Powerdown

POWERDOWN
Inspired by Jan Lundberg
http://www.culturechange.org
215-243-3144

If the U.S. continues with its current policies, the next decades will be marked by war, economic collapse, and environmental catastrophe. Resource depletion and population pressures are about to catch up with us, and no one is prepared. The political elites, especially in the U.S., are incapable of dealing with the situation and have in mind a punishing game of “Last One Standing.” The alternative is “Powerdown,” a strategy that will require tremendous effort and economic sacrifice in order to reduce per-capita resource usage in wealthy countries, develop alternative energy sources, distribute resources more equitably, and reduce the human population humanely but systematically over time. While civil society organizations push for a mild version of this, the vast majority of the world’s people are in the dark, not understanding the challenges ahead, nor the options realistically available. This film speaks frankly to these dilemmas. Avoiding cynicism and despair, it begins with an overview of the likely impacts of oil and natural gas depletion and then outlines four options for industrial societies during the next decades: Last One Standing: the path of competition for remaining resources; Powerdown: the path of cooperation, conservation and sharing; Waiting for a Magic Elixir: wishful thinking, false hopes, and denial; Building Lifeboats: the path of community solidarity and preservation. Timely, accessible and eloquent, POWERDOWN is crucial information for our times. This is a film presentation by Richard Heinberg of his own recent book by the same name.

Before and after the film, everyone’s invited to indulge in our Humanist Tea House

$5 donations are accepted