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My Changing Reality

October 27, 2010 @ 21:37 By Gavin Webber 7 Comments

Throughout my journey towards a more sustainable lifestyle, which by the way only began 4 years ago last month, my reality has shifted more times than I can count on both hands.

As Plato wrote in The Phaedrus; “First appearance deceives many.”  I discovered that I lived a life where I took everything at face value, but that soon changed in an instant.

The first shift in reality has been mentioned many times before.  It was during the time I watched “An Inconvenient Truth” for the very first time.  It made me instantly aware of Climate Change in a heartbeat, and its impacts on the planet and on humanity.  This made me think hard and deep for the very first time in my life.  I question now why it took me until I was 43 to have these kind of deep and meaningful thoughts, but hey, you cannot change the past.

Then I discovered the reality of Peak Oil and what many people believe to be its ramifications upon society.  Not only did we have climate change to contend with, but PO as well.  All this information to digest within the space of about 6 months was enough to do anyone’s head in.  But I continued to seek more information and actions that I could take to prevent or delay these two bad boys, both caused by humans of course.  I read back on my first post about PO and now realise how naive I was.  I had not even grasped the full concept of what was about to come down at us.

The next shift in reality for me was getting a better understanding of Population Overshoot which has come about by the use of cheap fossil fuels in agriculture.  Fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides and oil based fuels have played a massive part in what is known as the Green Revolution, which in turn has enabled our population to grow nearly 7 fold in just 110 years.  It was about the same time I was introduced to the concept of Peak Everything, and here I was thinking Peak Oil was all we were facing.

Learning about how the thin fabric of society in the western world works after watching “The Corporation” shocked me into the realisation that all is not what it seems to be.  I found that governments only had a little influence on its citizen, and it was that corporations really determine what we should like and desire.  This reality was also backed up by reading “Affluenza“, which describes how consumerism became the norm.  I figured out that by this time that I was not a conspicuous consumer any more, but a conscious provider.

This brought me to the realisation that “growth at all costs” was the dominant economical model that propels our society down a slippery slope.  This model, I thought was totally unsustainable on a planet with finite resources, and in fact, to continue this western lifestyle we would need 3 planets to continue down this path.

All throughout these multiple shifts, lingering in the back of my mind, there was always one single re-occurring theme that was a common thread.  That common thread was the use of fossil fuels, past, present, and future.  With more research I learned that without these forms of cheap, dense energy we could not have created all the other realities that I discovered during my journey.  Our ever accelerating use of the stuff is what is currently causing climate change, Peak everything,  population overshoot, an unstable economy based on increasing demand for it, enhances our ability to decimate the environment and to unleash a mass extinction of species (including ourselves) at a rate that has never been seen before in 4.5 billion years.

So much for first appearances!  So how did I stop going into a depressive spiral and not get out of bed each day directly after one of these shifts?  Well, I tried to change my behaviours with each shift in reality.  I found soon after my green epiphany that if I actually did something to improve the situation, then I felt much better about the new reality and was able to cope quite well.  Then I learnt about the stages of change and became more aware of these stages and how to work through them quickly.  It was this skill and these successful actions that spurred me on to bigger and bigger actions, until the present day where we are now.  Skills to pay the bills, as my son Adam often told me.  Skills for the future, more likely!  Did I ever mention I like to put my hands in the dirt to relax.  Growing your own food brings you back in touch with the planet, and helps you avert some of the negative effects of my discovered realities.

Now, I don’t know if I have made a difference in this big, big world of ours, but I do know one thing.  I have made a difference to those immediately around me, and for that I am glad.  We are more educated, understand things that others simply have no idea exist nor want to learn about, and have built a community of like-minded people around us.  This is real community building in action, and all because I decided to take the invitation to watch a movie on a work day!  It is funny how things pan out.

“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.”

       – John Lennon

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Related

Filed Under: climate change, Green Psychology, Peak Everything, Peak Oil

← All Bubbly at the Co-op The End of Food →

About Gavin Webber

Gavin Webber's daily goal is to live a more sustainable lifestyle, in an effort to reduce his family's environmental footprint so we can all make a difference for our children & future generations to come.

Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Comments

  1. Wendy says

    October 27, 2010 at 22:54

    Funny. It sounds like our “epiphanies” came at, roughly, the same time, and almost for the same reason. I think I had already been introduced to PO and climate change by the time I watched Gore’s film, but it was the icing on the proverbial cake that got me moving a little faster down this powering down path.

    I think we’ve both come a long way, and I’ve really enjoyed reading about your parallel journey on the other side of the world ;).

    Reply
  2. Amy says

    October 28, 2010 at 04:42

    It can be depressing at times, but all change starts slowly. Keep yer chin up! We’ll get there.

    Reply
  3. JulieG says

    October 28, 2010 at 14:17

    I’m just about to start a new venture and was feeling like maybe there wasn’t much point, or that I wouldn’t be able to take on the extra work. A bit glum, really. And then I see this post, and it reminds me how far we’ve all come. And I think “If Gavin can do it, so can I!”

    You really do push us all to do our best. It’s great having our little online community to give us a boost when our next-door community is not being as supportive as we’d like. Thanks for this post, it really lifted my spirits 🙂

    Reply
  4. Julie says

    October 28, 2010 at 16:32

    Gosh yes, what an emotional roller coaster ride I’ve been on over the past four years. Only I’ve also thrown into my mix, research into the degeneration of the family unit and relationships between kids and parents (i.e. how Generation Y ended up being they way they are)… and you would not, of course, be surprised to know that there is a direct correlation between all of the above issues. With three littlies, it seems I have something to worry about every way I turn LOL. As you say though, education is the key!

    Reply
  5. Gavin says

    October 28, 2010 at 22:18

    @ Wendy,

    Just peas in a pod I suppose! Cheers

    @ Amy

    Always mate, always 🙂

    @ JulieG

    Thanks JG, you have lifted my spirits as well! And I agree with your virtual community. Sometimes the real one just does not get it.

    @ Julie

    Yes, education, and then taking the learnings and applying it. That is the real key to a sustainable lifestyle. But hey, I am preaching to the converted, aren’t I, coffee grower!

    Gav x

    Reply
  6. Molly On Money says

    October 28, 2010 at 23:12

    One positive aspect of globalization is that these ideas that you mention are being shared on a huge scale quickly.
    Independent movies and books with amazing information can now scan the globe in no time educating all of us.

    Reply
  7. Gavin says

    October 30, 2010 at 21:06

    @ Molly,

    Yes, I believe you are right. Good observation.

    Gav

    Reply

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About Gavin Webber

About Gavin Webber

An Ordinary Australian Man Who Has A Green Epiphany Whilst Watching A Documentary, Gets a Hybrid Car, Plants A Large Organic Vegetable Garden, Goes Totally Solar, Lowers Consumption, Feeds Composts Bins and Worms, Harvests Rainwater, Raises Chickens, Makes Cheese and Soap, and Eats Locally. All In The Effort To Reduce Our Family's Carbon Footprint So We Can Start Making A Difference For Our Children & Future Generations To Come.

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