Bere ASIII YOY JUSWSAOW SoAeusayjy |euoHeonpy @U} JO Se|diouUl1g UOWWOD uolN|OADY HuizueBiC-}}9S ULoa Ane bel-ganizing nevorunun: Itis extremely important to say, as well, that most of the people involved in public schools also care very deeply and many have worked tirelessly to change the system. My severe criticism of this system is not directed at them personally, but at the impersonal culture, the worldview, within which they are trapped. Good things take place every day in our public schools, thanks to the heroic efforts of many good people, but the system is relentlessly grinding them and their students down, and most of them know it. To everyone in the public school profession, teachers’ colleges, philanthropic foundations and state agencies struggling to provide authentic learning opportunities to all our young people: This revolution is for you, too, comrades. The industrial system is coming down. Let’s work together to design a better one. Chapter One The World is Changing, But Schools Aren’t Keeping Up Civilization evolves. History is not merely a random succession of disconnected events, but the gradual, if unsteady, unfolding of greater complexity and sophistication. Those who study the grand sweep of history generally agree that humanity has so far evolved through several stages of development, from tribal/mythic cultures to agrarian/feudal societies, to more complex political and religious institutions, to the “modern” age of science and industrial enterprise. Of course it is obvious that there is a great range of cultures existing on the planet today, including pockets of the most ancient tribal ways of life. Even so, in a broad sense, humanity's cumulative consciousness — our awareness and knowledge, our worldview —is more inclusive and sophisticated than it was 200 or 1000 or 10,000 years ago — and itis becoming more so at an accelerating rate. To recognize cultural evolution is not to claim that everything newer is better. Advanced cultures can and do embrace traditional beliefs and practices that possess intrinsic value. They also discard many valuable traditions, thinking them obsolete, only to find an existential or spiritual void that cannot be filled by newer fashions. In important ways, we are no wiser than many2 ‘The Self-Organizing Revolution earlier societies; indeed, we appear to be more stupidly violent and self-destructive, and on a scale that could degrade all life on our planet. Our task, as thoughtful citizens, parents and educators, is to discern what in the long story of human experience remains valuable for meeting our authenticneeds and ‘enriching our lives in the precarious historical moment we now face, and to build consciously and creatively on that foundation. Itis quite apparent now that we are entering a new stage of cultural evolution, a “postmodern” or “information” age characterized by globalization and dazzling technologies along with daunting ecological and political challenges. The world as we have known it is undergoing a profound transformation, and the civilization that is now emerging will be as different from twentieth century modem life as the modern world is from medieval times. Cultural historian Richard Tarnas, among many other observers, describes this evolutionary shift in no uncertain terms: ‘One need not be graced with prophetic insight to recognize that ‘wearellving in one of those rareages, like the end of classical an- tiquity or the beginning of the modern era, that bring forth, through great stress and struggle, a genuinely fundamental transformation in the underlying assumptions and principles of the cultural world view.? ‘The immediate, and increasingly urgent, stimulus for this shift is the growing realization that industrial civilization is not indefinitely sustainable, We are awakening to the alarming realities of global climate change, species extinction, the depletion of soil, minerals, fresh water sources and ocean fisheries, and the imminent occurrence of “peak oil” — the simple fact that annual production of petroleum has reached the maximum of the earth’s capacity, and from now on will decline, even as world population and demand for energy continue to grow. Because the age of unlimited industrial production and exuberant consumerism uns on the cheap and easy availability of fossil fuel, it must, rather soon, come to a close. Let me rephrase that: Our modern way oflife, the ease with which we in developed nations obtain an The World is Changing 3 abundance of food and luxurious shelter and innumerable conveniences, is about fo come to an end. Thave found it striking in recent months to notice a stream of books and documentary films concerned with the imminent ending of many of our cultural institutions and assumptions — the end of faith, the end of empire, the end of America, the end of civilization, and so on. There truly is a rising awareness that we areentering a massive historical shift that will replace many of our accustomed ways of living with new forms. Author and activist Joanna Macy has used the term “Great Turning" to describe the revolution that is impending "because our way of life cannot be sustained.... This economic system is doomed because it measures its success by how fast it uses up the living body of Earth — extracting resources beyond Earth’s capacity to renew, and spewing out wastes faster than Earth’s capacity to absorb. Itis now in runaway mode, devouring itself at an accelerating rate.”* Many other well-informed authors, notably David Korten, Bill McKibben, Derrick Jensen, David Orr, Richard Heinberg, James Howard Kunstler, Kirkpatrick Sale, and Lester Brown, to name only a few, forcefully make the same point. Timothy S. Bennett's documentary “What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire” makes a sobering and convincing argument that we are in for some dramatic changes, whether we like it or not. ‘There are various possible responses to the looming ecological crisis: We can maintain a hopeful faith in science and technology to meet all the coming challenges, and deny that any substantial changes in culture or lifestyle are necessary. Somehow we'll find new sources of energy to replace fossil fuels.... Or, we can react with desperate fear and give in to a brutal instinct for self preservation; this could lead to the nightmarish world often portrayed in science fiction, where the human community is ruled by totalitarian governments engaged in endless wars over resources (such as the tragedy in Iraq) and armed survivalist bands defending their meager livelihoods. ‘Theres a third possibility: We can acknowledge that a phase of human history — modernity — has naturally run its course and