Stymied
Author: Douglass Carmichael Issue: 2024-08-21
Stymied
by Douglass Carmichael
Stymied. Neither states nor governments nor individuals can do anything to stop the destructive momentum of climate-related problems. They (we) are all locked into organizations with rigid boundaries. I have argued that the place where leverage might be found is at the historical level - especially the movement through time of cultures and civilizations, which are large-scale events not bound by treaties, contracts, laws nor regulations.
There is some movement at this scale that might give us hope for large-scale change. Looking back: the change from Greece to Rome, from Rome to feudalism and feudalism to industrialization and industry, with the Newtonian framework of mechanical cause and effect, and now on to the deeply radical culture of digitalization.
When Princess Diana died, the worldwide reaction, grown through her beauty and her roadside bomb campaign, set the atmosphere for the global wave of pathos. No marketing campaign could have achieved anything of similar scale. It was not the result of institutional initiative.
A smaller but dynamically similar event is the rapid change in atmosphere that embraced Kamala Harris which went beyond any expectations of political consultants. The question is, of course, whether anything like this is possible with climate change, resulting in a new culture of modest living, with a strong emphasis on relationships and aesthetics that would support a much lower energy culture?
In Bali about 30 years ago, the provincial governor gave a speech, paraphrased, “We are having a terrible problem with traffic accidents. In our culture paintings usually show very crowded situations with people, animals, ghosts, and plants with no space left over. We know how to handle crowds. Let’s apply that to the way we deal with our traffic.”
If we want to cope with climate we need an approach of requisite scale or we are merely paddling our canoe in the neighbors’ swimming pool. It is an open question which small-scale events, such as soil remediation, new organizations of young people or terrifically written books can support large-scale changes.
The smaller-scale cultural movement I think has the most promise is the Arts and Crafts Movement in England with William Morris and John Ruskin, related to Art Nouveau with its highly organic imagery in decoration. The movement lasted from the mid-1800s to World War I, which killed it off through the emergence of new interest in technology and mega-industry.
Perhaps with climate change, a return to agriculture, nature, and the arts is possible. There was a magazine, Arts and Crafts, with the motto, “A democratic architecture for a democratic America.” The Craftsman aesthetic in design and architecture is still attractive and many small towns in the US have a number of Arts and Crafts houses sold by Sears and Roebuck through their catalog—with echos in the Whole Earth Catalog, which is suggestive of where things could evolve.
Related:
- Douglass Carmichael (author)
- 2024 (year)
- Topics: Climate and Environment