It is 50 years since the Club of Rome published the famous “Limits to Growth” which, contrary to the propaganda spewed out by the billionaire and fossil-fuel funded think-tanks, made no predictions - but offered 12 scenarios about the world
Dona Meadows was one of the report’s principal authors (with her husband Dennis) and did a 30 year update which is summarised here. The book deals with an issue which affects us all – but in different ways depending on where we live. But even rich people – in Australia, France and the US – are now experiencing the floods and fire which indicate that we have reached too far. But the world has been strangely quiet about the book’s 50th anniversary
Dona Meadows died sadly in 2001 but was a marvellous woman who wrote the most accessible book about systems - “Thinking in Systems – a primer” (2008) and this powerful little essay helpful to anyone seriously interested in change - Leverage Points.
Those of you who prefer
videos will be moved by this
presentation of hers from 1993 when she threw away her notes to address an
issue which was lurking in the lecture hall full of technocrats like the
veritable elephant – namely the need for vision and the difficulties scientific
people have in speaking about dreams and hopes rather than problems. It’s a
superb performance – quiet but authoritative – and well worth watching. And she
has a short
note which captures the essence of the talk here.
In 2019 her husband Dennis did an equally powerful presentation which started with a memorable invitation to the audience to cross their arms and learn a lesson about the difficulties of changing our habits.
And that’s the central
question – why we seem unable to accept the evidence that’s been so obvious for
at least the last decade that our present habits are simply not sustainable? It
took me some time to pose this question – and to be open to the need to better
understand the way our minds work
And I was impressed with this recent story of someone who gave up a well-paying job in the financial sector in his early 50s to join Extinction Rebellion – to realise that he simply didn’t understand the financial system That duly led me to this paper “A map for navigating climate tragedy” by academic activist Jem Bendell (2018)
Have professionals in the sustainability field discussed the possibility that it is too late to avert an environmental catastrophe and the implications for their work? A quick literature review revealed that my fellow professionals have not been publishing work that explores, or starts from, that perspective. Why not? I looked at psychological analyses, held conversations with colleagues, reviewed debates amongst environmentalists in social media and self-reflection on my own reticence - concluding that there is a need to promote discussion about the implications of a societal collapse triggered by an environmental catastrophe.
I then asked another question – How do people talk about collapse on social media. I identified a variety of conceptualisations and from that asked myself what could provide a map for people to navigate this extremely difficult issue. For that, I drew on a range of reading and experiences over my 25 years in the sustainability field to outline an agenda for what I have termed “deep adaptation” to climate change.
I am new to the topic of societal collapse and wish to define it as an uneven ending of our normal modes of sustenance, shelter, security, pleasure, identity and meaning.
The article summarises what I consider to be the most important climate science of the last few years and how it is leading more people to conclude that we face disruptive changes in the near-term. It then explains how that perspective is marginalised within the professional environmental sector – and so invite you to consider the value of leaving mainstream views behind. And outlines the ways that people in relevant social networks are framing our situation as one of facing collapse, catastrophe or extinction and how these views trigger different emotions and ideas. I outline a “Deep Adaptation Agenda” to help guide discussions on what we might do once we recognise climate change is an unfolding tragedy. Finally, I make some suggestions for how this agenda could influence our future research and teaching in the sustainability field…..
Significantly, the same month that saw the story of the financial expert brought forward another confession from scientists who had suddenly realised that the techno-optimists were peddling dangerous delusions
Background Reading
Was given in the annotated
bibliographies of two previous posts
https://nomadron.blogspot.com/2021/11/is-patriotism-answer.html
https://nomadron.blogspot.com/2019/07/what-is-wrong-with-us.html
