In these darkening times, it is all too possible to surrender to despair. But
there are actually some positive things we can do, ideally working together,
that might halt, or at least slow down, the ecological catastrophe currently
underway. Here are a few suggestions.
First, convince a critical mass of people (we’ll never persuade everybody!) to
accept two things: that we cannot go on like this, for the costs will be too great
– as Herman Daly (2019: 18n) put it, “so-called ‘economic’ growth has become
uneconomic”; and that there is a better way.
That ‘better way’ might be leaner, smaller, slower and darker (i.e. less light
pollution), with some current conveniences absent. But, on the plus side, there
would be many gains – such as better personal health, more satisfying work, a
stronger sense of community, less loneliness, more tranquillity, all the mental
and physical benefits of contact with ‘green spaces’, pride in doing the right
thing, and so on. But we cannot o4er some Big Rock Candy Mountain, where
the handouts grow on bushes and the hens lay soft-boiled eggs. Things may be
very hard in some ways (for one fictional imagining of such a world, see
Kunstler [2009] and its sequels).
Thus there has to be alarm-bell ringing but also positive vision, including
exemplars from here and now that show the practicability of an alternative way
of living. The battle of ideas is absolutely central. The Mont Pèlerin Society
really learned that lesson (cf. Mirowski and Plehwe, eds. 2009; Mirowski, 2013).
Electoral campaigns have to be but a part of that struggle to challenge and
change mindsets.
Comparatively speedy change can happen. For example, Pinker (2011)
documents how that happened in only a few decades during the
Enlightenment when lots of people began to think and see many things
di4erently. Whether we have the luxury of decades to win hearts and minds is
another matter! That said, the ‘woke’ revolution shows how fast things can
change, not least institutional policies (for some analysis see, e.g. Doyle
[2022] and https://historyreclaimed.co.uk/podcast/how-woke-won/). We have
to learn from all sources!
Second, fashion a transitional programme. It would cover both personal
lifestyle change and new public policies from government at all levels,
including new regulations for businesses and new tax frameworks. It would
have to concentrate on essentials, dropping all else. It would have to search for
ways of connecting to the current hopes and fears of significant layers of people.
Many matters can, however, be left for expert commissions, referenda and other
means of resolution. Other forces are getting organized for the breakdown of the
status quo – consider, for example, the Heritage Foundation’s sinister Project
2025 (https://www.project2025.org/; discussed in Goodwin, 2024).
Third, deliver clever messaging tailored to target audiences – that is, ‘di4erent
strokes for di4erent folks’. This will, to some extent, involve being a bit
opportunistic. Thus, one can critique the WWF on several grounds, but its use of
pandas and other such imagery has been e4ective in raising truckloads of cash, if
nothing else. I doubt if scorpions and wasps would have had the same e4ect.
There is nothing wrong with, sometimes, selective use of anthropocentric
arguments for ecocentric ends (e.g. promoting the conservation of plants for
future supplies of beneficial drugs). We have to use all sorts of arguments with
those whose minds are mired in conventional thinking. But people often care
about their children and grandchildren. Thus the most successful TV election
broadcast ever in the UK in terms of responses was a short film for the Green
Party by the famous photographer David Bailey in which buckets of something
horrible were poured on the heads of children, along with a simple message
about cutting pollution.
Fourth, form networks of people who agree with the ecocentric vision and
who can work together as appropriate in particular circumstances. Even just
two people going together to, say, a public lecture or rally will find it easier to
stand up and voice ecocentric messages than someone all alone. A group of just
three people can keep up a stream of letters to the media. It might be a faction
in a political party, members of the same trade union, co-workers in local
government, or members of an academic network. It all depends on what boots
there are on the ground. Furthermore, just being in touch with like-minded
people can keep one sane.
Fifth, use all channels of communication, from academic articles in learned
journals to street theatre, art and music. Even ‘legacy’ media such as the
press retain considerable influence over their newer digital forms, still
playing a very significant role in shaping the public ‘agenda’, especially
amongst elites. Good slogans will be particularly important. Language has to
be chosen carefully. ’Slimming’ sounds better than ‘cutting’; ‘post-growth’
better than ‘contraction’.
Sixth, join mass organizations where there might be receptive audiences.
Seventh, have lots and lots of luck since the cards are stacked against us. As
Orwell (2000: 375) wrote, more than eight decades ago: “The actual outlook, so
far as I can calculate the probabilities, is very dark, and any serious thought
should start out from that fact.”
Actually there is no formula for success. There are so many contingent
factors. All we can do is give up or keep trying, ideally learning from past
failures and past successes in the experiences of other movements, political
parties and other organizations. Many past ‘breakthroughs’ often took most
people at the time by surprise. Few contemporaries predicted, say, the English,
French and Russian Revolutions. Similarly, Margaret Thatcher was widely
dismissed in the 1970s yet she swept to power in 1979 and brought about
extensive changes to the fabric of British society (not good ones!). Two years
ago, it was widely assumed that the British Labour Party was finished as a
political force but now it is in power (albeit helped by the warped workings of
the ‘first-past-the-post’ electoral system and the intervention of Nigel
Farage’s Reform Party).
There are also ‘objective’ forces, ones beyond human volition, that will
compel many changes – for example, the relentless decline in reliable supplies
of what are currently cheap resources, not least oil. The changing balance of
EROEI (energy return on energy invested) will be a major driver of change. Of
course, such factors may not go in a good direction but, instead, favour a new
wave of autocratic demagogues who will promise seemingly easy fixes. They
will demand “drill, baby drill” and/or scapegoat vulnerable minorities for any
shortages.
But let’s be honest. If there were an easy answer to the ‘here to there’
question – from our current state, in the midst of what some call the “great
unraveling” (Miller and Heinberg, 2023) to somewhere closer to the
sustainable common good – the Earth would already be saved and we could
all put up our feet.
References
Daly H (2019) Growthism: Its ecological, economic and ethical limits. Real-world Economics
Review 87: 9–22.
Doyle A (2022) The New Puritans: How the religion of social justice captured the Western world.
Hachette, London, UK.
Goodwin J (2024) Inside Project 2025. Boston Review, 1 July. Available at
https://is.gd/R5KOmY
(accessed July 2024).
Kunstler JH (2009) World Made by Hand: A novel. Grove Press, New York, NY, USA.
Miller A and Heinberg R (2023) Welcome to the Great Unraveling: Navigating the polycrisis of
environmental and social breakdown. Post Carbon Institute, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Mirowski P and Plehwe D, eds. (2009) The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The making of the neoliberal
thought collective. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Mirowski P (2013) Never Let a Good Crisis Go To Waste: How neoliberalism survived the financial
meltdown. Verso, London, UK.
Orwell G (2000). Toward European unity. Partisan Review, 1947. In: Orwell S and Angus I, eds.
In Front of Your Nose, 1945–1950: The collected essays, journalism and letters of George Orwell.
Nonpareil Books, Boston, MA, USA: 370–5.
Pinker S (2011) The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why violence has declined. Viking, New York,
NY, USA.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sandy Irvine was a member of The Ecologist magazine editorial board for many years. He is also a member of the national charity Population Matters. Amongst other published work, he co-authored the book A Green Manifesto for McDonalds Optima and a pamphlet Beyond Green Consumerism for Friends of the Earth. Recently he has been very active in local land use battles triggered by pro-growth strategies which, amongst other things, severely threaten wildlife and green spaces.
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