Opportunity in the Destruction—Let’s Change the World
We need your ideas!
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There is a disturbed turbulence at the spiritual level in most people I know these days. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hit a nerve. People are confused. Things just don’t seem right. This week, I wrote about this experience here: Ukraine and the Soul.
Despite the disturbance, life marches on. We are all confronting difficult circumstances: Gas prices have skyrocketed. Food prices are increasing fast, with huge increases in commodity prices for wheat, corn, soybeans, and vegetable oils.
Shortages of commodities are forcing many to reduce consumption. According to CNN Business, Goldman Sachs is out with a report that oil could go to $240 a barrel this summer. That’s likely the equivalent of $8-10/gallon gas. Nickel prices have skyrocketed because Russia supplies 20% of the high-grade nickel in the world—a material desperately needed for today's electric vehicles and battery technology. Wheat prices are spiking as well because Russia provides 17% of world production and Ukraine provides 12% and neither is shipping wheat today. As this war spreads and endures, more and more commodities the world needs will be impacted.
Larry Fink, the CEO of Blackrock and one of the world’s leading capitalists wrote in his annual letter to shareholders:
“The Russian invasion of Ukraine has put an end to the globalization we have experienced over the last three decades. It has left many communities and people feeling isolated and looking inward.” So, here you have one of the biggest, most leading capitalists in the world declaring an end to globalization as we know it. Globalism is being disrupted. Putin’s war is hacking it into three major pieces. People are painting, so-to-speak, on new blank canvases.
What will the world look like without globalization? That has been the mainstay of our worldview for 35 years! What can we do, and how can we contribute, to the creation of a new world order? You see, when these disturbances and disruptions happen in the world, they create an opportunity. But we have to overcome our anxiety. None of us is in a position to control the outcome, but we can all contribute our ideas. A “thought-world” as I like to call it, is a cauldron of ideas from which new things can emerge. This is why I call on readers to think and to write. Ideas are how we can shape the new world as it unfolds. I invite you to write for The Postcapitalist if you would like, but also for any publication in Medium or elsewhere.
We are facing a war-induced, economically-driven reduction in consumption, combined with a wrenching break up of globalization and confrontation with the inadequacy of the global financial system. Changes are coming, even though we do not know what they will be yet. That means it is time to participate in dreaming, scheming, and brainstorming solutions.
Climate and Degrowth
This week I seem to have hit a nerve with this article:
Degrowth Insanity is Ecological Suicide
What we really need to solve climate change
In three days it has had more readers and more comments than anything I have written. Check it out and add your thoughts… I’d enjoy hearing from you. (And please remember, if you need a Medium membership, use this: https://medium.com/@ASignorelli/membership).
Writer Prompts
I noticed some publications provide prompts to writers, so I thought I would do the same. If writing and ideas are important, then let’s foster them. See if these prompts help to open a new pathway, and let me know if it does.
Prompt 1: Who do you know that has used voluntary collaboration to produce something interesting? For an example, see this story by Stuart Ferguson in The Postcapitalist.
Prompt 2: How do you think the world would change if batteries lasted 1,000 years and never had to be recharged?
Prompt 3: What interesting deployments of robots have you seen?
Recent Articles
Note: Use the links below to access my current articles published on Medium.com or other platforms.
Climate, Solar, and the New Postcapitalist System
Solar energy has a unique role to play in creating the future
Dissing Wall Street
How to go beyond alternative economic structures and change the core of how we operate
Ukraine and the Soul
Welcome to the age of the arbitrary
The 28,000 Year Battery
A new, virtually endless energy source
The Upcoming Experiment in Degrowth — What Can We learn?
How the Ukraine war could teach us about living with less
Degrowth Insanity is Ecological Suicide
What we really need to solve climate change
In Case You Missed Them
Target’s Net-Zero Stores
First steps in the transition to a new postcapitalist world
Where Does Your Lettuce Come From?
A new kind of farm is the first step to abundant “digital” food
Why Are Unskilled Jobs Disappearing?
It is part of the inevitable move toward postcapitalism
Ukraine’s Lessons for Climate
Putin manifests chaos, Ukrainians inspire action
Driverless Cars and Trucks Win Approval in a Step Toward Postcapitalism
Regs approved… watch out for your driving job!
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Anthony Signorelli
Ideas, insights, and imagination to help you live better in a worsening world. Topics include Men, #MeToo, and Masculinity; Postcapitalism; Climate Change; Digitalization and Cryptocurrency; Green Energy; Retirement and financial planning… basically everything that addresses making life better in this challenging time of history.