UM Localization  Raymond De Young                About
 

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The situation that we are facing includes such challenges as declining net energy, the limits to growth, the draw-down of fossil aquifers and the loss of soil. These are not problems, at least not in the normal definition of that word. They are predicaments that will play out over this century.

The difference is that a problem calls for a solution; the only question is whether one can be found and made to work, and once this is done, the problem is solved. A predicament, by contrast, has no solution. Faced with a predicament, people come up with responses. Those responses may succeed, they may fail, or they may fall somewhere in between, but none of them "solves" the predicament, in the sense that none of them makes it go away.          -John Michael Greer

How we respond to resource descent is perhaps the defining question of our time. While there is no outright solution to emerging biophysical constraints, there are consequences to be endured and transitions to be implemented. It is prudent for psychological research to help people form useful responses. The difference between a solution and a response is subtle. But it centers on pursuing and being content with a simple, place-based life. We should start while we still have options and surpluses of energy and social capital.

"So pray not for blessings, but for the power to do without them." - M. Grant 

Learn to live well, in place, even when fortune does not favor us.


          CONTACT INFORMATION


        Raymond De Young, Ph.D.
 
        LocalizationPapers.org


 

          Associate Professor of Environmental Psychology and Planning
          School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
          440 Church Street, 2034 Dana Building
          University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1041

          Associate Professor
          Program in the Environment (PITE)
          440 Church Street, 2034 Dana Building
          University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1041

          Faculty Associate
          Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum
          1800 N. Dixboro Rd.
          University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105

          Faculty Associate
          Graham Sustainability Institute (GESI)
          625 East Liberty Street, Suite 300
          University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104-2013