http://www.collapsenet.com
http://www.collapsenetwork.com
http://www.collapsenet.net
May 21, 2010 – CollapseNet ™, a long-anticipated new effort from internationally-recognized author, lecturer and activist Michael C. Ruppert, will officially launch on Tuesday June 8, 2010. The site will be a first-of-its-kind effort to promote the rapid and focused sharing of information between millions around the world who are preparing for the collapse of human industrial civilization – The Lifeboat Movement.
CollapseNet will also feature regular video and written updates, commentary and analysis from Michael C. Ruppert, the sole subject of the critically- acclaimed feature documentary Collapse. DVD sales of Collapse begin on June 15th, 2010. The film, directed by two-time Sundance Winner Chris Smith, has been mentioned as a strong candidate for Best Documentary at the 2011 Oscars.
Michael, the author of two books, is a former LAPD detective and recognized investigative journalist, is known for having thoroughly predicted the 2008 economic crash starting in 2000, as well as many other geopolitical and economic events over the last decade. More than half of the predictions he made during the filming of Collapse (March-June, 2009) have come true since its theatrical release at the Toronto International Film Festival in September of that year.
“There are millions of us around the world who see and understand what is happening,” says Ruppert. “Worldwide reaction to the film has proved that. CollapseNet will – as fast as our maps can populate – demonstrate that the Lifeboat Movement is global, vocal and rapidly standing up to meet this supreme challenge. We apologize or justify ourselves to no one. All we ask is that governments and those who disagree leave us alone. We will be here to help your children build lifeboats when they are ready.”
Ruppert’s newest book, “Confronting Collapse: The Crisis of Energy and Money in a Post-Peak Oil World ” – on which the movie was based -- lays out in stark, clear and simple detail the challenges we face as the realities of Peak Oil and diminishing energy supplies collide with a hopelessly corrupt and collapsing economic paradigm based upon infinite growth.
“The essence of survival as human industrial civilization disintegrates,” says Ruppert, “will stem from one thing only; the relocalization of all things necessary to sustain life, civilization and culture. Most important will be relocalization of food production so that as much food as possible comes from within the shortest possible distance. As collapse progresses, all other essential life-sustaining needs will have to be met close to home because there will not be enough energy to either grow crops using current methods, or to produce other critical goods and transport them across great distances.” – Currently, ten calories of hydrocarbon energy are required to grow every calorie of food consumed in the industrialized world. “The only way to prevent a massive die-off is through permaculture and petro-chemical-free agriculture and the skill sets needed to support local communities after the social contract has withered. This must be undertaken by neighborhoods and communities rather than increasingly ineffective and dysfunctional national and regional governments.”
The collapse of human industrial civilization will bring with it a host of unforgiving challenges including the breakdown of governments, economic collapse, the end of fiat currency, massive civil unrest, displaced populations, permanent blackouts, infrastructure failures, fresh water shortages, famine, war, widespread disease and suffering. The tragedy of Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico has drastically reduced what time there is to prepare and forever changed the global playing field. It has unleashed an immediate host of unforeseen and unforgiving new challenges.
CollapseNet launches with the premise that a large reduction in human population is inevitable. CollapseNet’s greatest mission is to limit and mitigate the losses and suffering from this while helping people to prepare to maintain a recognizable quality of life. CollapseNet has no political affiliation and is not aligned with any religion, political ideology or nationality. Although based in the United States, CollapseNet’s proprietary software is, at launch, scalable and operational on a global basis. “I'm fairly confident we will have a presence in at least 40 countries before the end of 2010,” says Ruppert.
“There are a lot of things we hope to do with CollapseNet,” Ruppert adds. “We’re going to expand our video capabilities and move into special web-based programming as we grow. We’re going to find ways to help those with needed skills, information and on-site reporting get vital information into the right places quickly, securely and efficiently. CollapseNet will become what lifeboat builders around the world need it to become, as circumstances dictate. And we'll do it without the vacuous wasteland that is mainstream, publicly-traded media throughout the world. CollapseNet will never trade its shares, or its integrity, in the marketplace.”
