My sister-in-law lives across the street from Caryn and I, and the other day I let her out the door carrying a huge load of kids-stuff; Caryn noticed and exclaimed “Ryan! Come on! Aren’t you going to help her out?” So I guiltily ran outside and grabbed some of the stuff she had, and commented to her, “nothing like a little bit of forced chivalry eh?”

So how about a little bit of forced environmental etiquette? Well, whether we like it or not, or even realize it, this economic downtown could be a breath of fresh air for the planet.

So finally we let the bears run free, this is great news for nature. Many elders have suggested that the world needs another depression to cure a culture that has lost its way. That is awfully tough medicine, but perhaps a small dose is needed? Experts who agree that a depression is on it’s way, don’t imagine it will last as long as The Great Republican Depression of the ‘30’s, but even a short one could give our culture a well needed reboot that could launch a brand new operating system that is much more efficient, stable, and sustainable than the one we currently maintain. It might be the only way to clear this virus before it turns terminal.

To keep up the medical metaphors, Thom Hartmann recently suggested that a planet with rapid extinction of large mammals is like a human with organ failure. It is really bad news that a recent study determined that 25% of the worlds mammal species are at risk of extinction; and that is a very conservative number; in reality, it might be much higher due to limited data on marine mammals.

“The financial crisis is nothing compared with the environmental crisis,” the deputy head of IUCN’s species program, Jean-Christophe Vie, told BBC News.

I don’t think it’s one or the other, I think it’s both-and. It seems that we might need one crisis to help out the other. I am generally known as an eternal optimist, but have found myself quite worried and anxious about the recent world news. It’s easy to get sucked in to a state of fear, and even easier to spread it as I know I have been doing unconsciously lately. I recently caught myself, honestly observed my actions and fears, and am now quickly reforming my thinking around this situation to adopt and share a more optimistic view. So it’s not one crisis over another, but one crisis to help another! It takes two to tango.

Endless financial growth is like an addiction. I was once addicted to the idea of making bottomless passive income and read all the Robert Kiyosaki financial books. Fortunately it was a short phase and I moved on before it consumed me (and hence the planet). The world has a great many people addicted to cash right now, and many are being forced to quit cold turkey. They might kick and scream a little on their road to recovery, but they too will see the light of day once the withdrawals stop. Many others don’t have bottomless cash but still manage to spend every cent they earn (and more) on consumables – they too may be forced to kick the habit. The withdrawals, whether you are a multi-millionaire, or in the middle class average, will come in the form of relinquishing your attachment to material goods. You can never get enough of what you don’t really need. You can never get enough, has been the theme since Reaganomics was born almost 30 years ago; and the crux of that lesson, what you don’t really need, is being taught right now.

Our culture is based around competition, we teach our children this from a very young age. Children are naturally very cooperative, but adults instill a competitive nature with scores and gold stars at an increasingly young age.

Competitive nature combined with greed has created this economic crisis, and the current market crash could be just what the planet needs, a last minute out before we reach an environmental tipping point. Despite the crime that media tends to focus on during hard times, I believe instead it will open up an overwhelming flood of human compassion and bring the world together in cooperation rather than competition. It will lead to community gardens, sustainable technological research and implementation, bicycles on the streets, revival of small businesses, and on and on. Maybe the tipping point will be one away from greed and toward a green future; that is my vision, and it’s an optimistic one.