Know Your Place
Tuesday, October 31
Well, well, well. Isn't the reaction to the Stern Report interesting? I have never seen such a flurry of activity and reportage on climate change in all my life. Suddenly it's everywhere. Whole TV programmes and front pages are devoted to it. Government news conferences pledge swift action. Al Gore is revved up by Tony Blair. The dam has broken, and it's officially official: we have a global emergency on our hands.
Why? It's the economy, stupid. Or, to put it more bluntly, it's money. We've had dire warnings on climate change for the last fifteen years, but those have been from silly old scientists or scaremongering greenies. They didn't count. This one, though, is by one of the High Priests of our contemporary global religion: economics. This one has numbers in it. Big ones, that point right at us. If we don't do something about climate change, it'll hit us in our wallets . Thus, action is imperative.
Should I be pleased? I suppose I am, in a way. I'm pleased that this will finally, in the eyes of most people, spike the guns of the few remaining deniers. I'm pleased, in particular, that Bjorn Lomborg, the slick, oh-so-reasonable sounding Danish neoliberal who has made a career out of arguing that doing something about climate change will cost us too much has now had his own argument thrown back into his face by one of the economists he so admires. I'm pleased that those of us who were boringly banging on about this fifteen years ago were right all along. It's always nice to be right all along.
Do I think it will change things though? In a word, no. Sorry. I know that some of you want me to cheer up, but actually I'm not down. Really. I'm just being clear-headed. The reaction to my last post intrigued me on this score: so many of us seem so keen/desperate to believe that we can muddle through, or that 'doing something' is an end in itself.
It's a curious thing. On an individual, or a community level I have met, in my life, countless people I admire and respect, who are making a difference, who have hearts and souls and who fill me with hope for the future. Humans can be wonderful, but humanity, as a collective, is usually disastrous. We don't care enough, we can't act fast enough, and we hide our individual consciences beneath the black umbrellas of the crowds. Put a lot of people together and they can - and will - do terrible, terrible things that they would never dream of doing on their own.
Call me a misanthropist then, if you like, and maybe I am - but I don't believe we will act, as a world, nearly fast enough. There are 30,000 coal-burning power station in China alone. America will face a second revolution if its petrol prices are put up. Most of the world - the 'developing' countries, as we so patronisingly refer to them - have only just seen, on the horizon, our material living standards within their grasp. You think they're going to pull back now? You think solar panels and wind turbines can power enough fridges and Ferraris to satisfy the billions we have sold our shallow dreams to? Think again.
I'm sorry about this, I really am. I would love to give out an optimistic, 'we can do it' type message. But I just don't think we can. Science and psychology are against us, as are politics and economics. And probably democracy too. The Tony Blair who gave that serious we-must-act-now press conference yesterday is the same Tony Blair who refuses to pull back from a massive programme of airport expansion. Saviour of the world Al Gore takes more plane flights than most of us put together as he exhorts us to Do Something.
His solutions include potentially planet-wrecking biofuels - anything to Keep America Driving. Here in Britain, our very own George Monbiot is full of typically ambitious, and typically detailed, ideas to help us cut our emissions by 90% in the UK. But look at his list carefully. Do you really believe any of our potential governors will do this? And this is only the emissions for about a tenth of the world. Globally it's a spit in the ocean.
I don't mean to be a counsel of despair. But I do think it's about time some of us greenies woke up to the reality of what the future is likely to actually be like - and of how distant our worldview is from most peoples'.
Yet beneath all of this is another thought. Everyone seems so very keen to avoid 'bringing civilisation crashing down', as George puts it. Well. Am I the only one who has a sneaking, unspoken desire for it to do exactly that? Am I the only one who thinks that industrial civilisation is the problem and not the solution? Am I the only one who worries that a combination of advanced technology, overpopulation, fearsome weapons and human nature might actually be worth stopping in its tracks, before it does more damage than it has already done? Am I the only one who thinks that such an ending would actually be a new beginning - and that stopping the machine might be, hell, a good thing rather than The End of everything?
Well no, I'm not. And I'm not sure I necessarily want to share a space with everyone else who thinks so (though some of them I could happily live with). But I do know, if I'm very honest, that the prospect of this sick, atomised, destructive, materialistic mass of potage we call 'civilisation' 'crashing down' is actually rather an appealing one. Sorry.
