Peak Oil and Yoga

The challenges our planet faces are three-pronged: decreasing supplies of fossil fuels, increasing temperatures, and overpopulation. As those three progress they bring with them a host of consequences that are mind-blowing. In my quest for enlightenment my path is also three-pronged: reading, writing, and yoga. I am currently reading, Hot, Flat, and Crowded, by Thomas Friedman, The Flooded Earth, by Peter Ward, and The Transition Handbook, by Rob Hopkins.

One of the concepts in the Friedman book presents a perspective that hadn't occurred to me. Simply put, the United States of America has enjoyed several decades of unprecedented growth, wealth, luxury, and power. We haven't been humble about it either, and other countries have loved us, hated us, and wanted to be us. Until recently the idea that any other country could "be us" was inconceivable. It's a different story now. China, India, and the Middle East are developing at astounding speed with little or no concern for 'going green.' As they race to duplicate the "American Dream" model in their own countries the stress on earth's resources, atmosphere, and economy grows exponentially.

This poses a bit of a moral dilemma. Would you want to be the American who steps in and says, "Oh, pardon me, ummm, it seems that we here in the U.S. have depleted much of the earth's natural resources. We will be needing whatever is left to sustain our superior lifestyle and our position as a global super-power. If you want to grow, you can't copy us or you will destroy any hope of sustainable life on earth."

How utterly presumptious, and yet, how utterly true. I find my mind racing around that one. It's the same out-of-control feeling I have when I awaken from a bad dream, heart pounding, still caught up in whatever nightmarish ordeal I wasn't surviving at the moment. After the nightmare I can slowly calm my fears as I tell myself, "It was just a dream...it was just a dream."

The real-life situation is tougher. As I immerse myself in the facts, the examples, and the numbers, the inevitability of the outcome looms large. Normally rock-solid, emotionally stable, mentally balanced I begin to sense a tilt. I know myself. If I continue to feed on the facts, examples, and numbers I will go into sensory overload and become apathetic. It's a defense mechanism that seems to be epidemic in our culture. So I slide my Raja Yoga DVD into the slot on the laptop. Guided by the soothing voice of Bidyut K. Bose (BK to those who know him) I bring my racing mind back to my own breath. Everything slows down. Shoulders relax. For 40 minutes I am mindful only of the present moment. I am right here, right now, grateful for this life.

Balance restored, I go to my blog and write. There are things I can do and there are things I cannot do. I can become informed. I can inform others. I can buy, eat, work, and play locally. I can grow some of my own food in one of many community gardens. I can consciously consume less of everything. I can buy organic produce to help support those in my area who have devoted themselves to growing and supplying clean food. I can work toward a closed loop lifestyle where I create no waste. And I can learn from my neighbors who have already been doing these things while I was oblivious.