Of course not, but I'm talking about the vast majority who will not or cannot see what is going on. But then, perhaps you would not want numerous factions going off to do things that make it all worse. And such a large majority, even if they simply roll over in their sleep, you get crushed. Somebody fouled the nest, and like the dialectic of capitalism, we all are both victims and beneficiaries of the (former) "good times."
How can we locate agency or find, dare I say ‘hope’ in all of this? The overwhelming grief that must be processed is evident. And where is it possible to smuggle in some ‘not knowing’ and wonder for something like praxis in time of extinction?
The “little” people, those of no consequence to their Leaders except as a revenue source (or cannon-fodder) have always found their own separate source of Hope within the context of their remembered holidays and other such diversions. The elites have so fortified their positions of power that real change on any front is not possible without 100% committed massive uprising, which would entail severe casualties so people avoid it. But people must acknowledge that what they receive as “normal,” as their idea of a functioning civilization is in its entirety, a massive mistake on every level. It goes back to Marx’s dialectic - you are both victims and beneficiaries of Capitalism. You receive what you feel are benefits from urban existence (but they are all crimes against life) yet you feel trapped because it is not possible to change anything. This is the story of human history, in its ongoing tragedy.
While I don’t disagree with anything you’ve shared and have written about these topics extensively, it seems conceptual paradigms that keep us stuck in victim mentality are so pervasive that we often miss them or take them as ‘real.’
Studies have shown it takes as little as 25%, even less, to radically shift a society.
What we regard as ‘success’ and ‘purpose’ must shift, then we may see more is possible than we imagined— if we can zoom out far enough and focus on what we want rather than what we don’t want.
But such a gradual shift is more possible in general social values; in this case we need the action at the ballot box which has a much higher shift point, along with structural moves in political parties, all of which are structured (and funded) to make change almost impossible. It's the best Congress that money can buy.
Great links in this article Kathleen, thank you. One disagreement — that 400ppm CO2 (428) is cause for alarm; for instance the Greenland ice sheet formed around 300ppm is doomed and will destroy the US East Coast, and possibly halt AMOC. Drinking green tea with a tea bag that is apparently loaded with plastic, oh joy.
Yes, 400 ppm is high, but not outrageously so, about 40% of previous planetary maximums. The East Coast has already sunk 7” even before sea-level rise. The oceans can work to alleviate the CO2 problem if we end our multitude of destructive actions on the oceans. But who can get the emissions stopped at even this level? The melting ice caps once started can’t be stopped, and they started in the 1940s, perhaps resulting from WWII and the following gigantic emissions increase. You can’t stop that unless you can figure out how to start a mini-ice age for 2-3 centuries. Some mistakes, especially those undertaken on a planetary scale, just can’t be reversed, and the best solution is not make those mistakes. Yet here they are - nuclear weapons, the creation of plastics and the burning of everything combustible. A nuclear winter can start within any two hours any day; plastics ARE going to terminate most life before you see the worst aspects of the changing climate. therefore, #1- end wars, removing war from the human toolkit; #2 - get plastics stopped entirely, although it is now impossible to mitigate the damage. The error MUST be stopped before it starts, reversing these things is impossible, and humans refuse to learn that lesson.
I love your knowledge and anger at Homo sapiens, Kathleen. Sure, the current 428 ppm isn't high compared to 66 million years ago, but it sure is too high for us. Those runaway melting ice caps are just one symptom of a planet becoming hostile to human (and similar life forms) on it. Yes, nukes continue to hang over us, and plastic is a seriously under discussed disaster. I'm working on an article on consumption and waste in general, hidden by shipping waste to poor nations, utterly immoral and vile.
Does it somehow help that it’s them and not us? “Nothing short of societal collapse will get them out of this terminal failure.”
It’s a mess basically!
Of course not, but I'm talking about the vast majority who will not or cannot see what is going on. But then, perhaps you would not want numerous factions going off to do things that make it all worse. And such a large majority, even if they simply roll over in their sleep, you get crushed. Somebody fouled the nest, and like the dialectic of capitalism, we all are both victims and beneficiaries of the (former) "good times."