Posted by Paul at 1:29 PM 
14 Comments
I get the big hype about climate change, I really do and I am just as pissed off with the politicians as everyone else, a curious thing occurred on Spanish news ( I am an ex-pat)Suddenly we are being instructed that the spanish equivalent of the enviromental department is reducing the amount of water necessary for use in a day to 60 litres (this is a piss poor amount), you want more you pay a higher rate for anything over that amount, not strange when this just happens on a normal day, but I have sussed out that when Tony Blair goes on a rampage as the nations saviour, there are usually other governments who plan new ways to rob the people off the back of this guys news stories. Planned or not, cynical or suspicious, not sure what I am but if I were the secret service I would be checking a few goverment types bank books for foreign transfers sent as thanks for globally helping to screw anyone and everyone who just wants a bit of fucking peace and quiet without paying more money to line their fat rocket pockets.
Global robbery, watch the world news the next time something like this comes out and see all the greedy bastards jumping on the band wagon.
Posted by: 
at 7:28 PM
The link between Mind and Social / Environmental-Issues.
The fast-paced, consumerist lifestyle of Industrial Society is causing exponential rise in psychological problems besides destroying the environment. All issues are interlinked. Our Minds cannot be peaceful when attention-spans are down to nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds. Our Minds cannot be peaceful if we destroy Nature.
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment.
Subject : In a fast society slow emotions become extinct.
Subject : A thinking mind cannot feel.
Subject : Scientific/ Industrial/ Financial thinking destroys the planet.
Subject : Environment can never be saved as long as cities exist.
Emotion is what we experience during gaps in our thinking.
If there are no gaps there is no emotion.
Today people are thinking all the time and are mistaking thought (words/ language) for emotion.
When society switches-over from physical work (agriculture) to mental work (scientific/ industrial/ financial/ fast visuals/ fast words ) the speed of thinking keeps on accelerating and the gaps between thinking go on decreasing.
There comes a time when there are almost no gaps.
People become incapable of experiencing/ tolerating gaps.
Emotion ends.
Man becomes machine.
A society that speeds up mentally experiences every mental slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A ( travelling )society that speeds up physically experiences every physical slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A society that entertains itself daily experiences every non-entertaining moment as Depression / Anxiety.
FAST VISUALS /WORDS MAKE SLOW EMOTIONS EXTINCT.
SCIENTIFIC /INDUSTRIAL /FINANCIAL THINKING DESTROYS EMOTIONAL CIRCUITS.
A FAST (LARGE) SOCIETY CANNOT FEEL PAIN / REMORSE / EMPATHY.
A FAST (LARGE) SOCIETY WILL ALWAYS BE CRUEL TO ANIMALS/ TREES/ AIR/ WATER/ LAND AND TO ITSELF.
To read the complete article please follow either of these links :
PlanetSave
EarthNewsWire
sushil_yadav
Posted by: 
sushil yadav at 5:38 AM
Paul - I agree with you. You might like to check in on the talks I'm giving about Christianity and Peak Oil etc - they've only started recently, but I think you'll find them of interest.
(Great cartoons btw)
Posted by: at 4:10 PM
I agree with everything that you say in this post, Paul, until the very last paragraph. I don't believe that the impending 'crash' is going to be a good thing. I think that the likelihood of us all emerging as lovely communistic agrarians is extremely low - what is likely to happen is some kind of post-fascism, which is a fairly horrendous prospect.
Which is why I operate on a very strict regimen of 'pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will'. I want to do whatever I can, even if, intellectually, I reckon the chances of us getting out of this are pretty minute. Why? Because what else is there to do? I couldn't live with myself if I just ignored the problem while I knew it was there - and I want my life to mean something, however small. So I act against despair. Namo Kuan Shi Yin Pu Sai and all that. :)
Best wishes,
Matt
Posted by: Matt Sellwood at 6:18 PM
I wouldn't want to be a communistic agrarian anyway. I want to grow my own food, on my own bit of land. Collectivism .... eeurgh. Makes me shudder.
