Me at a summit?

I went to this resilience summit the other day. This was the one where the invitation involved flattery. You may well ask what on earth do you mean by "resilience"?
The situation
There was quite a lot of reading in preparation for this summit and it all seemed bad news. There seemed to be a whole lot of things happening which meant that our lifestyle is under threat. The rise in the world population and the need for this greater population to be drawing on the resources of the world. There is also the reality that oil is fast running out. It is becoming more and more difficult to get. Once it would cost the equivalent of one barrel of oil to get fifty barrels of oil. These days the average is something like 1:17 and in the sands of Canada 1:4.  Some suggest that "peak oil" has been reached and oil production is all down hill from here. The best estimates are that there is about thirty years left of oil resources. Whatever happens, oil prices will keep rising dramatically, this  will cause economic recession, tensions and difficulties in all sorts of areas. To give an example. Much of the food we in NZ buy in the supermarkets is imported. (This is silly and more a matter of taste because NZ surely can grow enough to feed itself?) But when oil gets expensive this food becomes even more expensive or more difficult to get. When the February Christchurch earthquake happened Dunedin ran out of bread! This was because bread production had largely been centralised in Christchurch.  Oil prices would make such a plan costly and unsustainable.  The third lot of bad news surrounds climate change. It is, to my mind, unquestionably true that we humans are contributing to the factors that lead to global warming and climate change. The news is all bad with dire predictions for the years ahead.  The papers presented gave indications about what parts of Dunedin would be severely affected by sea level rise. It gave good and bad news about the implications of climate change with an increased risk of flooding. These are just the main indicators that our current lifestyle is overloading our planet and its systems.  There are changes that need to happen.
Resilience
"Resilience" in this context means the ability to adapt to the new situation and respond creatively, enabling a good lifestyle to continue. This summit drew together a bunch of people in our city so that we can make some sort of report to the local city council with ideas about how our city can best respond and adapt to the circumstances facing us. We heard three speakers and then split up into groups where we discussed such topics as energy, food supply, rising sea level impacts, climate change challenges and transport. They invited a total of one hundred citizens they thought worth inviting and I was, for some reason, one of them. I was told that I would be the only clergy type person there, which was a sad reflection on where people felt the religious community was at.
Admiration and jealousy
As I listened to speakers, I was particularly impressed with two of them. One lady in fifteen minutes gave a great summary of the situations we face. I wished I had a copy of her slides and speech. It was concise but full of hard hitting facts.  The other impressive speech was given by a third year law student who talked from a young persons point of view. He spoke passionately about how the older generation (me and younger) were really loading problems, debt and issues on generations yet to come. An example he gave was actions that led to the extinction of species, which future generations may not get to see. The price of our inaction on climate change will be carried by younger and future generations. He spoke well and made sense. When we broke up into groups I was impressed by the articulate thinkers in my group. I enjoyed the way they discussed things and the speed with which they heard and responded to one another. I just listened for a long time then began to raise questions. I always admire quick and articulate minds, but at the same time there is a little jealousy. I think of things but only as I am walking back to the office or lying in bed stewing on my day.
World view/values issues
This whole subject raises questions about our whole world view and understanding about life. We see progress as "growth". The political parties are campaigning in NZ and the main issues are the economy and growth. People are "successful" if they make money, have a big house and car and consume more. But the issues facing our world tell us the world cannot sustain such a world view and these values any longer. To change our impact we have to begin to rethink our values. We need to re-evaluate our values and what we see as what makes life "good".  Many of the suggestions we threw around were good but were in essence just band-aids. Some how a new way of understanding life needs to be explored.
Where do I fit in?
On this whole area of resilience and sustainability I have been a quiet supporter. Ever since I read the book "Enough is enough" by John V Taylor away back in the 70's I have dabbled in a more sustainable, simpler lifestyle. More recently I have used the resources of the church building to support sustainability courses and efforts in Dunedin. I have not been involved myself, so much as helping support other's work. This Summit experience is making me think that maybe this is a cause I should get off my bum about and put some action into. Maybe I should join Sustainability Dunedin and help them along with my time and talents. Anyway I enjoyed talking with the people and found an affinity with them. I was energised and inspired. "The sacred" is in this movement, even though religious people have not caught up on where he is. Watch this space!