The Clouds on the Horizon are Chickens Coming Home to Roost

Consistently, we Americans have resisted the call to conserve and live within boundaries. It's as if it's in our national DNA to squander resources and deny the rule of consequences, which as we know, in our heart of hearts, is as inevitable as the law of gravity.

"Saving and living conservatively? That's for saps, not us!", at least that's what our inimitable Vice President says: "Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy." Vice President Dick Cheney, April 30, 2001

Just as an aside, on how things can always get much, much worse, we would do well to remember those innocent early pre-9/11 days of the Bush administration when there was slight news coverage of VP Dick Cheney's meetings behind closed doors with oil executive buddies to forge an energy policy. Hmmmm, don't you just wonder what they said, back when oil was 30-something dollars a barrel (now at $140/barrel and heading north with a bullet) ...those meetings were a sign that few of us heeded. And then along came 9/11 and the Iraq War to put things in perspective. It all began to spiral out of control ...

But it's not all gloom and doom today because - at least in my own skewed world view - there's always a door back at the end of the room that offers us all a way out, or at a minimum, a bit of sunshine and a way to take some personal control - written on that particular door is "Integrated Digital Transition." More about that in a minute.

The first challenge we each must address in the face of such daunting bad news these days is to overcome feelings of hopelessness, powerlessness, and despair. It's not unusual to get depressed when such bad news hits home - and it's going to keep on coming at us, folks. The bad times seem to stretch out endlessly into the future and that realization can lead to paralysis and even, denial. It's too easy to shrug one's shoulders and say "Oh well, what can I do ..." and keep on doing what you've been doing, hoping someone else will take the reins, or maybe the problem will just go away. Fact is, we've done that already, for too, too long, and guess what, the problems don't in fact go away, they stay, and they get worse!

In fact, there's lots we each of us can do, each one of us, and it starts by taking a personal inventory of how we live our lives. We each need to look at our current set of assumptions and challenge ourselves to do things more economically and less wastefully - that's acknowledging reality. Little acts of conservation and redirection have big impacts when looked at collectively, and they have a way of lifting each of us out of the funk the bad news drags us down into. We have done things the same way for so long that we don't realize how wasteful we can be and how far we can go to make things better.

First, I recommend paying more attention to leaders and choosing leaders that "get it." The old ways of doing things won't cut it any more. At the local, regional, state, and federal level, we should be picking leaders who are poised to adapt to change and do things in new ways. Personally, I like Obama, not because he's an inspiring orator, and he most certainly is, but because he appears committed and ready to try new things and new ways to solve old, vexing problems and take us in new, positive directions.

Second, we should each take a long hard look at what we do and why we do it as a society. We can start to align our priorities and spending with our values and available tools to ensure that we are spending our money and our time in the right places, for the right things, as effectively as possible. We can start to prepare for some sustained hard times, which will come with the sustained high prices of all goods and services brought on by expensive oil.

Instead of moaning for government intervention to lower gas taxes temporarily, for instance, as Hillary and John McCain would have had us do a few weeks ago, why shouldn't we start contemplating how we could live good lives with expensive gasoline? The Europeans somehow manage that feat, after all!

On that note, I bought a Civic Hybrid one year ago (love it - 40 MPG!) and I'm trading in my Ford Expedition next month when the lease expires for a new Honda CRV. My little actions won't change the world, far from it, but they make me feel more in control and bring my behavior more in line with my values, and in my own little way, I get to lower my carbon footprint while lightening the load on my wallet. What's so bad about that???

So next, by substituting investing for spending wherever possible, we can begin to reap some savings over time. That's what I'm doing when I invested in fuel efficient vehicles that would lower my operating expenses over time. And that's what city government leaders should be doing with digital applications, new business processes, and broadband infrastructure - attacking labor and service expense by investing in broadband applications and network infrastructure - investing in Integrated Digital Transition.

Finally, by taking control of our destiny, by taking control of ever more details, we begin to forget how depressed we were , how put upon by external events, and we start to develop the very important skill of getting more out of less. The skill of efficiency doesn't come naturally, but it feels good the more you do it. After months and years of wringing out inefficiencies, you stop and look back and wonder how you ever could have been so wasteful!

With a paradigm shift from wasteful consumption of resources to doing more with less, it no longer feels like you are deprived and are suffering under adverse economic conditions. Rather, it feels like this is a new, normal state, and it's natural to scrimp and save and get the most out of what we have. As the proverb advises us, "Waste Not, Want Not."

As individuals, as a society, as a nation, we can do far better than we've done in the past. We just have to have sufficient motivation to change our old ways of doing things and to take on new lifestyles and business practices. Left to our own devices, we'd just keep on keepin' on. Why not?

The good news is - it now looks like the economy is about to give us all the motivation and incentive we need!

Since we're consulting proverbs, why not turn to one of the best sources of wisdom around, closing out this post the way we came in?

Proverbs 25:16. "If you find honey, eat just enough-too much of it, and you will vomit."
This verse sounds like something a mother tells their child, don't eat too much or your tummy will hurt. While God certainly doesn't want us to eat too much and get sick this verse also symbolizes any good thing, not just food. Don't be greedy and take more than you need. Take just enough. The Nine Best Bible Verses in Proverbs

The Bottom Line

Looks like we've got good news and bad news .. the bad news is: The Economy Sucks!!! The good news is: With our wasteful lifestyles and business practices, we've got a long, long way to go, with lots of fat to cut along the way...

So don't worry folks - WE WILL SURVIVE!

UPDATE: Sunday Morning comics echo my comments...