Can we work this out together?

[Carl Munson]

I've quit my job to save the planet and my 'real' work has started here in Exeter.

Of the belief that the double-whammy of peak oil and climate change will bring unprecedented challenges to the way we are trying to live and our ultimate survival, I'm going pro-active and creating a post-peak-oil, beat-the-rush lifestyle.

In outline, here are some of the key features of the life I feel compelled to live as I can't keep my head in the sands of denial and despair any longer:

- I'm growing, making and sharing food in my local community (because when oil gets expensive and scarce, that may well become the norm)

- Taking responsibility for my health, well-being, education and lifestyle impact (because our continued and mindless dependency on 'the man' is looking a little perilous)

- Developing the Exeter Eco-fayre (A monthly platform/marketplace for local, ethical and ecological organisations/businesses who want to raise awareness about the ecological, ethical and economic issues facing us all, whilst creating a sustainable personal livelihood, a happier community and a fairer society)

- Hoping to start a New Exeter radio show on Phonic.fm, Exeter’s local independent radio station (because Phonic is great and it should be a lot of fun)
- Creating a pure water and fresh produce delivery service in Exeter (I need some cash, despite wanting to reduce my overall money dependency)

- Developing this site - www.newexeter.com - a social network and resource for creating a local, sustainable & enjoyable life in Exeter

- Continuing collaboration with the Transition movement – www.transitionculture.org (because it offers the most hopeful, positive and compelling vision for the future)

- Giving talks & writing articles on the 4 Crunches - Credit crunch, Carbon crunch (climate and peak oil), Communication crunch and Consciousness crunch (to anyone who'll have me)

- And continuing with this - the www.iquitmyjobtosavetheplanet.com blog, to inspire and support anyone else who knows in their heart they should be breaking free and making a difference, and wants to get on with it.

Could there be a worse time to resign from a well-paid job in order to follow my heart, conscience and intuition, and trust that everything will work out? Probably not. Have we, the human race, got time to waste - in the face of environmental, economic and social catastrophe? I think not.

What choice do we really have except to create a more resilient, self-sufficient and sustainable local lifestyle URGENTLY (before I – before ALL of us - are forced to do so by the environmental, economic and social turbulence that's unfolding daily)?

If you resonate with this blessed unrest as someone put it, please get in touch. In the times ahead we will have to work together and support each other if we are to stand a chance of changing our course to a saner, more beautiful, and happier world. I need your help.

Believe me, we need each other...