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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">From Dr David Zakus </span><span class="gd"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"><a href="mailto:ZakusAdmin@med.ualberta.ca"><span style="color:black;text-decoration:none">ZakusAdmin@med.ualberta.ca</span></a></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="gd"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="gd"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black">[How applicable to
human rights (HR) this is].</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="gd"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black">Claudio</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">The
Cassandra Dilemma</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"><span style> </span>(Kurt
Dahl)<span style> </span>[excerpts]</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> In Greek Mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam
and Queen Hecuba of Troy.
Her beauty was so extraordinary that Apollo fell in love with her, and as a
gift to show his devotion, he granted her the ability to know the future. But
when she refused his love, he then cursed her by making it so that no one would
ever believe her predictions. Cassandra had perfect knowledge of the future
(she even warned the Trojans about the Trojan horse) and yet nobody would ever
believe her - a frustrating curse in the extreme.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">Today, this same extreme frustration is shared by many people who
have extensively read about and carefully studied our unfolding sustainability (and
HR) crisis. These modern day Cassandras clearly understand that –unabated- the
current trends in climate disruption, peak oil, water depletion, and soil
degradation, combined with a rapidly increasing human population (and HR
violations), will soon result in a disaster of unimaginable proportions. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">These frustrated Cassandras have studied the facts, have
integrated all of the information, and have done the math. The conclusion is
clear - if we don't act soon, within a few decades we will experience a
violent, chaotic, and massive human catastrophy. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">Those of us who have spent the many, many hours of reading,
studying and discussing this problem have virtually all come to the same
conclusion. Yet in our attempts to warn the general public, we all experience
the same response. The less informed public simply does not believe us. Often
they will argue that we must be wrong - even though they are often
fundamentally unaware of the facts. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">This "Cassandra Dilemma" that we face is itself a hotly debated
and discussed topic within the community of sustainability (and HR) activists.
"Why won't they listen to us? Why can't we get them to read even the most
basic information about the issue? How can we get them wake up to the
danger?"</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">Unfortunately, a crisis that unfolds in slow motion is easy to
ignore. As each day comes and goes these disruptions all seem to be no worse
than the day before. The vast majority of people never notice the gradual, yet
inexorable deterioration of our planet's life support system. For most, their
short term problems overwhelm any desire to consider the long term issues.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">Perhaps there are some people that are simply unable to grasp any
long-term implications. And certainly most people are already fully
engaged in their own day-to-day problems and have little time or energy left
over to think about a problem that will not impact them for several decades
into the future. Their approach is to say: "I don't care. I've already got
enough stuff to worry about."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">For them, apathy, denial, and false hope obscure the reality of
the danger ahead. The essential question then becomes: How can their apathy,
denial, and false hope ever be overcome? The Cassandras among us have
completely failed so far.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">I think I know why.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">I think civilization suffers from an inability to conceptualize
the future….a missing piece of this Cassandra Dilemma.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">Assume for a moment that we can see –literally- into the future. Let’s
go forward several decades to a time during the height of the predicted
collapse. Food is scarce, people are desperate, chaos and extreme violence are
rampant, people are killing other people…..we videotape what we see.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">We then show these videos to everyone on earth, and explain that
this is their -or their children's- future if we fail to act soon. So, after
viewing these horrifying images, what lies ahead becomes completely conceptualized
to everyone. Would that have an impact on the general public? Would that jolt
people out of their apathy and denial? I think so! Impossible to deny the images.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">Otherwise, take television soap operas. They have taken the
entertainment-education theories and created soap operas that portray an improved
lifestyle through educating women and providing them with birth choices. These
television shows clearly conceptualize a better future if certain behaviors are
adopted. And they work.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">But instead, we Cassandras continue putting out scholarly essays,
books, and videos. We attempt to convince through our solid logic and our depth
of information. We debate the details of peak oil (, of HR) and population
projections. We argue about which solution is best, while at the same time
expressing that it doesn't really matter, because no one will do it anyway. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">I assert that what we Cassandras are doing is doing the same thing
over-and-over again, and then expecting a different result.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">So now, how can we conceptualize this future for the general
public? How can we help them to remove the fog of apathy, denial, and false
hope, and then form a clear impression of the danger ahead? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">I think I have an answer. For the last eighteen months I've been
working on this problem, and I believe I've come up with a creative and unique
solution. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">The first part: I've written a book -well, half a book- called
"The Corn Guild". This is a work of fiction, a fast-paced thriller
intended for the general public. It covers a period from 2028 to 2036, a period
that chronicles the beginning of collapse -a time when the general public is
just beginning to be concerned and scared- to the actual collapse event in the
year 2036. And while it is primarily intended to be an accessible, easy, read,
it also educates the reader along the way.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">However, the book is the small part of this effort. The big part -
the unique and creative part - is called "The Faminarchy Project".
The Faminarchy project is a website (<a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=aajwdndab&et=1108958026088&s=1746&e=001JUJVur1bBR-UXaD0RXEvNm9SrNoM8i9w07SyOh17Jo53CjSCoK4hCaDELxMjz44THfSii2I5-MF5xGY9i_r5W3RM_UmMbrGHUaVkuiRmnMh5wf77QCufsQ==" target="_blank"><span style="color:black;text-decoration:none">www.faminarchy.com</span></a> ) where The Corn Guild book can be read for
free in its entirety. The story of "The Corn Guild" ends just as the
collapse event begins in 2036. This is the 'set-up'. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">So then, at the Faminarchy website, I am asking those concerned
about sustainability, or even those who are just interested in writing a short
story, to contribute a short story about what will happen during this collapse
event in 2036; there are several examples of possible plot lines provided (you
can create one on HR violations of unimaginable proportions). Like any fiction,
these stories will have specific characters, in a specific locale, doing
specific things and are not another opportunity for a generalized scholarly
essay. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">These 'famine stories' will then all be published on the website
as they come in. I encourage these writers to use their imaginations to create
horrifying and extreme stories of chaos and violence - nothing very hopeful.
I'm betting that this exercise in group creativity will yield many extraordinary
and frightening efforts. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">This aggregation of famine stories will then force those who read
them, and especially those who write them, to experience a clear
conceptualization of our shared future. This is perhaps the best we can do.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">I am reaching beyond the usual sustainability suspects by
contacting as many university creative writing programs as I can. As we all
know, it is essential that we find a way to get younger generations involved.
And I will make every effort that I can to publicize the website through
Facebook and Twitter in order to get the widest possible attention and
readership. I believe there is a chance that this could get substantial
traction - it is a good story.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">If you believe this to be a valuable effort, please forward this
essay to everyone you know. And please, go to <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=aajwdndab&et=1108958026088&s=1746&e=001JUJVur1bBR-UXaD0RXEvNm9SrNoM8i9w07SyOh17Jo53CjSCoK4hCaDELxMjz44THfSii2I5-MF5xGY9i_r5W3RM_UmMbrGHUaVkuiRmnMh5wf77QCufsQ==" target="_blank"><span style="color:black;text-decoration:none">www.faminarchy.com</span></a> for further information. You can read
"The Corn Guild" there. I'm sure you will find it to be an
informative and intriguing read, a non-stop page-turner! Then, put on your
frustrated-fiction-writer cap (you know you have one!) and create your very own
short story masterpiece. You can do this. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black">It is essential that we find a way to increase awareness of the
real danger ahead. Only then can steps be taken to turn us away from the abyss.</span></p>
<br><br>