Why Is Society Still Mired in Mainstream Thinking?
Eagle Rock Train Station, Eagle Rock, Virginia
In my last article, I spent a considerable amount of time describing how a large part of society today is still mired in mainstream thinking and I pointed out how I don't see or expect the possibility that much will change in the future based upon a general lack of interest in the subject of ecological overshoot and collapse along with the myriad symptom predicaments that overshoot produces. Much of the material is subject matter that I have covered here before, although some of that (subject matter) was covered a considerable while back.
It's just that I see so much material consistently which is based on what amounts to unicorn magic pixie dust rather than actual science or even common sense once one understands the basics of overshoot. Take for instance this approach from Simon Michaux, which has already been attempted in many different forms in the past, most famously as The Venus Project. Attempting such projects entirely ignores ecological overshoot and the simple fact that civilization itself is unsustainable. Michaux made himself widely known for his telling the "Captains of Industry" that their plan to replace fossil fuels with non-renewable "renewable" energy harvesting devices, simply stated, would not work. So, his plan now has replaced these devices with thorium modular nuclear reactors and he is embarking on a project to build a "radical tomorrow." Unfortunately, this project is destined for failure. It isn't how civilization is powered that is the issue, it is the fact that civilization is built on the platform of technology use, making BOTH of those systems unsustainable. It is precisely the power of technology to remove or reduce negative feedbacks allowing for population growth which then feeds back into a self-reinforcing positive feedback loop of more people, more technology use, and increasing overshoot. Powering it differently won't change anything - the systems themselves will remain unsustainable.
This seems to be precisely where practically every idea fails the sniff test of sustainability. Technology use reduces both sustainability and resilience by increasing complexity. One is simply working to destroy the future by trading it for more of something today. This is precisely what makes both civilization and technology use self-terminating. Some technology will remain after industrial civilization collapses, but only sustainable technology use powered by natural systems (think of water wheels powering grain mills) and used in consideration of sustainable limits will continue. Much of the infrastructure which surrounds us today will disappear or become obsolete as I pointed out in these articles here and here and here. Despite this fact, many people are still busy promoting ideas (such as these contained here and here) that don't actually help but instead increase overshoot.
For another view of the unicorn magic pixie dust, take a look at this idea. Understanding why this is an unfolding disaster in progress and seeing exactly what we are losing as a result of these activities points out yet another idea that fails the sniff test of sustainability.
There are ideas which stress sustainability and resilience and ways of living which don't entail worshiping modernity, but these ideas get little recognition in the media or society because they aren't popular. These ways of living focus on re-localization and developing more resilience through regeneration and a reduction of dependence of technology use and civilization. Some of this is achieved first and foremost by understanding wetiko (a brief introduction is here and a much more indepth description is here) and that modernity traps us in the predicaments we find ourselves enmeshed within as Bruce Meder points out in his book review of Hospicing Modernity. It is the constant attempts at innovation and the obsession with solutions which beset modernity with ridiculous ideas like those above (unicorn magic pixie dust) and quite literally chain us to the unsustainable systems most all of us are now embedded within. If there is to be any voluntary reduction of technology use and therefore ecological overshoot, I am certain the way to accomplish it is included in this paragraph (mostly within the links provided and the links those links provide). Unmasking wetiko is absolutely required in order for society to be able to make the behavioral changes necessary to voluntarily reduce overshoot and its concomitant symptom predicaments. As can be seen in the article linked in the previous sentence (I posted the study itself earlier last fall), everything I have been pointing out in these articles over the last three years is true.
My last dozen or so articles all point to this same set of sociological delusions that continue to exacerbate the overshoot predicament that we are ALL a part of. Very few Indigenous tribes still exist who reject modern advanced technology use, and these people and their cultures are our last link to an example of a community which can actually be truly sustainable for the long term. Bargaining to maintain civilization in an attempt to prolong our level of comfort will most likely end in extinction. Even experts who understand extinction have an aversion to looking at the predicament of extinction as if it includes us, as evidenced from this recent interview with Peter Brannen by Nate Hagens.
