About stepdown

It becomes more apparent each year that the world I live in is less than what it was. It is not as pleasant or peaceful, not as free or open. The world, my world of Sydney Australia, is very different to that which I grew up in. Crises are constant, and none of them get solved.

Many of us are waiting for a collapse, some catastrophe that tears apart the current circumstances we see no way out of. I have come to doubt a collapse. (Not completely dismissing it though.) Rather, what I see more likely are sudden declines, followed by plateaus. Stepdowns from the industrialized civilization and all that it has given birth to, towards greater simplification, localized and artisanal production, and a much less “abundant” way of living.

Cheap energy is receding. Knowing more about this has revealed to me just how much our reality is built on oil. Not just our industry, nor just our civilization, but our culture, religions, our ways of seeing the universe and how we relate to reality. Our very selves are suffused with oil.

What I intend to do here is to explore the steps, the down step and the levels we pause at. I want to write on the sociology of what is happening, and what will happen. I want to develop and teach skills in order to adapt and gain power throughout this change. Images take me to the places I’ve been to and evoke the spirit of that place. Audio provides a chance to think and test and try.

Mal

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