On Building "Roads" Worthy of Trust: An Open Letter to Tom Whipple

I consider the “Energy Bulletin” website to be a primary resource for trustworthy assessments of our current status in relation to the most significant challenges of our times. It was there that I found your article titled “The Peak Oil Crisis: priorities” (April 9, 2009). Recently, I have read other articles of yours; specifically, “The Peak Oil Crisis: pondering the near future” (March 26), and “The Peak Oil Crisis: government in the transition” (March 19).

I understand your concern—and share your concern—that there is a large majority of people who are not aware that significant and potentially devastating changes in our “cultural infrastructure” are imminent, and may be destabilizing in ways which most of us would not like to visualize, or attempt to live through. My own concerns are summarized briefly in the following document (“The ‘1000Communities2’ Proposal: Creating a Multiplier Effect of a Positive Nature” at http://ipcri.net/images/1000Communities2-for-Outreach-Package-B.pdf )-- and in more detail in the document “A Ten Point Assessment of the Most Difficult Challenges of Our Times” at http://ipcri.net/images/7-Ten-Point-Assessment-excerpt.pdf )

At the same time as I share many of your concerns, I am uneasy with approaches which provide many ways of visualizing “the cliff” ahead, but very few ways of visualizing alternative “roads ahead”. Arriving at the belief that a positive outcome is possible is an important step towards actually achieving a positive outcome, and a step which needs to be attended to with much care, to encourage practical and constructive public discourse. Therefore, I would very much like to encourage you, when you are rightly sharing evidence supporting significant concerns about very real threats to public welfare, to also identify positive, solution-oriented avenues for constructive effort, so that readers can see at least as many “roads ahead” as “cliffs”. I am making an effort to emphasize this special point because I also believe (as mentioned above) that there is a significant majority of people who are not aware of the sheer magnitude of the challenges ahead. As they become aware, I would like to believe that there is a greater than even chance that they will do so through narratives which provide at least as many “road ahead” scenarios as “cliff” ahead scenarios.

I do understand that there are many people who do not see any “road ahead” scenarios. The reason for that may not be that there are no “roads ahead”, but that there is within such people some tragic kind of fear of the unknown which will only accept a “road” if it is a “familiar road”. This is where faith comes in. And with it comes the question: who do I trust? If our self-examination is courageous enough to arrive at this question, then it is not far to the realization that the potential “roads ahead” are not well developed... and we have a lot of work ahead of us.

Over the last 8 years, I have been building an initiative called The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative. I have been doing so because I believe that efforts to apply this “constellation” of approaches will result in “many roads” which can be trusted. There are many other people, in communities around the world, who are building “roads” worthy of trust, even in times as challenging as ours. The IPCR Initiative is an effort to recognize these efforts, wherever they are, and bring them to the forefront of local community and regional responses to the challenges ahead.

In this message, I would like to recommend one particular IPCR resource which I believe can be most useful in bringing solutions to light at the local community level. [Note: In light of the urgent need to increase collaboration between diverse communities of people, anyone may access all IPCR documents for free, at www.ipcri.net .] The resource is a 161 page proposal titled “1000Communities2” (“1000CommunitiesSquared”). “1000Communities2” advocates for Community Visioning Initiatives, “Community Teaching and Learning Centers” with ongoing workshops, and “sister community” relationships, as a way of generating an exponential increase in our collective capacity to overcome the challenges of our times.

Here I will refer you to 2 brief introductions to this “1000Communities2” proposal.

1) The above mentioned document “The ‘1000Communities2’ Proposal: Creating a Multiplier Effect of a Positive Nature”, at http://ipcri.net/images/1000Communities2-for-Outreach-Package-B.pdf

2) “Community Visioning Initiatives for the Duration of the Emergency” at http://ipcri.net/images/Community-Visioning-Initiatives-for-the-Duration...

We live in very complex world. There are very difficult challenges ahead. Very soon, more and
more people are going to be coming to the realization that resolving these challenges will require problem solving on a scale most of us have never known before. Which “roads” are going to be well-developed, and ready for the constructive efforts of those who believe we can do it—or for those who have enough faith to believe that “with us or without us, it’s going to happen”? I invite you, and as many other people as possible, to discover what answers you prefer to that question, and to share them with as many other people as possible.

With Hope for a Peaceful and Sustainable Future,

Stefan Pasti, Founder and Outreach Coordinator
The IPCR Initiative (www.ipcri.net)