You are quite right, of course. The crash will be nasty. I think fascism is already taking hold in the rich world (when fascism comes it will come slowly, in no historical form we recognise, and it certainly won't be called 'fascism.' It will probably be called something like 'security from terror')
Will the continuation of industrial society be any better though - for the planet as a whole, not just for humans? Or will it be worse? What can you see in the future - full body transplants, organ-harvesting, nanotech total surveillance, GM animals, space weapons, biofuels ... and all in the name of Growth.
All this focus on 'saving civilisation' - it might perhaps be good for us (might) - but we are not the only things on the planet.
What if we're the problem?
I sometimes agree with your sense that maybe it would be better to just let everything collapse. But don't you think such ideas are counter to the ones you described in your book. Surely that movement is about creating a just society not a post-collapse mess.
Do you know anything about Derrick Jensen? His anti-civilisation hope is close to yours, but I have a feeling his tactics and stridency might put you off.
A
Posted by: at 2:12 PM
You're right, Alice, of course. But things move on - I researched that book five years ago and quite a lot has already changed.That global movement turned out to be less lasting than many had hoped - its elements are still out there, but the unity eluded it. September 11th happened, and all it brought with it. Climate change is already looking much more dangerous than it was, and the state/corporate nexus is getting stronger. I am a lot less optimistic than I was. No, that's not quite right - I am a different sort of optimistic. I actually now hope that climate change puts a spanner in the global economic works. It might yet save us all.
You've nailed my thoughts on all this practically to the letter. Good to know I'm not alone, even if the outlook is bleak.
Posted by: Tom Edwards at 4:05 PM
Hi, I like the thrust here. OK so it looks like you / we might actually get our way ... what outcome would actually be desirable.
Blogged a link here too.
http://www.psybertron.org/?p=1343
Regards
Ian
Posted by: Psybertron at 9:25 PM
I've never really heard anybody 1) articulate how exactly the end of civilisation would happen (other than via catastrophic climate change and, um, isn't that what we want to avoid?) and/or 2) explain how the end of civilisation would somehow *not* cause massive and unprecidented suffering for humans, plants, animals, everything.
Not to mention 3) if you're really rooting for the end of the world, why are you sitting there writing your blog instead of a) wiring up bombs or at least b) driving your SUV around in circles?
Posted by: at 2:56 PM
Wiring up bombs? It never worked for Ted Kaczynski, so I doubt it would would work for me.
I wouldn't say I was rooting for the end of civilisation (as distinct from the end of the world - only a human would confuse the two)- just mentally preparing for it, and considering the possibility that it may now be an inevitability. If it is, as others have pointed out, it will be nasty. Fascism, war,havoc - all to be expected. Certainly, very high levels of human misery.
I wonder if, though, in the long-term, planetray misery will be considerably less? I can't see how it could be otherwise. Can you?
There's still hope. "They" could impose environmental fascism on us. You can only own one car, and if we find out you've got more, we'll come tow the extras. If you drive more than so many km a day.. I don't know how they'd enforce that. Automatic shut-offs in cars? Stop in the dead of nowhere if you're over your limit. That'll teach you.
All fantasizing aside, I agree with your post, and maybe even non-greens fear a collapse of that kind is unstoppable. Maybe that's why I (and probably many others) am just reading the news, fascinated by the destruction like some teenager watching a friend committing an act of vandalism. That's sort of what it's like, after all, on a mass scale.
Posted by: at 9:36 PM
I thought I was a lone voice in the wilderness about population, especially as I am a woman. Those few brave souls who speak out on the subject are mostly men. I have now dedicated a page on my website to population, with one article a response to a peak oil post on Transition Culture. I also believe that the fascism mentioned here, is the likely response of governments, and has already started to creep in by stealth. Hold on for a rocky ride. Die off may indeed be the lesser evil. Pity, we could all just go for the snip, would be so much easier.
As for global warming being "official" at last, well, now we can wear the T-shirt "We told you so". I doubt the realisation itself will make any difference, only the shit hitting the fan will cause any action/reaction. Still, I carry on doing my little bit, in the hope that the hundreth monkey will be green along with the other 99.
Posted by: judyofthewoods at 5:27 AM
We don't need GDP. We need a life. DÉCROISSANCE now.
And let's rediscover the joy of life.
Book: Le pari de la décroissance, by Serge Latouche, 2006, Fayard.
