Planning for a Sustainable Future: Resource Conservation, Population Control, and Economy

By Bryan Welch
Published on February 17, 2009
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If we focus on the immediate obstacle, we’re likely to hit that obstacle. Achieving a sustainable future requires visualizing success and thinking ahead.
If we focus on the immediate obstacle, we’re likely to hit that obstacle. Achieving a sustainable future requires visualizing success and thinking ahead.
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To achieve a successful outcome, we must accept our sacred responsibility to protect the Earth.
To achieve a successful outcome, we must accept our sacred responsibility to protect the Earth.

A motorcycle accident did it. A motorcycle accident, and its aftermath, led me to a series of realizations about what humanity must do to achieve a sustainable future. But I’m getting ahead of my story.

It was in July of 2007, and I nearly killed myself. Not intentionally; I almost died from a terminal case of poor visualization. That’s right, poor visualization almost ended my life.

On a motorcycle, if you enter a turn with a gentle arc and that arc gradually becomes smaller, then you are in a decreasing-circumference curve — which presents a serious problem when you enter the corner too fast and then discover it closing down on you. It’s your classic rookie-motorcyclist error, and I made it.

There’s only one way out, and slowing down is not an option. To brake a motorcycle in a high-speed corner is disastrous. You’ll lose traction and lay the machine down on its side. So the experienced rider leans deeper into the irrational angle and holds his intent. He visualizes a successful outcome. He experiences the exhilaration of successfully testing his own courage and skill against the laws of nature.

I, on the other hand, lost my nerve. Rather than visualizing myself — and the motorcycle — completing that turn at that speed, I let fear take over. I couldn’t visualize it and, for lack of a clear mental picture, I became trapped in the curve. Instinctively, I tried to slow the motorcycle down. The motorcycle and I went sideways, bounced off a fortuitous guardrail, and I went down in the middle of the road at about 45 mph. It would be a year before I healed completely.

The Destination Fixation

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