Dmitry Orlov, author of Reinventing Collapse, explored the question “What is it that we are looking at here, and what can we do about it?” He believes that there is not much hope for a global financial system and economy, nor should there be given the huge problems it is causing with the environment. If this is the case, then what can people do, in terms of coping with financial collapse, creating community resilience, and re-skilling for the new, local, self-reliant, highly manual age that is coming?
Dmitry Orlov was born in Leningrad and immigrated to the United States at the age of 12. He was an eyewitness to the Soviet collapse over several extended visits to his Russian homeland between the late eighties and mid-nineties. He is an engineer with a BS in Computer Engineering and an MA in Applied Linguistics. Orlov describes in his book Reinventing Collapse “the waning days of the American Empire”. He explains how the US administration finds itself mired in political crisis, how its foreign policy has come under sharp criticism; and why the economy is in steep decline. Orlov believes that these trends mirror the experience of the Soviet Union in the early 1980’s. By examining the circumstances of the demise of the Soviet superpower, Orlov offers clear insights into how the world might prepare for coming events.
The opening lecture of The New Emergency Conference: Managing Risk and Building Resilience in a Resource Constrained World. Recorded on 9 June 2009 at the Davenport Hotel, Dublin, Ireland.
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