Whole Earth Discipline: A Commentary (Chapter 1)
Chapter 1: Scale, scope, stakes, speed
The scale of forces, this time, is planetary; the scope is centuries; the stakes are what we call civilization...
The Problem
The Earth climate system is in a positive feedback loop, which means the bad things that are happening because of the changing of the climate make more bad things happen that cause the climate to change more which will make more bad things happen. It feeds on itself.
We are at a point of existential risk. Tony Ord published an extensive book looking into the nature of our existential risk called The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity. I recommend reading it, at least a synopsis. Suffice to say, we should to be sufficiently worried about our future.
I mistakenly presumed before reading this book that climate change would be a slow, continuous process that society would have to adapt to as things got worse. My thoughts on this have changed though; The problem with tipping points is that change is linear until it tips, then it's chaotic. Think of a big bucket splasher at a water park; there might be a steady constant adding of water, but pretty soon the bucket will flip and the water will crush the tiny thrill-junkie children below. Though, climate predictions aren't quite as fun :(
As our climatic system continues to change, it will top certain tipping points which will likely cause larger scale irreversible (or, hard to practically reverse) changes in the future.
But we can fix this!
Solutions, not ideologies
While more people are becoming aware of our situation (good!), there are still many who understate, ignore, or are actively fighting against these observations (bad!). I think (and so does Stewart), that in order to reach these masses, the tune needs to change from nature or the planet being threatened to humans and the systems we depend on being threatened. Earth will survive; Nature will be alright; Life will find a way. It's made it through countless close calls - many much worse than what we're facing - and has always bounced back. However, just because Life has survived does not mean humans will.
We have to be pragmatic and communicate on the what, when, how, where, and why we are being threatened. Stewart argues ideology is getting in the way of us solving the problems we face, and for us to make meaningful change we need to start thinking pragmatically; that is to focus on practical results rather than theories and principles.
In order to fix these positive feedback loops, we need to identify and apply the right inhibitors to break the propagating chain reaction that is our climate, and these inhibitors are antithetical to some more common beliefs of classic eco-friendly folk - or as Stewart calls them, "Greens". The four important inhibitors we need to change our mind on are described in this book; cities, nuclear energy, genetic engineering, and geo-engineering. Then, there is also rewilding nature, which already aligns with the minds of the environmentally conscious. Let's explore!
Biological Ecosystems as Infrastructure
“Ecology is devoid of intention, and economics is made of little else.”
One of the barriers to solving many ecological issues we face is that we have not properly valued ecosystems within our institutions the way that we value infrastructure like roads and bridges.
Why should anyone care about biodiversity? What is the use of having old growth forests if we aren't utilizing them? Why does any of this matter?
Each individual part plays small but meaningful roles in the dynamo that is our Earth. We require life to sustain us. So how do we categorize it? How can we plug it into our economic formulas? How do we value it?
Ecosystems provide for us. Bees ensure the apple trees are pollinated. Rivers irrigate the rice we raise. Healthy coral coves are the nurseries of all fishy foods. One blind spot of ours is that we don't notice infrastructure unless it breaks. We don't think about the roads until they have potholes. We don't appreciate the sewers until it floods. We treat material (non-natural) infrastructure as though it is only good if it doesn't get in our way. We don't want to be involved in the maintaining our infrastructure; we don't have connection with it. But we don't have the slack to treat natural infrastructure the same way; we can't wait until the food system fails because then we're all fucked.
Planning ahead
I’m long term bullish on humanity. I really think we’ve got what it takes to survive; we’ve done it for these last few millions of years, but have recently moved into the big leagues of shooting ourselves in the foot. How do we even begin to look at the problems we face? Break it down into bite size chunks, identify value, prioritize, and categorize. That is what I'll discuss in further writings.