Most people still believe it is a good thing when “consumers” (as we non-elite humans have been reduced to) spend money to keep the economy growing. I heard countless times in analyses of the pre-Christmas shopping period that spending was strong and therefore the economy is doing great.

The problem? The more stuff we buy, the more stuff we consume, the more CO2 we emit. All that stuff is made from fossil fuels; oil and gas and coal used in the mining and extraction of materials, in manufacture, in marketing, in packaging, in transportation, and in waste disposal when we get tired of our new baubles.

Money makes the world go round; it also is destroying habitat on the planet we live on because “progress” is counted only by how much the economy grows, and how many more people have access to the consumer lifestyle to which we have become so accustomed.

In a world in which we correctly measure progress, we would instead be measuring by how much CO2 we save by the things we do NOT buy. But the world doesn’t work like that. And it likely never will because how can we fight against something which most of us, practically all of us, depend on because we no longer have any idea how to get by without fossil fuels?

No imaginary peaceful process to a fossil fuel free lifestyle will ever be enough. There is too much at stake for too many people who define themselves by how much they own, and how much money they have in the bank.

Resistance is our only way out of this. But who among us is willing to leave our warm and cosy homes to stand up to everything and everyone with an interest in keeping life easy? Because living without fossil fuels is not easy. One thing is for sure: we or our kids or our grandkids will find out soon enough what it is like to live without fossil fuels, either by choice or by revolt or by circumstances forced upon us by an ever-changing planet.

“The Buck Stops Here” is by artist Mr. Fish (Dwayne Booth), a cartoonist and freelance writer.