Music of the Motors

Listen.

Can you hear the music of the motors?

It is the sound of cars and trucks, planes, lawnmowers, chain saws and all manner of engines powered by the finite energy of fossil fuels. It can be heard almost everywhere. Civilization plays musical chairs to this music.

The chairs in this analogy are dealt with differently from those in the party game, however. In the party game a chair is removed with each round. In the New World Game, we can make more chairs as we dance. The "chairs" in this case are the available capacity for supporting people within sustainable bounds. While the music of the motors plays, we can build domestic ecosystems that use renewable energy, providing food from local soil, and bring together other sustainable life-enhancing systems. The number of "chairs" we will have depends on the extent to which we are willing to apply our enormous creative abilities and our present mechanical strength to produce them.

When the music of the motors stops, how many chairs will there be? Will there be enough for you and for me and for our children and grandchildren?

Listen for the music of the motors. Don't let it go unnoticed. Whenever you notice it, remember that we are in a dance upon which the fate of civilization depends.