In a moment where nuclear reactors creep to the edge of a nuclear meltdown, where the whole of the Arab world is alight like a magic lantern, burning for a genie of regime change, and an American union movement roaring back after a decades long slumber, I feel like its time to really think about the future of this world and what it all means.

More than any other time in my life I feel that we’re on the cusp of something. Not just my generation or my country, but the whole world. The past decade has been a dark time for the world and yet I feel like the clouds are beginning to glow and the horizon is becoming light. If there’s anything to prophecies about 2012 then I believe they’re less to do with the end of the world than to do with the end of tyranny, oppression and thwarted potential. This is it.

The financial system and capitalism as we know it is broken. No matter how much they tell us on the news that things are recovering it simply isn’t true. The system itself is broken, we can throw more debt at it sure, but that only drags out the inevitable. This horse is as good as dead. We should let it go while we still have the resources to find a new ride for the journey that’s just beginning. The same goes for fossil fuels. Its over. If it weren’t for the meddling of the petroleum companies fighting tooth and nail against alternative energy we would already live in a much greener world. But that world is coming. All that’s left to be determined now is whether the transition will be easy or hard.

And governments? They have shown themselves in the past few years for just how ugly they can really be. What we saw in Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini and Mao we now see in v.2.0. Totalitarianism is much more subtle, much more tricky and refined today, to a point. Recently in places like Wisconsin things have become so transparently inhumane and greed driven that even the sophisticated masks and schemes that have been invented in the past fifty years can’t disguise the sickness at its core. People have risen up, and not only in one or two places but in places across the globe. Every successful revolution, recall and rejection of the powers that be will only embolden others to do the same. Where we stand together we win, and each time we win, more will stand up.

So I’m optimistic. For a while there I thought we were really going to eat shit as a species, and certainly there will be some turmoil in these transitions as we’re seeing in places like Libya and Bahrain. But I have more hope than ever that overall things are going to improve and change and grow in completely unexpected ways.

The economic collapse has exposed the scam perpetuated by the corporations and banks who really run things here in the west. As a result people like me are dropping out, but not in the same way as the hippies in the 60’s. We’re ditching the corporations and banks and doing business for ourselves. Fewer rules and fewer loans. We’re communicating and collaborating with each other directly as human beings, not as artificial corporate constructs masquerading as human beings. We are interested in actual value, in what I can do for you rather than how to manipulate a position into raising the value of a stock portfolio in the marketplace. That poker game’s time has come to an end and more and more people are leaving the table because the big boys have literally brought the house down.

In the end its simple. We have the planet we have, with the food and air and minerals and water that’s on it. That’s it. It doesn’t matter what the dollar looks like compared to the yen or what rules about short selling are, we’re still on the same planet. We can feed, house, clothe and educate everyone with what we have. We should get on it. Once that’s dealt with we can start worrying about what to do with all the yachts and Persian rugs. A good start would be to start transitioning away from oil, coal and nuclear to cleaner, more sustainable alternatives that the universe is all too happy to provide.

In times of war, be it World War II or the war for market share, humans, working together have done amazing things in very short spans of time. Now is the time for us to band together and solve the problems that are facing us all. Get off oil, save the environment, ensure clean air and water and enough food for all and true democracy. It sounds crazy, but if we have the science and the resources to go to the moon, destroy entire cities and make a billion pairs of Crocs and ship them all over the world… I mean come on. There is no excuse.

Today everyone and everything is global. Each of us has a part to play in this transformation of our species. Look at your life and how you can change it to more closely resemble the world that you want to live in. Stay attentive to opportunities to help and to grow. Remember how important this is. Perhaps most importantly, know that you are not alone. Not by a long shot. We all want a better world. Finally I think its something that we can all believe in.

See you there.