So many straws swirling around in the wind that it is sometimes hard to see what is going on. Just remember that everything is connected to everything else and that goes just as much for human ecology as for whole earth ecology. Some straws are hopeful and exciting, some are dismal and depressing – many are both depending how you look at them.

Perhaps the most encouraging is that apparently more and more people (I’ve heard it said a majority according to some survey from the Institute of Studies or somewhere – by why should I believe that?) are simply not buying the narrative lies and propaganda that are routinely pushed by the mainstream media. Once people stop sucking at that teat they can rediscover their own common sense and form their own opinions based on firsthand knowledge – and if we have no firsthand knowledge of a situation then we can be sceptical of whatever we are told – and incidentally discover that perhaps it is not that important to us anyway (not withstanding the truth that everything is connected so ultimately it might be important anyway).

Attempts to use special pleading on behalf of jewish interests to undermine slightly off-establishment-message politicians. Obvious lies and misinformation – including direct contradictions of what was said 5 minutes earlier – about what might or might not have happened in Salisbury. The same with respect to Duoma in Syria. The increasingly obvious fact that Amerika is no longer a world power of any more significance than, say,  Angola. All of these and many more are contributing to the hollowing out of support for the status quo.

On the other hand where is the alternative? We continue to buy stuff from Amazon and bemoan the loss of shops in our town centre. We continue to drive our slightly more efficient cars and worry about the loss of biodiversity as species attempt to adapt to a changing climate. We stuff our faces – whether with quality organic food or processed junk – and don’t acknowledge that there might be a problem feeding 7 billion humans on this diet without extensive use of fossil fertilizers or a system that fairly rewards growers for their time and labour producing good food. And so on and on.

Then consider the black swans that may be gathering – will runaway methane or the impact of solar cycles be the trigger for 5 metres (and more) of sea level rise within 50 years? Those are two we know about, but the nature of black swans is that you don’t see them until they arrive.

I used to worry that there seems to be no organised movement for ecological resilience, but now I am coming to think that perhaps that is a good thing. Resilience and connectedness is something that we must each find and build within ourselves, the act of moving down this path inevitably builds connections that might ultimately look like a movement – but it one that grows organically and self-organises without the need for leaders or imposed structures. The rigidity that comes with conventional organisation is the reverse of what is needed right now.