So, to wrap things up, I'm going to post the poignant part of the abstract from the study I posted last fall that I mentioned above, quote:
Outstanding piece, thank you. Now I'm going to dig in and click on a lot of the hyperlinks to get the fuller picture. I particularly appreciate the observation that overshoot is not the root of the problem; *rather, the behavioral crisis/maladaptive thinking is the root of overshoot and therefore the true root of the ecological crisis.* It is an extremely helpful conception of our predicament and very honest.
ReplyDeleteGail's comment about the universe adding more complexity made me chuckle. Rather than being an external force pushing things along, perhaps even the whole universe, ie nature at every level, suffers from behavioral crisis/maladaptive thinking, and eventually even the universe will go into overshoot and collapse. Thus was the 'big bang' just a previous universe collapse? Followed on by billions more before that?
ReplyDeleteGrowth-overshoot-collapse is an evolutionary process, and perhaps it applies at all levels.
As for Simon Michaux, having listened to a lot of his interviews previously about resource depletion, I think he actually knows that overshoot-collapse is going to happen, he occasionally slips in one-liners about permaculture, agreo-ecology and such like then quickly passes onto the hopium in discussion. I actually think he's just enjoying the attention and social interaction, and presumably the funding he occasionally gets, and doing his form of "living now".
Well stated, Erik. I can't help but come back to those evolutionary aspects of our species that have set us on what in retrospect seems an inevitable path of self-termination. The fundamental avoidance of pain/seeking of pleasure principle that appears to drive a lot (all?) of animal behaviour in order to meet biological and psychological needs; and, the hyper-charging of this basic survival mode by the cognitive shift that has been suggested defines the difference between our species and others: the denial of reality to avoid anxiety-provoking thoughts such as death.
ReplyDeleteOur narrative-weaving/story-telling abilities help us to create all sorts of rationalisations/justifications for our behaviours and so-called ‘successes’ but perhaps it’s as ‘simple’ as our ingenuity in creating and using technology has aided us in meeting those basic needs, put us into ecological overshoot, and no matter how well we ‘understand’ this, we’re caught in a trap of our own making and cannot extricate ourselves. It seems everything we’ve done and everything we’re doing is accelerating feedback loops that increase the severity of the predicament, but we avoid this awareness (mostly through bargaining that employs magical thinking) like the plague to protect our fragile psyches and the painful thoughts that accompany it.
Acceptance of our impermanence—be it personal, societal, or species-level—is a difficult if not impossible pill for the vast majority to swallow. It has the most bitter of tastes and can get one stuck in less-than-healthy stages of grieving.
It is perhaps for these reasons that we witness such an array of stories seeking to avoid the anxiety of life’s end. What ifs everywhere…
The reason why our societies, who and which know full well that our lifestyles are not sustainable, do not change is because, like me, we have children whose future we must steer. What do we do? Tell them NOT to go to university and study to be a physiotherapist - their dream?? Instead, what must they do?? Learn how to grow vegetables in the garden??
ReplyDeleteNo one can get off the escalator voluntarily because few have the means to purchase and set up a 3 ha/7.5 acre small-holding, with its one water supply, etc. My parents even have 3.5 acres & a well & old cob cottage and barn. Are their 4 grandchildren supposed to get together and make it self-sufficient? While the rest of the world is continuing BAU around them, and the rates/council tax has to be paid - with what?? (shades of Gone With the Wind). And the trees cannot be cut down for firewood for cooking (cob cottages are warm in winter, cool in summer)??
Of course, we parents pay for our children's' university, a pray that the system stays functioning just long enough for them to get through and started in life. That's what all parents of all children pray - and because societies' children are all different ages, everyone is motivated to keep the system going "just a little bit longer".
Further to my previous comment as Anonymouse :) : will TPTB achieve their aim of 15 Minute Cities, mandatory WHO Pandemic Treaty "vax" to cull the Baby Boomers??? As wished for by e.g., Luke Gromen??
ReplyDelete