We Need an Ecological Revolution

WE NEED AN ECOLOGICAL REVOLUTION John Scales Avery March 24, 2019 INTRODUCTION1 The present crisis of civilization is unique Does history repeat itself? Is it cyclic, or is it unidirectional? Certainly many aspects of history are repetitive - the rise and fall of empires, cycles of war and peace, cycles of construction and destruction. But on the other hand, if we look at the long-term history of human progress, we can see that it is clearly unidirectional. An explosion of knowledge has created the modern world. This is something that never happened before. Never before has the world had a population of more than 7 billion people, to which a billion are added every decade. Never before have we had the power to destroy human civilization and the biosphere with thermonuclear weapons or catastrophic anthropogenic climate change. Our situation today is unique. We cannot rely on old habits, old traditions or old institutions. To save the long-term future for our children and grandchildren, and for all the other creatures with which we share the gift of life, we must overcome the inertia of our institutions and our culture. The Nobel-Laureate biochemist Albert Szent-Györgyi once wrote: “The story of man consists of two parts, divided by the appearance of modern science at the turn of the century. In the first period, man lived in the world in which his species was born and to which his senses were adapted. In the second, man stepped into a new, cosmic world to which he was a complete stranger.... The forces at man’s disposal were no longer terrestrial forces, of human dimension, but were cosmic forces, the forces which shaped the universe. The few hundred Fahrenheit degrees of our flimsy terrestrial fires were exchanged for the ten million degrees of the atomic reactions which heat the sun.” “This is but a beginning, with endless possibilities in both directions - a building of a human life of undreamt of wealth and dignity, or a sudden end in utmost misery. Man lives in a new cosmic world for which he was not made. His survival depends on how well and how fast he can adapt himself to it, rebuilding all his ideas, all his social and political institutions.” 1This book makes use of articles and book chapters that I have previously written on subjects related to the urgent need for fundamental change, but a great deal of new material has been added 1 Harmony between human society and nature must be restored Among the many global leaders who have pointed to the need for fundamental change are Pope Francis and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. In June, 2015, Pope Francis addressed the climate crisis in an encyclical entitled “Laudato Si’”, in which he says “Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods. It represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.” In his Apostolic Exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium”, Pope Francis said: “Just as the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say thou shalt not to an economy of exclusion and inequality.” For very many years Al Gore has struggled to call public attention to the existential dangers of catastrophic climate change. These efforts were recognized with a Nobel Peace Prize, which Al Gore shared with the Inter- governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The October 2018 report of the IPCC shocked the world. The report finds that limiting global warming to 1.5oC would require “rapid and far- reaching” transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities. Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching ‘net zero’ around 2050. Another conclusion of the 2018 report was that humanity has only 12 years to act, if tipping points are to be avoided, beyond which uncontrollable feedback loops would be set in motion. This situation caused 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thun- berg, addressing the 2019 Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland to say “Our house is on fire. I am here to sat that our house is on fire. According to the IPCC, we are less than 12 years away from not being able to undo our mistakes. In that time, unprecedented changes in all aspects of society need to have taken place, including a reduction of our CO2 emissions by at least 50%.” Nuclear weapons: an absolute evil! War was always madness, always immoral, always the cause of unspeakable suffering, economic waste and widespread destruction, and always a source of poverty, hate, barbarism and endless cycles of revenge and counter-revenge. 2 It has always been a crime for soldiers to kill people, just as it is a crime for murderers in civil society to kill people. No flag has ever been wide enough to cover up atrocities. But today, the development of all-destroying modern weapons has put war completely beyond the bounds of sanity and elementary humanity. The danger of a catastrophic nuclear war casts a dark shadow over the future of our species. It also casts a very black shadow over the future of the global environment. The environmental consequences of a massive exchange of nuclear weapons have been treated in a number of studies by meteorologists and other experts from both East and West. They predict that a use of nuclear weapons would result in fire storms with very high winds and high temperatures, which would burn a large proportion of the wild land fuels in the affected nations. The resulting smoke and dust would block out sunlight for a period of many months, destroying the ozone layer and the hydrological cycle with a disastrous effect on agriculture. Scientists believe that a nuclear famine could kill a large proportion of the plants, animals and humans on earth. Fundamental changes are needed Fundamental changes are needed in order to give our economic system both an ecological conscience and a social conscience. In many countries economics and politics are linked because excessive inequality in wealth has meant that corporate oligarchs control our political systems. To restore true democracy, we must decrease economic inequality. Furthermore, reformed economic systems must prioritize ecological goals, especially the replacement of fossil fuels by renewable energy, reforestation, and the drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Since rapid and fundamental changes are urgently needed to save the future, it is perhaps not an exaggeration to speak of the need for an ecological revolution. However, it must be a non-violent revolution. Strong reasons for avoiding violence in situations of conflict have been given by Mahatma Gandhi. To the insidious argument that “the end justifies the means”, Gandhi answered firmly: “They say that ‘means are after all means’. I would say that ‘means are after all everything’. As the means, so the end. Indeed, the Creator has given us limited power over means, none over end... The means may be likened to a seed, and the end to a tree; and there is the same inviolable connection between the means and the end as 3 there is between the seed and the tree. Means and end are convertible terms in my philosophy of life.” Gandhi’s advocacy of non-violence is closely connected to his attitude towards ends and means. He believed that violent methods for achieving a desired social result would inevitably result in an escalation of violence. The end achieved would always be contaminated by the methods used. Trained as a lawyer, Gandhi fought his battles in the court of public opinion. In this court, violent methods fatally weaken one’s case, besides being futile if one is opposing overwhelming military strength. Today our case for the need to make rapid and fundamental changes must be fought in the court of public opinion. This is made difficult by the fact that the mass media are firmly under the control of powerholding oligarchs. However, the Internet, still relatively uncensored, gives us the opportunity to create our own media. Lives to inspire us I have included short sketches of the lives of many famous non-violent revo- lutionists; and I hope that these “lives of the saints” can give us inspiration. Of course, the choice of whom to include was rather arbitrary, and very many others deserve recognition; but I hope that the few can stand for the many, and I hope that they can inspire us to put our duty to future generations ahead of present profit or pleasure. One of the chapters discusses the ideals of the Enlightenment. Those ideals are still valid today. We give our children loving care; but it makes no sense to do so unless we aso do all that is within our power to give them a future in which they and their children can survive. None of us asked to be born at a time of crisis. But we have been born at such a time, and history has given us an enormous responsibility. If we do not work with courage and dedication to save our beautiful world for future generations, all the treasures that past generations have given to us will be lost. You and I, all of us together, can save the future if we work hard enough. Together we can do it! 4 6 Contents 1 PRINTING CREATES THE MODERN WORLD 11 1.1 Printing . 11 1.2 Islamic civilization and printing . 13 1.3 Gutenberg . 18 2 IDEALS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT 23 2.1 Descartes .

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