How can we locate agency or find, dare I say ‘hope’ in all of this? The overwhelming grief that must be processed is evident. And where is it possible to smuggle in some ‘not knowing’ and wonder for something like praxis in time of extinction?
The “little” people, those of no consequence to their Leaders except as a revenue source (or cannon-fodder) have always found their own separate source of Hope within the context of their remembered holidays and other such diversions. The elites have so fortified their positions of power that real change on any front is not possible without 100% committed massive uprising, which would entail severe casualties so people avoid it. But people must acknowledge that what they receive as “normal,” as their idea of a functioning civilization is in its entirety, a massive mistake on every level. It goes back to Marx’s dialectic - you are both victims and beneficiaries of Capitalism. You receive what you feel are benefits from urban existence (but they are all crimes against life) yet you feel trapped because it is not possible to change anything. This is the story of human history, in its ongoing tragedy.
While I don’t disagree with anything you’ve shared and have written about these topics extensively, it seems conceptual paradigms that keep us stuck in victim mentality are so pervasive that we often miss them or take them as ‘real.’
Studies have shown it takes as little as 25%, even less, to radically shift a society.
What we regard as ‘success’ and ‘purpose’ must shift, then we may see more is possible than we imagined— if we can zoom out far enough and focus on what we want rather than what we don’t want.
Another good commentary on "victims" is Chris Hedges latest post on fascism.
Fascism comes in silent steps quietly crushing human hopes while promising prosperity yet delivering social death (my quote)
Read and Weap: Chris Hedges post at
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/how-fascism-came
Nothing new here. A terminal system dies.
Yes, that's exactly right, and pointed out in a previous post:
https://kathleenmccroskey.substack.com/p/a-review-of-the-great-mindshift
But such a gradual shift is more possible in general social values; in this case we need the action at the ballot box which has a much higher shift point, along with structural moves in political parties, all of which are structured (and funded) to make change almost impossible. It's the best Congress that money can buy.
Excellent article. Thank you!
Great links in this article Kathleen, thank you. One disagreement — that 400ppm CO2 (428) is cause for alarm; for instance the Greenland ice sheet formed around 300ppm is doomed and will destroy the US East Coast, and possibly halt AMOC. Drinking green tea with a tea bag that is apparently loaded with plastic, oh joy.
Geoffrey, there is much ongoing conversation in the comments for this post https://kathleenmccroskey.substack.com/p/help-get-geo-engineering-stopped
that you might find interesting.
Yes, 400 ppm is high, but not outrageously so, about 40% of previous planetary maximums. The East Coast has already sunk 7” even before sea-level rise. The oceans can work to alleviate the CO2 problem if we end our multitude of destructive actions on the oceans. But who can get the emissions stopped at even this level? The melting ice caps once started can’t be stopped, and they started in the 1940s, perhaps resulting from WWII and the following gigantic emissions increase. You can’t stop that unless you can figure out how to start a mini-ice age for 2-3 centuries. Some mistakes, especially those undertaken on a planetary scale, just can’t be reversed, and the best solution is not make those mistakes. Yet here they are - nuclear weapons, the creation of plastics and the burning of everything combustible. A nuclear winter can start within any two hours any day; plastics ARE going to terminate most life before you see the worst aspects of the changing climate. therefore, #1- end wars, removing war from the human toolkit; #2 - get plastics stopped entirely, although it is now impossible to mitigate the damage. The error MUST be stopped before it starts, reversing these things is impossible, and humans refuse to learn that lesson.
I love your knowledge and anger at Homo sapiens, Kathleen. Sure, the current 428 ppm isn't high compared to 66 million years ago, but it sure is too high for us. Those runaway melting ice caps are just one symptom of a planet becoming hostile to human (and similar life forms) on it. Yes, nukes continue to hang over us, and plastic is a seriously under discussed disaster. I'm working on an article on consumption and waste in general, hidden by shipping waste to poor nations, utterly immoral and vile.