so important to recognize the generations of apocalypse experienced by many indigenous cultures 👏🏼 reminds me of what Dr. Kyle Whyte identifies as presentism bias in his paper “Against Crisis Epistemology”
It's apt, i doubt it is important. The decline and fall we are now embroiled in globally, as it deepens, will sweep from our minds the luxury of entitled ideals.
I really enjoy your work but this one is just a little hard to stomach, especially around "experts" having opinions on how economy-energy-materials systems will play out (nothing about life in there) and where exit plans sound very much like colonisation. And as Suzanne Taylor pointed out, for some reason we aren't talking about organising ourselves which perhaps might lead to what you so beautifully stated - "strong roots in deep soil that can withstand the vines that seek to choke the hands we hold."
The chaos of the coming reality will make mincemeat of both our exit plans and the lofty ideals surrounding the hot-button topics of today such as colonization. No one will be thinking in such terms. They will be thinking about shelter, fire, food, the basics. Who makes it through all that will be as much or more a function of chance circumstance as any planning i suspect. The majority today still have no clue what is actually happening to us at the larger scale, remember. And of those who feel an inkling, a large percentage of them are in denial, or believe our predicament can be voted away with the right candidate.
Spot on about the broadcast media’s role in the violence. From the Murdoch media egging on the far right, to the platforming of Farage and Tommy Robinson by the so called mainstream. Not to forget certain “free thinkers” such as Peterson, Brand and Oliver. This with some Labour austerity in the mix is what it’s all predictably been leading up to.
Couldn’t agree more with the idea that collapse has been a common human experience for the last 8 thousand years. Although, as you say, what collapses and the experience of collapse varies.
Thanks for the reminder Rachel that rich white westerners have caused others apocalypse. Internationalism and localism hand in hand helps me feel hopeful and les individual xxx
Not true, because the average citizen of rich white western countries is the cause. They are the ones that consented to the 1% running the entire shitshow Pryor Americans are the perfect example be we don’t really want freedom. Freedom requires responsibility. Some thing nearly all Americans run from it and opportunity creates a selfie. It’s just talk. Like much else.
Reading your newsletter brings huge comfort when we continue to be surrounded by folk hell bent on keeping BAU.
That makes life quite challenging.
Some people think I've gone a bit 'woo woo' because I'm keen to keep abreast of climate, ecological, and societal research, and trying to navigate our path to effective adaptation.
If the subject is what to do after collapse, except for growing food and sharing housing there's no apocalypse planning here. What we can have plans for, that we aren't hardly taking about, is how to try to avert collapse. That would involve organizing ourselves. If all people of goodwill got into an online coalition, we could have a force like taking to the streets but bigger and easier. We are gadflies now, and what it would take to remedy that would be some organizing that strangely isn't happening.
Great piece, thoughts. There are those who speak of "the Myth of Apocalypse" to whom i say, ask the Blackfeet of my region if apocalypse is a myth. And now it's coming for all of us, yes. I actually find it comforting, enough is enough of this ghastly bloated banal incantation of us. But then, i'm 60, i'm totally at peace with the idea of my own death. I do expect some of us will survive this current round of decline and fall - this time a global civilization going down - to see the world explode back to glorious life in a new yet fantastic verion of herself.
I doubt any of us will be thinking in lofty, luxurious terms of "making sure our Muslim neighbor feels safe to walk the streets" however. That's an issue today, and today is coming to an end. The reality fast approaching and for some time to follow (centuries? 'forever'?) will be that no one will be truly safe much of anywhere. We're exiting the safest time mankind (or rather the "winners" at least in the current sweepstakes) has ever known, thanks to the vast excess sun-energy we've released from oil. We will all simply join that Muslim in feeling unsafe, so to speak. It will be a sort of great equalization for the scant percentage of us that makes it through the bottleneck of our model's impossibility.
I assume that on reason the super rich have super yachts is that it gives them a movable island provisioned for a year. Nobody can predict the future with any degree of accuracy,so while it is sensible to anticipate the future, it is on the whole better to live in the present. I remember as a lad, back in the sixties, seeing a man walking down Sauchiehall St. in Glasgow with a placard warning that the end is nigh. I am still waiting! Life has gone on for 4.5 billion years,my bet is that it will still be going long after I'm gone.
As per the first commenter; my first thoughts of ‘exit plans’ amongst the wealthy are indeed: recolonization. Those with the means will flood and dominate and sculpt and unwittingly (or not) re-destroy local cultures as they seek to restablish a way of life that feels more normal to them. Run away rather than root down and build community. Not so different from flying to space …
I was reading about peak oil. Even without climate change devastation- it's going to be devastating. https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/has-peak-oil-become-self-evident
We hug our loved ones, speak our truth and care for our neighbours- not because we think it will save lives but because this is life.
The Honest Sorcerer is always a good read. Connects all the dots.
so important to recognize the generations of apocalypse experienced by many indigenous cultures 👏🏼 reminds me of what Dr. Kyle Whyte identifies as presentism bias in his paper “Against Crisis Epistemology”
It's apt, i doubt it is important. The decline and fall we are now embroiled in globally, as it deepens, will sweep from our minds the luxury of entitled ideals.
