Good article...although I have been 'out of step' with the (so-called) mainstream for years.
My eyes and mind were first opened back in the late 1960's. I was born in the middle '50's, and received the same indoctrination from our culture about our future, but the '60's changed that completely, in terms of my beliefs and outlook. The '60's did a Plutonian job on me, long ago.
The author of the article states: "What about a society where safety does not equal security?...What about a world where we mostly know the faces and stories of the people around us? What about a world where we know that our daily activities contribute to the healing of the biosphere and the well-being of other people? We need a Story of the People that includes all of those things - and doesn't feel like a fantasy."
Part of the problem has been that the owners of our media have to bow to powerful vested and wealthy interests. They have consistently ridiculed and attempted to discredit any alternative vision of how our society could be run. The wealthy and privileged have interfered with and disrupted attempts to created alternative ways of running our society. Pluto has been and is continuing to expose how wrong the plutocrats are when they act as though they really don't need the existence, let alone the support, of the 99%, and Earth herself.
The author says, "We don't have a new story, yet." Well...maybe not among those who see themselves as mainstream. There has always been the possibility of a new story. It has existed in "most things we call alternative, ecological, or holistic...", as he mentions. Examples of a new Story of the People can be found in books like: "Ecotopia", and "Ecotopia Emerging" by Ernest Callenbach; "The Fifth Sacred Thing", by Starhawk; and the many pronouncements by the Indigenous tribal peoples of our world. As Starhawk has one of her characters say, in The Fifth Sacred Thing: "There is room at the table, if you should choose to join us."
The possibility for a new Story of the People has been there for a very long time. Pluto is simply ripping the blinders off of the eyes of those who have not seen that ("when the cloaking illusions fall away" , and it is also ripping away the camouflage of those who benefit by our collective blindness. This is a painful, if necessary process.
If Pluto represents our ability to take our power and create deep and meaningful change, then having our collective mass illusions exposed by Pluto's X-ray vision is part of the healing process. Pluto is giving us the ability to see, with crystal clarity ("Then we are in touch with the real." .
I don't completely agree with his idea that there is no way to prepare. Learning about ways to live in greater harmony with Earth and Nature (Permaculture; bio-dynamic and organic gardening; groups like City Repair, Reclaiming, etc.). Learning about better ways to be together as people and as a society ( "The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups" by Starhawk), etc. The more we can learn about healing our relationship with Earth and Nature, the more we can learn about healing our relationships with each other, because we are NOT separate from Earth and Nature.
My hope, is that we can survive this process, and avoid taking the whole humming biota, the incredible beauty and diversity of life on this planet down with us if we fail the exam.