Peak Oil and Collapse

 

“Indigenous Survival in the Coming Collapse” Waziyatawin

“The Great Shift: Moving a Fossil Fueled-Based Economy” Noelani Goodyear-Ka’opua and Mary Tuti Baker

                Both articles talk about a collapse scenario involving “peak oil” and how indigenous peoples and communities should revive and practice some of their traditional ways of caring for the land. They also highlight the need to break away from the neo-liberal capitalist way of thinking; otherwise it is only a continuation of the exploitive capitalist system at work under a new name like “clean renewable energy”.

Goodyear-Ka’opua and Baker suggest a Plurality of economies and futures, not just a singular economy or future and balancing of three economies: natural, sustenance, and market. They also emphasize a more community and indigenous based approach to issues like renewable energy that has power relations behind it. They highlight this by showing the tensions GUOCO Group Limited, a transnational corporation and MEC a community based organization. They also raise important questions about how community groups can and should approach this Shift.

                Waziyatawin takes a more revolutionary but effective approach in his article. However, it poses a lot of questions about one’s indigeneity and responsibilities and invokes activism among the indigenous communities and allows them to start thinking about regaining and defending their lands in the event of global collapse.

                Here’s a video of a collapse scenario I remember watching for a futures class, I think it portrays a collapse scenario but with a neo-liberal capitalist context. It would be interesting to create an indigenous one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmUlAQ8rIC0