Museletter 327 / May 2020
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ROMAHDUS Vipu
ROMAHDUS ViPu Lokakuu 2014 1 Sisällys Lukijalle……………………………………………………… 2 1 Mikä romahdus?…………………………………………… 2 2 Romahduksen lajeista……………………………………… 6 3 Romahduksen vaiheista…………………………………… 15 4 Teoreetikkoja ja näkemyksiä……………………………… 17 5 Romahdus—maailmanloppu, apokalypsi, kriisi, utopia… 25 6 Romahdus ja selviytyminen………………………………. 29 7 Pitääkö romahdusta jouduttaa?…………………………… 44 8 Romahdus, tieto ja hallinta………………………………… 49 9 Romahdus ja politiikka…………………………………….. 53 2 Lukijalle Tämä teksti on osa pohdiskelua, jonka tarkoituksena on luoda pohjaa Vihreän Puolueen poliittiselle toiminnalle. Tekstin aiheena on jo monin paikoin ja tavoin alkanut teollisten sivilisaatioiden ja modernismin kehityskertomuksen romahdus. Tekstin ensimmäiset 8 lukua käsittelevät erilaisia teorioita, käsityksiä ja vapaampaankin ajatuksenlentoon nojaavia näkökulmia romahdukseen. Ne eivät siis missään nimessä edusta ViPun poliittisia käsityksiä tai tavotteita, vaan pohjustavat alustavia poliittisia johtopäätöksiä, jotka esitetään luvussa 9. Toisin sanoen luvut 1-8 pyörittelevät aihetta suuntaan ja toiseen ja luku 9 esittää välitilinpäätöksen, jonka on edelleen tarkoitus tarkentua ja elää tilanteen mukaan. Tätä romahdus-osiota on myös tarkoitus lukea muiden ViPun teoreettisten tekstien kanssa, niiden ristivalotuksessa. 1 Mikä romahdus? Motto: "Yhden maailman loppu on toisen maailman alku, yhden maailmanloppu on toisen maailmanalku." Moton sanaleikin tarkoitus on huomauttaa, että vaikka yhteiskunnan romahdus onkin yksilön ja ryhmän näkökulmasta vääjäämätön tapahtuma, johon -
Smith River Update, Page 3 Planet of the Humans
MONTANA ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION DowntoEarth CENTER NEWS FROM THE MONTANA ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION CENTER IN THIS ISSUE 2 MEIC Fights for Justice for All 3 MEIC Defends Smith River 4 Victory on Oil and Gas Leases 5 MEIC at the PSC 6 Coal– on its Way Out 7 COVID-19 and Climate Change 8 NorthWestern Wants More of Colstrip 9 Film Review: Smith River Update, page 3 Planet of the Humans Clean and Healthful, it’s Your Right, Our Mission. June 2020 1 June 2020 | Vol.46 • No.2 MONTANA ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION CENTER MEIC Fights for Justice for ALL Cover Photo: Pearl the dog cooling off in by Anne Hedges an alpine lake have died and the number is rising. in the Pintler Many of the underlying health Mountains. OVID-19 is so harmful and conditions that make people vulnerable disruptive that it’s hard to are caused by poverty and social, believe it’s being completely economic and environmental injustice. Covershadowed by current events that Those who already suffer from disparity cannot and should not be ignored. It was are being the hardest hit. easy for MEIC to adapt to a COVID-19 So it shouldn’t be surprising that world. We live in Montana, a state with a pandemic that is disproportionately relatively few cases and wide-open impacting those who’ve suffered the spaces to explore at an appropriate most, combined with centuries of social distance. MEIC staff are as busy racism, widespread police brutality, as ever. Other than MEIC’s weekly and a callous president who thrives on webinars, little has changed. -
Planet of the Capitalists
Planet of the Capitalists Planet of the Humans, the new documentary from Michael Moore and Jeff Gibbs, seeks to expose the false promises of renewable energy. It also warns against the bad leadership on climate issues from liberal environmental groups like the Sierra Club and Bill McKibben at 350.org. As many readers will know, the film faces afirestorm of condemnation from the broad left,a favorable review on Breitbart for exposing the “hypocrisy” of the environmental left, and a handful of favorable reviews from radicals. It also has over 7.5 million views and climbing on YouTube as of this writing. Critics correctly say that Planet of the Humans makes outdated and inaccurate assertions about renewable energy, which underplay its capacity to replace fossil fuels. It uses gotcha-style journalism toward critics of the fossil-fuel industry such as McKibben, which is puzzling given Moore’s claim of wanting to engage in serious debate about the way forward in confronting the climate emergency. The film projects a drama of collusion of liberal climate groups and Wall Street. There is truth around collaboration of environmental groups and big business, but it’s also not breaking news. At the same time, the documentary’s popularity likely reflects another conclusion of the film: temperatures continue to rise and decades of climate organizing hasn’t lowered emissions. It is worth stepping back, and seeing what can be salvaged. Here is what Moore says about the film and controversy: “Wall Street requires that every business grow from year-to- year. If a business does really good this year, it’s not good enough that they do the same thing next year. -
