, are the ones who made their money from attacking the weakest and most vulnerable section of society.. Those people are beyond help, and shouldn’t get it…
policing the police
governing the government
watching the watchers
watching yourself . . .
So many questions
So I don’t question
(I question the questions)
Not expecting an answer
But that’s me lol
Which question to question?
That’s the question
Beyond questions . .
Observe the totality closely . .
From a distance
lol
Awareness . .
What is my question
What could it be ?
I don’t know
Doesn’t really bother me
What does an answer look like?
What will 2 Morro be?
It’ll look like yesterday
There is only today
This moment
Then the next
Which is now
Nearly there
Just gone
Not new
But exciting
To experience
Imagine
Bringing in
The be ing
Creating
Amazing
Each full of wonder day ..
Cheers Bryan
By way of anecdote do you realise new car tyres are now getting in short supply? I tried to get a Bridgestone Desert Dueler for the Ute and was advised by the tyre people that there aren’t any available in the country. Bridgestone Desert Duelers are like the baked beans on toast, you know ok but nothing fancy in the tyre world for Ute’s. I ended up with a some odd looking HiFly. I’ve never heard of them either.
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