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Jenna Orkin adds: See post below for today's links.
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21 comments:
Economics and resource extraction. I am frequently frustrated in conversations with people who just don't get the relationship. Here is an excellent article on the subject by Richard Heinberg, which lays it out in language which everyone can easily understand. Via LATOC
http://www.postcarbon.org/article/104152-the-end-is-nigh-deepwater
Congratulations on the launch. A nice ray of light in the gathering darkness.
Jumped the gun a bit? Still showing "coming soon" here...
Getting the relationship... is called seeing the cat amongst those who have read and understand the works of Henry George, a classic economist who published over a century ago:
http://www.senatorwagner.com/2010/01/19/the-role-of-the-commons-in-vermonts-economy-do-you-see-the-cat/
The entire profession of Economics proceeded to marginalise Henry George and his ideas. But George's time has come. This coming Tuesday as a matter of fact.
Congratulations! I'll be signing up. It'll be good to be in a community of people who "get it."
Today is a good day. I am grateful to all the people who are making this happen. I always believed that my true purpose would show itself in a time of crisis and collapsenet will keep me tethered and focused.
Thanks to all.
At the moment you need to login to get access to collapsenet. Will this be at launch the same way? How does it work? Will you need an invitation?
''Life's tough......it's even tougher if you're stupid.'' - John
Wayne
Apparently some recent ROV footage provides evidence for the "second leak" theory. Here's a link to a discussion on The Oil Drum. Hat tip to "J.A.F.O." in this LATOC forum thread.
Congratulations Mike and crew on the launch date! I'm looking forward to it.
Congratulations to MCR and all the folks involved with CollapseNet on the pending launch. I fully realize that the sentiment and stated purpose of CollapseNet is noble in spirit and intent. If it accomplishes even a fraction of what it sets out to do, it will make life somewhat more bearable for some in the PPO Götterdämmerung to come, but not for most. By virtue of its “marketing analysis” of target demographic, its efforts will remain largely marginalized. This is not a critique of CollapseNet, but rather a simple observation. I cite para. seven of MCR’s current post:
“The collapse of human industrial civilization will bring with it a host of unforgiving challenges including the breakdown of governments, economic collapse, the end of fiat currency, massive civil unrest, displaced populations, permanent blackouts, infrastructure failures, fresh water shortages, famine, war, widespread disease and suffering. The tragedy of Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico has drastically reduced what time there is to prepare and forever changed the global playing field. It has unleashed an immediate host of unforeseen and unforgiving new challenges.”
In a previous paragraph, MCR states, “There are millions of us around the world who see and understand what is happening.” True, but self-knowledge is not enough. Even such “millions” remain isolated on the margin. Even amongst these “millions” who are aware of the pending meltdown and devolution, scant few are prepared and will not be prepared. That the intent of CollapseNet is to address this unpreparedness is beside the point. The bulk of conscious Peak Oilers is stranded in the company of the PPO-ignorant mass, the tragic condition of which is so clearly laid out with para. seven.
If CollapseNet is to be honest unto itself and to those whom it purports to serve, especially within the chosen metaphor of “lifeboat”, then it must be prepared to signal that there is only so much space in a lifeboat, that salvaged resources are always limited and carry a high premium, that these resources will be defended with physical force, and that there are always many who desperately cling to the gunwale, thus jeopardizing the lifeboat’s very purpose and existence. Such is the predicament of the social mass that is addressed by para. seven, and yet is not recognized but rather sacrificed to the externalities of the CollapseNet mission. The success of the lifeboats is directly contingent on how, when, and where the clingers onto the gunwales are managed, up and to the decision to severe their grip. This is a political challenge. To stick head in sand, spin liberal, feel-good scenarios of wishful thinking, and defy that which must be, is not only a momentary lapse of reason; it is a mistake.