Michael: Welcome to This Episode of the Future Is Calling Us to Greatness
Michael: Welcome to this episode of The Future is Calling Us to Greatness. Today I’ll be talking with John Michael Greer, who is a peak oil writer, a blogger, actually, to be quite honest, of everyone that I’m interviewing in this series, I’ve not read anyone more deeply and more enthusiastically than John Michael. In face, my first introduction to him was just maybe eight months ago. I read The Ecotechnic Future. Richard Heinberg was the one that introduced me to that book. Then I listened to it. Fortunately it was available on audio. Then I’ve read several others of his books that I’ll talk about here. But John Michael, welcome to this podcast series, this interview series, on The Future is Calling Us to Greatness. John: Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be on. Michael: So John Michael, could you begin just by sharing with our viewers and listeners a little bit about your own background, your accomplishments, and especially what you’re particularly passionate about or interested in at this time. John: Well, I reached adulthood at the end of the 1970’s, the early 1980’s, at the last time that American society was showing any signs of paying attention to the future or any future outside of Ronald Reagan’s distorted imaginations. I was at that time very heavily involved in what we used to call the appropriate tech movement. There’s a phrase that doesn’t get a lot of reference these days, but doing things like solar energy and wind power, but not taking over vast amounts of Nevada. -
Dowd 2016 Oneing (Vol 4, No 2) Essay.Pages
Evidential Medicine for Our Collective Soul What’s Inevitable? What’s Redemptive? By Michael Dowd Religions are evolving. Nowhere is this more evident than in how spiritual leaders across the spectrum are expanding their views of revelation to include all forms of evidence. We are witnessing the birth of what I have been calling the Evidential Reformation,1 a time when all forms of evidence (scientific, historic, cross-cultural, experiential) are valued religiously. Crucially, ecology—the interdisciplinary study of God’s nature—becomes integral to theology. Pope Francis, Patriarch Bartholomew, the Dalai Lama, and the signers of the Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change are spearheading this evidence-honoring greening of religion. The movement has been passionate and inspired for decades. But the noble sentiments that spawned care for Creation are no match for the crises now spinning out of control. It is time for a prophetic turbo-charging of our religious traditions. Foremost is the need to expand beyond the self-focus of individual salvation or enlightenment to also include vital community concerns—notably, survival. The community now, of course, is the entire human family and the more-than-human Earth community.2 A renewed call to action cannot be expected to offer pat solutions. Sadly, what were problems in the recent past have now exploded into predicaments. A predicament (by definition) is a kind of problem for which there are no solutions. It can neither be solved nor overcome; yet it is too impactful to ignore. A predicament must be dealt with conscientiously and continuously. Our responses can offer only more or less helpful interventions. -
Part I: Introduction
Part I: Introduction “Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.” -Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776) “For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and provide for it.” -Patrick Henry (1776) “I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth. On this subject I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! No! Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen -- but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to hasten the resurrection of the dead.” -William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator (1831) “Gas is running low . .” -Amelia Earhart (July 2, 1937) 1 2 Dear Reader, Civilization as we know it is coming to an end soon. This is not the wacky proclamation of a doomsday cult, apocalypse bible prophecy sect, or conspiracy theory society. -
A Degrowth Response to an Ecomodernist Manifesto
