Customer Reviews

Awakening: The Upside of Y2K

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A real eye-opener! I was so astonished to find that there is a 'real and present danger'. After reading this book I am better able to prepare for the coming 'adventure'. I applaud the authors and editors for their vision and expertise at presenting it to us in lay terms I am able to comprehend...A must read for everyone YOU care about...Thank you, Judy Laddon *****

The articles in this book help put the technical Y2K problem in human context. I realize that things I have always taken for granted are choices society made in the past. The authors inspired me to consider what choices we are making now for our future. A must read for those looking beyond the narrow technical problem of Y2K to its possible implications on society.

Why to try to raise spiritiuality of current generation with doubtful speculations? Yes, there is Y2K problem, but it would never create global disasters as promised by many "experts"; first of all ones, who are financially depends on a existence of such image: computer consultants working on this problem (well, I am computer consultant too, I see that around me) Using such things like Y2K or asteroiuds disaster often just a way of marketing - create a lot of noise, make a movie, make money on souveniers and forget about forever like nothing happened... Using false statements to stress good ideas does not make the case stronger.

Review by Mark Robinowitz: Imagine a decade from now lookingback at the end of the twentieth century - the most destructive tohumans and all other species in our history. Think about ways that the Year 2000 (Y2K) global computer crash prompted transformations in industrial society toward local self-reliance using more sustainable technologies. How was Y2K the impetus to create new ways of living closer to the natural world?

The recent book "Awakening: The Upside of Y2K" is the single best resource anywhere that presents visions of how "this time of danger can also be one of the greatest eras of social reinvention in history." This compilation includes the leading visionaries of the Y2K community organizing movement, who argue that surviving Y2K will require much more than individual efforts to ensure food and water - but rather community based, collective responses to build resilience and reduce dependence on distant automated systems.

An introductory essay notes that:

"The new millennium heralds the greatest change to modern society we have yet to face as a planetary community. Whether we experience this as chaos or social transformation will be influenced by what we do immediately."

In "Who will do what and when will they do it?" psychologist Douglass Carmichael constructs a series of potential scenarios based on the extent of technical and social breakdowns. Extreme technological and social malfunctions would be the worst case, millennial apocalypse situation, with widespread famine and techno-fascism. A more hopeful scenario would be where interconnected technological failures occur yet community responses enable people to survive and even thrive.

"A Big Grocer's Y2K Nightmare" describes the looming disaster for a large grocery store chain. Even with their backup generator, they would be out of business without electric power or telecommunications. If Y2K is more than a day-long blip, providing basic foodstuffs to large populations could get extremely difficult. Community gardens, Food not Bombs soup kitchens, municipal food storage warehouses, and diverting grains from animal agriculture to feeding people will all be needed.

Several articles address the unique psychological stresses of Y2K. Even for environmentalists used to contemplating mass extinction, thinking about the worst case possibilities is truly sobering - especially because the deadline is immediate and immovable.

To date, most discussion of the crisis has focused on the technical aspects, or debates about how bad Y2K failures will or will not be. But little attention has been paid to the nascent efforts by communities to prepare (as much as possible) to cooperate in the middle of infrastructure failure, to use Y2K as the catalyst for a new society. The Earth Island Journal notes that "We've built a society that is so vulnerable to glitches that two digits can bring it down."

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Now, like no other moment in human history, the future of our species probably depends upon how well we can use our intellect and cooperative abilities to mitigate the damage caused by the twentieth century's insanities. We probably won't get another chance if we screw up next year.

Society is dependent upon the institutions that gave us nuclear waste and global warming to fix Y2K, and coordinating repairs in the power industry has happened at a turtle pace up to now. While the power grid is ultimately antithetical to survival, the irony is that a sudden collapse could hasten, not slow down, extinctions. A millennial apocalypse would probably bring about numerous Chernobyl and Bhopal type toxic accidents and trigger eco-cidal wars over dwindling resources.

Perhaps the contingency planning to separate the power grid into discrete segments can prevent massive failures in electric power. Maybe the community organizing underway will enable cities to avoid the nightmare scenarios. But even if the various efforts to mitigate the impacts of Y2K are successful -- and it is merely nasty, not catastrophic -- the fact that this doomsday timebomb was (unwittingly?) created is reminiscent of the stockpiling of tens of thousands of nuclear weapons that were never exploded. It's nice that we have not had nuclear wars, but that is small consolation to the countless radiation victims of nuclear weapons testing and production -- and the stress to humanity of living for decades under the threat of self-induced instantaneous extinction.

If there's anything positive about the Y2K chaos, it is the possibility of finally being forced into more sustainable ways of living. The 2000 crash could spell the end of multinational corporations, GATT, NAFTA, the World Bank, IMF austerity policies, the newly created World Trade Organization, and other parts of the global economy - but whether Y2K is an opportunity for local selfreliance or will be the final eco-apocalypse, whether the millennium will ushur in a Great Depression or the Third World War, remains unknowable. One positive development is the creation of "Y2K" citizen groups in different communities to prepare citizens for the inevitable problems that we will all be forced to cope with. These groups aren't militia type organizations, but community efforts to increase cooperation in the event of disruptions in the industrial social network that we are all dependent upon. If there is hope, it is not that computer companies will invent a mythical "silver bullet" but that communities can organize to survive Y2K in a humane way.

If you don't read any other book about the coming millenium, and how to think about your possible role in it, this is the one. Not sure what they're talking about? Want to hear about the non-computer type issues? Want to be an asset to your community? Read this book! It's a collection of thought provoking ideas from many different angles. Something you'll want to pass on to everyone you know. Made me want to keep coming back to different articles and rereading them. Some fairly light, some appropriately heavy and detailed. And an excellent overview. It's also one of the less expensive books available!!

Great book. Thank God we didn't need it.

This is a grreat place to start lokking at the opportunities which exist in the Y2k crisis. We are in the middle of a major shift in our culture: Y2K is not an isolated phenomenon. It challenges us to look at the future we all want.

This is exactly what I have been waiting for. I knew the general course of action that a community needed to take, but I wasn't clear on how to get the ball rolling. One of the most marvelous concepts in this book, and one that we need to stress to others, is that the "individual preparedness" approach is doomed to fall short. This book covers the need for community action, and gives concrete direction to get things going. I am confident that our community is capable of rallying together, and a simple citizen like myself, and you, can initiate the process.

I enjoyed the positive messages provided in the Awakening articles. Having worked hard to spread the word about the Y2K truth while at the same time debunking the Y2K myths, I find this book to be a positive and upbeat contribution to the Y2K dialogue. The articles are thoughtful, well-written, and thought expanding. A must read for anyone trying to get a handle on the full Y2K picture.

Steve Davis Mailto:Awake@DavisLogic.com

How to talk to other people about y2k is a problem, as so often the response is denial. I've been giving those I love this book (I ordered in bulk). I've been getting good feedback. The emphasis is on connecting with what's really important in our lives, with our deepest values and with each other. As several articles stress, getting to know your neighbors may be the most important thing you do. The book prepares us for the kind of change in the way we view the world and our place in it. Change is always scary, but the way these potential upheavals are presented gives us a sense of being part of something exciting and spiritually uplifting