How do we measure the depths of one's soul?

First... October 1st, that is. Where has the time gone?? Already I've been here in Sweden for six weeks!! While many good friendships have developed, I still feel as though I've only dipped my big toe into the massive pool of our studies.

But that may well change this week. We will be visited by Manfred Max-Neef, a Chilean economist who - from what I gather - is not your typical economist. He makes a strong case for that which we most like to measure means very little... that we need to take time to slow down and be more in tune with those things in life that are pleasurable and beautiful. He lists 9 human needs that go far beyond the "food, clothing, shelter" (and sometimes "love") that we were taught as being the basics of human needs... those 9 include: subsistence, protecion, affection, understanding, participation, idleness, creation, identity, and freedom. You can catch a glimpse of this man speaking at http://big-picture.tv -- Max-Neef is listed down the left side, along with scores of other big thinkers in the sustainability movement. Those that are listed each have 1 or more videos of a few minutes that you can watch -- Karl-Henrik Robèrt is also there (the founder and frequent lecturer of the program I am in).

Last week we also talked about public policy and economics. It was a pretty full week... I think the gist that I'm taking away is that -- particularly within the realm of economics -- we have very short memories. My impression is that the way economics is being taught in the vast majority of schools around the world is the way of neoclassical economics... the way in which the world has operated over the last century or so... with no thought given to the millenia prior to that time, nor the change that has occurred over those thousands of years. It leaves students - and professionals - today with the impression that the way things are done now is the only way things have ever been done and thus the only way things are ever likely to be done. Economics is certainly not the only thing that is being taught this way.

Physics is another example... while we occassionaly admit that people once thought the world to be flat, we seldom take time to consider the implications of such a major shift in thinking -- when you've grown up thinking that the world is flat and all of a sudden one day are told that the world is round -- how willing to believe such a statement are you? Today physics is going through some very interesting trials regarding the validity of Newton's laws of motion because they do not seem to hold true with the very smallest particles... and so these natural 'laws' may be in jeopardy... and that opens some very interesting doors. "What the bleap do we know" is a documentary that addresses this point -- though be warned it is a bit... dizzying.

Something far less dizzying to watch but far more dizzying to consider is a lecture by Dr. Albert Bartlett at the University of Colorado entitled "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy" (available online in video, audio, or a transcript at http://www.globalpublicmedia.com/lectures/461) This is the simplest yet most sensible explanation for why energy (specifically oil) use will be a problem very soon. Basically he talks about how energy use is increasing by a certain percentage each year... 5% or 7% or something... and how that translates into a doubling every so many years. Then he draws a picture (and maybe even uses the story -- I can't remember now) illustrated by the question: if you have the following two options, which gives you more at the end of one month? Option A: $1 million on the first day and nothing the rest of the month, or Option B: $.01 on the first day, twice that amount on the second day, twice the second day's amount on the third day, and so on.

Choose option B and you would receive $1,342,177.28 on the 28th day of the month (so even if it's February, you'd still come out ahead!) -- which is exactly one penny more than the $1,342,177.27 that you would have accumalated through the first 27 days of the month. Assuming the month has more than 28 days... on the 29th day you would receive $2,684,354.56 -- again, a penny more than you'd receive on all of the previous days added together. The point: we're doing the same thing with oil every 5-10 years: we're using the same amount in less than one decade than has been used in all of history up to that decade. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

And the world's population is doing the same thing... which Dr. Bartlett points out as being rather interesting at the community level when Boulder's planners talk about wanting to grow at an annual rate of 3-7%. Even with the US population growing at 1% -- that's an additional 3,000,000 people each year -- we soon run into problems. So Dr. Bartlett's point is that we need to strive for ZERO population growth. Soon. I guess there are some things that we need to keep measuring, eh?

Bringing this conversation back to economics... the assumption under which our current economists operate is that growth is good. So the question becomes -- can an economy continue to grow if the population does not? I'll have to get back to this later...

One more thing before I jump off real quick, just in case anything I've said so far is not controversial or thought-provoking enough -- check out http://www.worldcantwait.net/ It's a group planning a nation-wide (world-wide?) protest on October 5th against the Bush Regime. Yes, yes... I know you all think it's too extreme. And I think that they don't even list some of the key reasons for the need for such a protest... key among them: PEAK OIL! The thing that I like most about what they write: democrats won't solve the problem either. So protesting the Bush regime is important -- but more important is making the statement that the US is headed in the wrong direction on sooo many fronts. (yes, this paragraph was a late add-in because I just came across it...) It will be interesting to see what kind of media coverage it pulls off... regardless -- make me proud and do something on October 5th to let your political leaders know that you want to save the US and the world before it's too late... if joining a protest is too much, write your members of congress!

I'd like to keep writing... to tell tales of our fondue party last night, or of our viewing of "Who killed the electric car?" last Friday... but alas, my roommate is trying to make me feel guilty for not cleaning -- today is my cleaning day, and while it's not even 11AM, apparently there is some rule that I'm supposed to clean immediately upon getting up... I'll write it off to cultural differences. Also on the to-do list today is preparing a dish for tomorrow night's potluck... still haven't figured out how I'm going to pull this off... I'm planning twice-baked potatos again (they are popular, easy, cheap, and filling -- all the requirements for a potluck dish), but I have class in the morning and afternoon, plus a potentially-more-than-an-hour meeting planning meeting for the student environmental group (of which I am the secretary) that begins at 5:00... with the potluck scheduled for 6. I could skip the potluck, except that it is with Manfred, and I'd like to spend as much time with the guy as possible in the 2-3 days that he's here. Ohhhh.... decisions.

Ok. Laundry and cleaning -- woo-hoo.