A Call to Look Past An Ecomodernist Manifesto: A Degrowth Critique Authors and Endorsers: Jeremy Caradonna, Iris Borowy, Tom Green, Peter A. Victor, Maurie Cohen, Andrew Gow, Anna Ignatyeva, Matthias Schmelzer, Philip Vergragt, Josefin Wangel, Jessica Dempsey, Robert Orzanna, Sylvia Lorek, Julian Axmann, Rob Duncan, Richard B. Norgaard, Halina S. Brown, Richard Heinberg One of the counties within the province of sustainable development is now called “ecomodernism,” and it has come to prominence over the past few years, in part because of the figures associated with it, including prominent environmental thinkers such as Ted Nordhaus, Michael Shellenberger, and Stewart Brand. The New York Times recently praised the ecomodernist message in an article called, misleadingly, “A Call to Look Past Sustainable Development.”i Why is the article’s title so misleading? For the simple reason that the figures within ecomodernism want cultural and economic change that is sustainable, just like the rest of us; they simply want to move the focus of development in a new direction, even though this “new” direction seems surprisingly and troublingly conventional at times. The New York Times article mentions a new statement of principles that the ecomodernists published this year. It is called An Ecomodernist Manifesto (2015) and is co-authored by eighteen leading lights of the sustainability movement, including Nordhaus, Shellenberger, and Brand, but also the physicist David Keith, the scientist, Nobel Prize Winner, and Indian economist Joyashree Roy, and -
The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New
Advance Praise for The End of Growth Heinberg draws in the big three drivers of inevitable crisis—resource constraints, environmental impacts, and financial system overload—and explains why they are not individual challenges but one integrated system- ic problem. By time you finish this book, you will have come to two conclusions. First, we are not facing a re- cession—this is the end of economic growth. Second, this is not our children’s problem—it is ours. It’s time to get ready, and reading this book is the place to start. — PAUL GILDING, author, The Great Disruption, Former head of Greenpeace International Richard has rung the bell on the limits to growth. This is real. The consequences for economics, finance, and our way of life in the decades ahead will be greater than the consequences of the industrial revolution were for our recent ancestors. Our coming shift from quantity of con- sumption to quality of life is the great challenge of our generation—frightening at times, but ultimately freeing. — JOHN FULLERTON, President and Founder, Capital Institute Why have mainstream economists ignored environ- mental limits for so long? If Heinberg is right, they will 3/567 have a lot of explaining to do. The end of conventional economic growth would be a shattering turn of events—but the book makes a persuasive case that this is indeed what we are seeing. — LESTER BROWN, Founder, Earth Policy Institute and author, World on the Edge Heinberg shows how peak oil, peak water, peak food, etc. lead not only to the end of growth, and also to the beginning of a new era of progress without growth. -
The Ecotechnic Future: Envisioning a Post-Peak World John Michael Greer
The Ecotechnic Future: Envisioning a Post-Peak World John Michael Greer Click here if your download doesn"t start automatically The Ecotechnic Future: Envisioning a Post-Peak World John Michael Greer The Ecotechnic Future: Envisioning a Post-Peak World John Michael Greer “[John Michael] Greer’s work is nothing short of brilliant. He has the multidisciplinary smarts to deeply understand our human dilemma as we stand on the verge of the inevitable collapse of industrialism. And he wields uncommon writing skills, making his diagnosis and prescription entertaining, illuminating, and practically informative. Not to be missed.”—Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute and author of Peak Everything “There is a great deal of conventional wisdom about our collective ecological crisis out there in books. The enormous virtue of John Michael Greer’s work is that his wisdom is never conventional, but profound and imaginative. There’s no one who makes me think harder, and The Ecotechnic Future pushes Greer’s vision, and our thought processes in important directions.” —Sharon Astyk, farmer, blogger, and author of Depletion and Abundance and A Nation of Farmers “In The Ecotechnic Future, John Michael Greer dispels our fantasies of a tidy, controlled transition from industrial society to a post-industrial milieu. The process will be ragged and rugged and will not invariably constitute an evolutionary leap for the human species. It will, however, offer myriad opportunities to create a society that bolsters complex technology which at the same -
Ecological Economics: Solutions for the Future - 2
