I don’t hold out a lot of hope that policies can be changed by something like Extinction Rebellion’s big civil disobedience actions in April (“Extinction Who? What actions?” say the Americans), as much as I would like to think otherwise. And I don’t see how sheltering in place, going “back to nature,” or homesteading is going to work in a chaotic climate regime – how can you permaculture in a mutating climate? Wouldn’t that be “tempoculture”? How can you live in a place with less and less water for everyone? Face it: we’re already in nature. And we’ve changed it beyond recognition.
The survivalist preppers plan to Stay and Fight. Would I be willing to kill others to survive a little longer? To live in what kind of world? I’m pretty sure I would do so to protect those I love. But when would it – will it – not be worth it any longer? Migration seems like the most likely outcome – people moving (mostly northward & inland) until they find enough water, food, and housing to live on & in. This is already happening, on a large scale – from Central America to North America; from Africa to Europe; Asia to Australia & New Zealand. Of course, all these places have climate problems of their own (Canada, the coldest nation on earth, is heating the fastest; the arable portions of Australia are turning into desert; and Europe is having heat waves, crop failures, and arctic wildfires. Perhaps the best hope for preventing barbarism is trying to make common cause – banding together for mutual aid and defense, not unlike the migrant caravans from Central America did, earlier this year. And trying to integrate new migrants into the existing group, whether it is settled or on the move. These are not things USAmericans do readily. We circle the wagons around our individual selves and nuclear families. And why would anyone else trust us anyway? Maybe the best option for North Americans and Europeans (while they can still ignore climate disruption) is to stay put and think long and hard about what their life is for, in a situation like this. It has to have to do with living in the here and now. And for some of us, trying to practice a little compassion and charity might be more important than surviving. For the philosopher, all of life is training for death – and, implicitly, an awareness of death is training for life. Writing & literature might help with this. Perhaps we need more books with unhappy endings, so that anything short of that will look good, and so that we will be prepared for what’s ahead.
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June 2021
Kristin Prevallet Author/Editor
I'm a writer & teacher in Lawrence, Kansas who actually believes the scientists. I wrote a book of poems called Of Some Sky that seems to have something to do with all this. |