10/11/2023
Heard about the guy who fell off a skyscraper? On his way down past each floor, he kept saying to reassure himself: So far so good ā¦ so far so good ā¦ so far so good ā¦
ā La Haine, 1995
Are you concerned about climate change and itās societal implications?
There are many great reads starting to make more main stream media and ideas of what we can do.
Below is an article from this mornings āThe conversationā a link to another recently published article through āThe Conservationā and a book worth following up.
This mornings read below:
The world's systems are 'already cracking'
AU Edition | 11 November 2023
The Conversation
Iāll warn you ā Iām about to put a bit of a dampener on your Saturday morning (sorry about that). But Iām also sharing a call for us to radically rethink our priorities.
Humans arenāt generally good at understanding societal change on decades-long timelines, writes Tom Doig in his brilliant and challenging Friday essay on climate change and social collapse.
Yes, news headlines around the world are full of floods and bushfires, wars and melting sea ice, inflation and housing affordability problems. But for many of us, when we wake up and look out of the window, life feels much like it always has. Thatās because we live in the now ā in the moments when we drink our morning coffee, or w**d the garden, or take our kids to Saturday sport ā not in future projections.
Jem Bendell, a former professor in sustainability leadership, argues in his new book, Breaking Together, that collapse is already underway ā the quality of life in most countries and regions of the world peaked, then slowly began to decline, around 2016. Societal collapse isnāt dramatic and sudden, like an apocalyptic disaster movie; itās a process.
Many of the worldās natural and human-made systems, which combine to make up āindustrial consumer societyā, are under severe stress, or are already cracking.
Itās scary stuff, but accepting that major change is inevitable can allow us to radically rethink how humans interact ā with each other, and with the natural world.
As Doig asks: what do we do with this ācollapse awarenessā?
Bendell advocates for an ideal of āecofreedomā. This includes obvious ideas, such as reconnecting with nature, as well as supporting youth climate activism and decolonial, resource-preserving movements in the Global South ā where real change just might come from. Examples might include supporting community-based microfinance schemes and small-scale farming projects.
He also calls for embracing a āpositive disintegrationā of self and values, to refocus oneās mind, and entire existence, on things that really matter. That includes, of course, caring for the environment, rather than engaging in behaviours that damage it ā as well as small personal choices on a moment-to-moment level. Bendell says he enjoys meditating, hiking in nature, and ecstatic dance. āIt is refreshing to see self-help discourses appear side-by-side with serious discussions of monetary policy and climate tipping points,ā writes Doig.
Among the serious, societal-level arguments, is this simple philosophy of avoiding harm and focusing on doing good ā while facing the very real challenges ahead, rather than hiding away and hoping everything will invisibly work itself out. āDig garden beds, not bunkers.ā
Jo Case
Deputy Books + Ideas Editor
There is also another interesting book written by Australians mark diesendorf and Rod Taylor titled āThe path to a sustainable civilisation.ā Technological, Socioeconomic and political.
Also below:
Jem Bendell encourages us to think about societal collapse in ways that are āprofound and startlingly originalā, with the potential to birth whole new social movements, says Tom Doig.