Academic rigour This book arose from the ANZSEE (Australian New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics) conference ‘Ecological Economics: Solutions Now and in the Future’ held at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia in November 2019 (https://anzsee.org.au/2019-anzsee-conference/). In the planning for this conference we agreed that the book arising from this would be self-published so that the pdf could be given away free, and the paperback would be as cheap as possible so that students and the general public could purchase it easily. I took on the role of Editor pro bono to ensure we ended up with a book. However throughout this process we have remained committed to academic rigour. All chapters were reviewed twice by the Editor (sometimes more). Some chapters were also reviewed by other academics when the Editor thought this was needed. The Introduction was developed by the Editor and ecological economist A/Prof Philip Lawn, who originally had hoped to be co- Editor, but had to cancel due to personal reasons. Several chapters were reviewed by Dr Boyd Blackwell, President of ANZSEE. Hence, although this book was not published by a major publisher, it upholds academic rigour. The Editor, Dr Haydn Washington PANGEA Research Centre, BEES, UNSW Lead Editor of ‘A Future Beyond Growth’ (Washington and Twomey 2016); Editor ‘Positive Steps to a Steady State Economy’ (Washington 2017) Co-Director of CASSE NSW Co-Facilitator of the Ecological Economics Hub of the New Economy Network of Australia Ecological Economics: Solutions for the Future - 2 Copyright © Haydn Washington, 2020. All Rights Reserved. -
Degrowth Journal of Cleaner Production
Journal of Cleaner Production 18 (2010) 519e522 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Cleaner Production journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro Editorial Degrowth The publication of the proceedings of the April 2008 interna- Thesaurus, but the names aren't there to express this ‘cool down, tional conference in Paris dedicated to degrowth constitutes, as of take it easy, slack off, relax man’ included in the sense of degrowth. now, the richest and most complete collection analysing various ‘Decrease’ exists, but it is too exotic and essentialist (product more aspects of the subject. Though the matter has been mooted for quite than process) to capture the meaning. I sometimes ask myself if some time, the term Degrowth has only recently been used in terms like ‘decreasing, diminishing, moderating’ could not be economic and social debates, even if the origin of the ideas that it useful. ‘To grow or not to grow e that is the question!’ covers has a relatively old history. The expression does not appear ‘Moderate/Moderating Growth’? One could always quite simply as such in any dictionary of social sciences before 2006, where one leave ‘décroissance’ in the text, with an explanation in footnotes. I finds however entries on related themes such as “Zero Growth”, wonder whether the best translation would not be ‘decreasing “Sustainable Development” and of course “Steady State” [1]. While growth’” e that has the advantage of being at the same time passive the translation of the French Décroissance by Degrowth has still to (a simple fact) and active: it is, well, necessary to decrease; it is meet with unanimous approval, the project to which it answers necessary to decrease well; (here ‘decreasing’ would correspond already enjoys a relatively long and complex history and has not to a societal project or better still, to a true Social Project). -
1. What Is Sustainability?
1. What Is Sustainability? Further Reading Articles, Chapters, and Papers Barnofsky, Anthony D. et al. “Approaching a State Shift in Earth’s Biosphere.” Nature (June 7, 2012): 52–58. A review of evidence that, as with individual ecosystems, the global ecosystem as a whole can shift abruptly and irreversibly into a new state once critical thresholds are crossed, and that it is approaching a critical threshold as a result of human influence, and that there is a need to improve the detecting of early warning signs of state shift. Boström, Magnus, ed. “Special Issue: A Missing Pillar? Challenges in Theorizing and Practicing Social Sustainability.” Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy, vol. 8 no. 12 (winter 2012). Brown, J. and M. Purcell. “There’s Nothing Inherent about Scale: Political Ecology, the Local Trap, and the Politics of Development in the Brazilian Amazon.” Geoforum, vol. 36 (2005): 607–24. Clark, William C. “Sustainability Science: A Room of Its Own.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 104 no. 6 (February 6, 2007):1737–38. A report on the development of sustainability science as a maturing field with a core research agenda, methodologies, and universities teaching its methods and findings. Costanza, Robert et al. “The Value of the World’s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital.” Nature, vol. 387 (1997): 253–60. Estimates the current economic value of 17 ecosystem services based on both published research and original calculations. Ehrlich, Paul R., Peter M. Kareiva, and Gretchen C. Daily. “Securing Natural Capital and Expanding Equity to Rescale Civilization.” Nature, vol. 486 (June 2012): 68–73.