Para. seven, if read carefully and between the lines, paints a very clear picture for those prepared to perceive it. Paradoxically, para. seven identifies the socio-political predicament of the PPO “chosen” who will find themselves up against the kicking hooves of the stallion of revolution. The mass does not think; it cannot think. The only thing it is capable of doing is reacting. To what extent the reaction of the mass will affect the bobbing lifeboats remains to be seen. Such is the political calling of the PPO condition. And it is the political calling of the PPO condition has not been addressed by CollapseNet.
The Lifeboat Movement is politically stranded and isolated. It has no political philosophy, foundation, nor direction. It has no allies. It finds itself under these conditions largely as a consequence of its own belligerence to not develop these resources. Under such conditions, if these hypothesized conditions are valid, were an analogy made to an army about to engage, it would be an army that is begging for defeat. After all, the adversary is Gaia herself. If belittled or underestimated by human vanity, she will spit you out in the historical blink of an eye.
However one may understand a God of their choosing at work in their lives, may God’s speed with us all. We shall need it.
Yeah, what's the deal with signing up? Glad to see it launched all the same though. Well done.
YAY! congratulations, mike, jenna and everyone involved. finally!
The most important question you'll ever ask is whether the Universe is a friendly place.
(That's attributed to Albert Einstein.)
Sebastian, you see the planet as a merciless adversary. But the most successful transitioners may be those who are one with the planet. De-linking from the dying industrial machine, creating sane methods of meeting our needs and working together in a spirit of mutual, inclusive cooperation, pockets of lifeboaters may help others to become productive in non-harmful, nuvo ways. It's probably true that there will be a lot of good people lost and a lot of stuff will not work out as we hope. But in general, the spirit of carefully and humbly embracing the new times may bring forth a worthwhile future, a life worth living for those who come after.
I don't foresee shooting my disadvantaged neighbors as they try to pry my last food supplies from under my floorboards. If the only people who survive are those ruthless enough to deprive others and get away with it, the human race will be continued only by its worst exemplars -- it would be a world in which I do not want to live.
You can say that "the strong will survive", but Darwin said "the fittest". To me, that means those most able to cooperate with Life and the Earth, adapting to its contemporary situations. We're all going to die, but we need not make the world hell along the way.
eyeballs, re “...you see the planet as a merciless adversary.” Not in the least. How I see the planet is very much in the vein of Lovelock and Linkola: a very effective and merciless living system, a cybernetic judge-and-jury par excellence. To go cherry-picking into deep ecology only results in one being a Green. On the other hand, I do see human incompetence, ignorance, spiritual and physical sloth, vanity, cowardice, complacency, liberal navel-gazing, blah blah blah as a collective “merciless adversary.” It is the given ninety percent of any social whole. As such, it is automatically excluded from “the fittest”, those best suited and prepared to survive, as you correctly state. BTW, at no time have I ever penned nor claimed that it is "the strong who will survive." Alas, those "best suited and prepared" translates into "the strongest."
Knowing what to do and not doing is a slippery slope. False humility and false promises are deceptive enemies.
Lastly, please drop this “human race” nonsense. It is Boaznian ideology. (For those not in the loop, google Franz Boaz) Yes, it can be chalked up to a 20th century Trotskyist victory, but that in no way makes it legitimate nor “real.” There is a human species sub-divided into several races. I realize this makes most readers of this blog squirm, however, such is not my problem.
How does someone join Collapsenet and get access through the login page??
How will someone join and get access through the logon screen??
Larry Bolenbaugh
labolenbaugh@comcast.net
Collapsenet. It's all a bit over the top. If it's a hard crash Collapsenet will be going down along with the rest of the WWW. Then what? Walkie talkies? Who will make the batteries? Or will they be solar powered? Be realistic - it's more like a steady decline. Sorry, but the hysteria is distracting.
Cooperation with the Earth is definitely now on the agenda...
Super!! This site will be greatly needed very soon.
"Cooperation with the Earth is definitely now on the agenda..."
Actually, it always has been. It's just that until a sufficient number of people start seeing that it is and saying so, the whole of our species isn't able to really know so well enough to conform like we must with the fact.
Thanks for your much needed words, F.Kamilov.
Larry and others, I'm pretty sure that come June 8, a new CollapseNet home page will appear, with a signup link.
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