Bastante shrugged his shoulders. "That's kind of the whole point," he said. "with enough people in on a debtor's strike, the banking systems collapse, the Federal Reserve loses its stranglehold, debts are forgiven, and we usher in the Barter Age, before the world's natural resources are completely destroyed. "
The hippie chick looked suspicious.
"It would ruin the economy," she said, frowning with concentration.
"Not at all," Bastante replied. "an economy is just habitat management, after all. For five generations, maybe, habitat management has consisted of polluting and toxifying habitat, but in ecological terms, this was a very short-term experiment that failed gloriously. The economy changes dramatically by investing in natural resources rather than exhausting them, that's all."
"And there would be no more jobs, and no more work, and nobody would survive!" She glared at him.
"Well, many people will lose their petro-jobs, which in turn would enable them to invest in a different kind of work, for a different kind of benefit. The Green Economy is really just a common-sense investment in ecological rehabilitation, leading to an ecological dividend in the form of food, shelter, and community. It's already taking place, all around us."
"In between your economic collapse and your ecological dividend lies total chaos," she said.
"Tell me about it," laughed Bastante. "We're right in the middle of it, you know."
She let that one sink in.
"Sounds tricky," she said. "How would it work?"
"Think of industrial civilization as an incubator," said Bastante, "the new economy of ecological rehabilitation grows strong and healthy through the investment of a conscious and evolving industrial civilization. The debtor's union is essentially a meme, and memes can spread virally through cyberspace. What it takes is a social network. That's where we come in."
she looked at him. "what's next for you?"
He sighed. "it's gonna take a miracle, but i need to get to everyone to look in the same direction at once..."
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