I am not saying we should just focus on adaptation but to ignore the need to adapt, as well as mitigate, makes no sense. Climate change cannot be prevented. Climate change IS. This is extremely sad and depressing, but it is the reality we face and ignoring it or hoping it will change does nothing except exacerbate the problems in the long run.

I agree with McKibben in that the hope lies within the local/regional arenas, where people can come together regardless of what happens at the state or national levels. At the local level we can make changes in our economic relationships, we can decide what is important and act on it together.

Unfortunately most people, at least where I live, are so stressed out financially as taxes and heat and energy and everything else increase in price while income remains flat or even goes down in relation to rising prices, that making time to get together  let alone create new models/relationships/etc. just isn't happening. It's one thing to shop at farmers' markets and farm stands in season. It's quite another to create transportation networks, especially in rural areas like mine where people live far from each other and from town centers where most work and needed goods/services are located.

We also need to re-think our work (working for a paycheck) at any cost ethic. For example, even when we get three feet of snow (which admittedly won't be a problem for much longer) business must go on. Schools may be canceled, but most of us still have to get to work regardless of the weather. Even if we had the option of taking a snow day, most people simply can't afford the loss of pay. If people in this country worked fewer hours each week and had more vacations each year, as they do in other countries, I believe our communities would be stronger, more resilient, since we'd have the time and energy to come together, talk about what's needed, and create something new. Instead we work till we drop and there's no time or energy left for our families let alone creating new relationships and systems within our communities.

We're in an uncomfortable place right now. We know (some of) what needs to be done, we know some of the consequences if we don't act, and soon. Yet we're stuck. In realilty, we are in a severe crisis but everything seems fine and "normal" when we wake up and look out the windows each day so we go about our daily lives as if everything is fine. If the crisis was like dealing with the after effects of a hurricane or flood or whatever, we'd be coming together to help each other cope and get back on our feet. Someday this may happen, but until it does do we just sit back and wait?

How can we help the disabled, those on limited or fixed incomes, single parents barely getting by while working two or three jobs, homeowners who can't afford to patch the roof let alone put in solar panels, the working folks who must drive 30 or more minutes to work in places where public transportation doesn't exist? If I can't find help to shovel my roof (unless I pay someone $150 which I don't have), how can I possibly expect to survive worse than a mere snowstorm?

It is not news, probably, that there are a lot of us who already understand what Bill McKibben is recommending, but who are finding it hard to recreate society along those lines.  It is more surprising, though, to hear that up by you in northern New England, you feel that community structures are still pretty flimsy.

I agree that a less-competitive, more European work week would do most of us a lot of good.  But as it is, the cult of competitiveness and productivity is such, in this country, that workers feel they must demonstrate their eagerness to put in 40 hours every week, and would gladly put in more, if they are called upon.

Ideally, how long one works every week at a paying job ought to be not hard to negotiate with one's employer.  For many independent writers and artists, with moderate personal expenses, half-time employment would be very suitable.

But then, the health benefits story enters in.  That is an important part of the issue, that most people in this country get their health care through their job; and of course to qualify for such benefits through one's job, usually one has to be working full-time.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

On my street, many of the oldest houses are now second homes, including the ones next door and across the street from my sister and I.

When I first moved here I tried three times to start some kind of "earthy" group. There was much initial excitement but eventually "normal life" took over and people missed more and more meetings until the energy was simply gone. Most people here have to work two, sometimes three, part time jobs to make ends meet. Either that or their full-time, higher-paying job is so all consuming they don't have time or energy left over for anything except, if they're lucky, their family. Being in a tourist area, many folks have to work nights and weekends as a matter of course.

There's a local green group that tries hard but is often overwhelmed by what I call a "rabid vegan" who insists on bringing every issue, from agriculture to peace to climate change down to the fact that people eat meat. This gets tiring and no one wants to be judged all the time and so the group is kept marginal which is too bad. One of the reasons I started Gaian Voices (my little newsletter) is because I had to do something to put a different perspective out there and it seemed starting a group wasn't going to work here. It's very different from Vermont where there are many groups all working on a diversity of issues from local to national to international. Although even the groups I worked with in Vermont were pretty elitist. Not as bad as the 'rabid vegan' but still looking down on those who just didn't see the world the way we did. And I'm embarassed to admit that I can see I did the same thing at the time. Now I know we must find ways of working together despite our differences. Climate change could be the great uniter in a way, bringing people together in community. Hopefully that will happen, soon.

As for me, I've made the choice to work less for money. I work 3 days a week for a marginal salary but at a great job [a small locally-owned natural foods grocery] with people I like very much serving a community of wonderful customers. We laugh a lot, commiserate about politics, share our love of the Earth, and laugh some more. I value writing, my newsletter, growing food and herbs too much to give them up to work more hours just for more money. My sister gets a monthly check because of her accident, which, combined with my small income, enables us to keep the bills paid and not much else. This is a choice I've made, one I've made for pretty much my whole life, one that probably will end up screwing us (my sister and I) as we get older. But I have time to visit my kids, to sit and think, to spend time in contemplation (something most people don't even understand), to listen to the birds sing as they feed at the feeders out back. I can spend time (too much time, actually) at this blog. I can't imagine working five days a week. How does one have a life that way? Even when I did work every day, it was as an activist, doing work I believed in with my whole heart. I try not to think about what might happen should I get seriously ill or develop a debilitating disease like arthritis or whatever.

I do envision myself moving in the next couple, three years to be nearer or even with close friends/family, to grow as much food as possible, digging a root cellar, learning how to make wine, teaching life skills like gardening and canning and drying and tincturing to others because we're going to need to do these things. I pray this isn't just a fantasy because I feel it so strongly in my heart. But I don't see it happening here because here it still feels like every person/family for themselves. Although these mountains called to me all the years I was in Vermont, and moving back was such a blessing. Ah the bittersweet realities of life. . .