There's a fairly common sentiment these days that America is in trouble.
Our democracy is ossifying while the public tunes out. With the middle class disappearing, social inequality is on the rise. Individual and national debt are both through the roof. We are overextended militarily and much of the world hates us for our foreign policy. Perhaps most daunting of all right now is the specter of the energy crisis: fossil fuels will soon run out, taking our economy and livelihoods with it unless we find alternative solutions.
All these factors and more are on a collision course that could mean widespread crisis for our nation. But we need not fear the future. The crisis is surmountable.
Why am I so sure of this? Because, as humans, we have done it before. By looking to the past, we find not only evidence of what happens when society gets into trouble, but suggestions for how to get back on the right path.
Ian Kuijt, professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame, has written extensively on social change in Neolithic villages 8,000 years ago. Of particular interest is the phenomenon of collapse. What prompts a large population center to fall apart abruptly as the people abandon their life ways and decentralize? One compelling theory, advanced by Kuijt, proposes that there are two triggers: the external, environmental cause and, more importantly, the internal one, driven by members of society.
Traditionally, scholars have focused the most on those external pressures leading to collapse: environmental degradation, diminishment of natural resources, war, disease and other catastrophes. The other half of the equation, which is starting to gain recognition in recent years, involves a significant portion of the community deciding that they wanted change.
Generations of population increase, social segmentation and declining standards of living eventually reached a point where the people said "Enough," and simply picked up and left. 'Ain Ghazal and Basta, major centers of civilization, were abandoned in favor of small, self-sufficient hamlets.
Today, it's happening all over again. We've wrecked the environment, overdrawn our resources and lived in a society considered unjust by many. While we can't exactly pack up and leave anymore (where would we go?), we certainly can reject the failed institutions of power by abandoning what isn't working.
What's not working? Our dependence on fossil fuels, for one and the accumulation of power and wealth in a tiny number of hands, for another. We see the two align when, in the interest of profit, oil companies block legislation that would decrease oil consumption and advance research into alternative sources of energy. They are on a self-destructive path.
As we grow increasingly fed up with the current state of affairs, we should remember that power is ultimately in our hands. Just like in Kuijt's observation about our ancestors, we are the crucial second half of that formula for change. When enough of us want it, change becomes inevitable.
Collapse is a scary word, but it doesn't have to be. We are not automatons in a mechanical system, doomed to be thrown in the gutter when it all comes crashing down. We are not swept up by forces beyond our control. As creatures gifted with rational thought and possessing free will, we can abandon the bad and rebuild on the good.
There's no denying that it was probably easier to instigate change in a village of 300 people than it would be in a nation of 300 million. But we have our advantages too, such as advanced communications technology. We've already seen the viability and power of grassroots organizing, a phenomenon that is bound to gain more traction over time.
What goes around comes around, and there will be no exception made for the people in power today who are botching things up. As for the rest of us, we average citizens may have our work cut out for us rebuilding a better society, but we don't need to be paralyzed by fear.
After all, if we've been here before, we can do it again. And that's reason enough to stay optimistic about the future.
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