I really enjoy your work but this one is just a little hard to stomach, especially around "experts" having opinions on how economy-energy-materials systems will play out (nothing about life in there) and where exit plans sound very much like colonisation. And as Suzanne Taylor pointed out, for some reason we aren't talking about organising ourselves which perhaps might lead to what you so beautifully stated - "strong roots in deep soil that can withstand the vines that seek to choke the hands we hold."
Yes I agree. Are the exit plans that you talk about serious, or imaginative Rachel?
The chaos of the coming reality will make mincemeat of both our exit plans and the lofty ideals surrounding the hot-button topics of today such as colonization. No one will be thinking in such terms. They will be thinking about shelter, fire, food, the basics. Who makes it through all that will be as much or more a function of chance circumstance as any planning i suspect. The majority today still have no clue what is actually happening to us at the larger scale, remember. And of those who feel an inkling, a large percentage of them are in denial, or believe our predicament can be voted away with the right candidate.
Spot on about the broadcast media’s role in the violence. From the Murdoch media egging on the far right, to the platforming of Farage and Tommy Robinson by the so called mainstream. Not to forget certain “free thinkers” such as Peterson, Brand and Oliver. This with some Labour austerity in the mix is what it’s all predictably been leading up to.
Couldn’t agree more with the idea that collapse has been a common human experience for the last 8 thousand years. Although, as you say, what collapses and the experience of collapse varies.
Oh thankyou for this as always. The call to connection the stirring. We need these speeches like we need the sun and water. We are all seeds.
Yes. Well said. As the saying goes, for some, it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of Capitalism.
Thanks for the reminder Rachel that rich white westerners have caused others apocalypse. Internationalism and localism hand in hand helps me feel hopeful and les individual xxx
Not true, because the average citizen of rich white western countries is the cause. They are the ones that consented to the 1% running the entire shitshow Pryor Americans are the perfect example be we don’t really want freedom. Freedom requires responsibility. Some thing nearly all Americans run from it and opportunity creates a selfie. It’s just talk. Like much else.
So beautifully articulated Rachel. Thank you.
Reading your newsletter brings huge comfort when we continue to be surrounded by folk hell bent on keeping BAU.
That makes life quite challenging.
Some people think I've gone a bit 'woo woo' because I'm keen to keep abreast of climate, ecological, and societal research, and trying to navigate our path to effective adaptation.
Most of the global minority aren't doing either.
Terrifying.
This image from Jesse Marioneaux says it all https://x.com/jesse_marioneau/status/1819450257547415955
my partner and I have noticed that people don't DENY what's happening anymore; they just acknowledge "yep wow that's depressing!" and move on
Beautifully put.
Talk about the elephant in the rubble. The room is long gone.
https://youtu.be/okFodk74gyk?si=IGOQA9YL3sesFZIT
great animation!
If the subject is what to do after collapse, except for growing food and sharing housing there's no apocalypse planning here. What we can have plans for, that we aren't hardly taking about, is how to try to avert collapse. That would involve organizing ourselves. If all people of goodwill got into an online coalition, we could have a force like taking to the streets but bigger and easier. We are gadflies now, and what it would take to remedy that would be some organizing that strangely isn't happening.
Spicy piece 🔥.
A wise man once said to me, "Grow where you are planted."
Great piece, thoughts. There are those who speak of "the Myth of Apocalypse" to whom i say, ask the Blackfeet of my region if apocalypse is a myth. And now it's coming for all of us, yes. I actually find it comforting, enough is enough of this ghastly bloated banal incantation of us. But then, i'm 60, i'm totally at peace with the idea of my own death. I do expect some of us will survive this current round of decline and fall - this time a global civilization going down - to see the world explode back to glorious life in a new yet fantastic verion of herself.
I doubt any of us will be thinking in lofty, luxurious terms of "making sure our Muslim neighbor feels safe to walk the streets" however. That's an issue today, and today is coming to an end. The reality fast approaching and for some time to follow (centuries? 'forever'?) will be that no one will be truly safe much of anywhere. We're exiting the safest time mankind (or rather the "winners" at least in the current sweepstakes) has ever known, thanks to the vast excess sun-energy we've released from oil. We will all simply join that Muslim in feeling unsafe, so to speak. It will be a sort of great equalization for the scant percentage of us that makes it through the bottleneck of our model's impossibility.
I assume that on reason the super rich have super yachts is that it gives them a movable island provisioned for a year. Nobody can predict the future with any degree of accuracy,so while it is sensible to anticipate the future, it is on the whole better to live in the present. I remember as a lad, back in the sixties, seeing a man walking down Sauchiehall St. in Glasgow with a placard warning that the end is nigh. I am still waiting! Life has gone on for 4.5 billion years,my bet is that it will still be going long after I'm gone.
🤣😂🤣
As per the first commenter; my first thoughts of ‘exit plans’ amongst the wealthy are indeed: recolonization. Those with the means will flood and dominate and sculpt and unwittingly (or not) re-destroy local cultures as they seek to restablish a way of life that feels more normal to them. Run away rather than root down and build community. Not so different from flying to space …
You have a rich fantasy life