The Great Unraveling - A Hope-Filled Conversation

Let's imagine that it's the end of the world as we know it - how are you feeling?

Do you think we are on the edge having our social and political systems unravel? What does this mean for our future? Is it a bad thing? Is there a better way that might emerge? Are we capable of paying the cost of getting from here to there? What, if anything, can we do to prepare? What, if anything, can we do to help?

Please note - you do not need to read the following resources to attend the discussion. Please post any other relevant resources you may want to contribute in the comments section.

Ten years ago The Guardian published a long essay on moving to postcapitalism with the headline "The End of Capitalism has Begun" in which it saw some optimism for us.

The Post Carbon Institute has a booklet entitled "Welcome to the Great Unraveling: Navigating the Polycrisis of Environmental and Social Breakdown" by Asher Miller and Richard Heinberg that is a good resource for this discussion, albeit a little more on the pessimistic side.

There's also a very good discussion of what it is like to live under a system that is not based on supporting the value of human living in Václav Havel's long essay The Power of the Powerless. The whole essay is quite good, but if you're short on time you can cut out sections XII to XIX where he talks more about the nature of dissidence and dissident groups in Czechoslovakia. It's hard to see where Section XII starts in the linked pdf - it is in the first paragraph on pg 34. If you're skipping the less pertinent, you can pick up again at Section XX on pg 72. There is a book copy of The Power of the Powerless available with an introduction by Timothy Snyder - it is available from the library. You can also message Tess directly and she can email you an epub copy.