i think that we can all agree that we have about reached the limits of our extractive culture. there are so many little signs of a system that is out of balance and teetering towards a complete meltdown.
for instance, we are currently- that is we taxpayers- shoring up the financial sector of the economy, specifically the banks, to prevent a world-wide panic and likely depression like the last great depression that my grandparents remember. the only thing between us and that is you and me. but the high-risk investments of the banks continue and they will continue as long as they have our carte blanche. basically here's how the system is working right now: the banks don't have the confidence in each other' solvency to loan money freely which means that your average bank doesn't have any money to lend. since they don't have the money to lend they can't make interest payments to the shareholders and folks with savings accounts.
add to this the dramatic failings of a supremely extractive and environmentally inattentive country like china and you see where our system is going. it is time now to begin the changes to locally sustainable economies instead of the gentlemanly global capitalism that we have now. when 80% of manufactured goods are provided by 1000 corporations you have a problem. there is nothing local about a group producing half of a percent of the global total of goods.
we have got to focus on sustainable solutions to our economic needs. we're too far down this path to just drop the machinery, put it into the ground and live off the earth like the nature-bound cultures before us. there are just too many of us. but we can prevent the wholesale slaughter of the animal life of the planet in favor of a more sustained, balanced approach to life.