S is for systems change
“Ideas to postpone the end of the world” – what a title for a book. Little did we know it was a provocation rather than a handy little pamphlet that would so conveniently offer us a blueprint for saving our planet. That would have been a little too easy right? Well, one can hope. It was more of a passionate and emotive essay in three parts that looked at the world and mostly our capitalist societies through an indigenous lens. Ailton Krenak was born in the Doce River valley, a place which is deeply affected by the ongoing mining activity in the area. In his book he criticises the idea of humanity as something separate from nature, a “humanity that does not recognise that the river that is in a coma is also our grandfather”. The way he speaks about the world and his place in it took us right back to ‘Sand Talk’ – a beautiful and thought provoking book by Tyson Yunkaporta, which we read at the beginning of 2022. The vivid and emotive narration via story and metaphor brings to life so many of the aspects of the climate crisis that often feel forgotten in mainstream media.
“Our time is specialized in producing absences: in the sense of living in society, in the very sense of the experience of life. This generates a great intolerance towards those who are still able to experience the pleasure of being alive, dancing and singing. And it is full of small constellations of people around the world who dance, sing and make it rain. […] My provocation about postponing the end of the world is exactly to always be able to tell one more story. ” – p. 26
Help us enrich our community Notion document with useful and interesting resources around the topic of systems change.
This month’s take aways: Ideas to postpone the end of the world by Ailton Krenak
Nature is not a resource. ‘When we strip the mountains, the river, the land of their personalities we relegate them to mere resources only there for extractivism.’ Krenak speaks with great love and fondness when he speaks about nature and the places he calls home. It feels as though his own existence is entwined with the existence of teh very place he lives in. ‘How can we recognize a place of contact between these worlds, which have such a common origin, but which have become so detached that today we have, at one extreme, people who need to live on a river and, on the other, people who consume rivers as a resource? Regarding this idea of a resource that is attributed to a mountain, a river, a forest, where can we discover a contact between our visions that takes us out of this state of non-recognition of each other?’
In a capitalist society everything is product. A quote that really hit home for a lot of us. There aren’t very many things that we feel like we can enjoy just for the pure joy of it. Even when we have a hobby, one of the first things people will ask will be whether we are going to make money with it or not. Simply enjoying an activity seems to be a radical act.
Sustainability is a myth. ‘(…) the myth of sustainability, invented by corporations to justify the assault on our idea of nature.’ Krenak questions what it is we are sustaining because it is certainly not the health of our planet. What we are sustaining is profit and limitless growth.
We aren’t all the same. There is so much beauty in diversity and this is what Krenak is celebrating. The homogenisation of everything and everyone is what he criticises.
Cosmovision. An indigenous way of seeing your place in the world and the cosmos as an existence that isn’t above anything but deeply interlinked with everything else.
What might the end of the world be like? ‘The end of the world may be a brief interruption of a state of ecstatic pleasure that one does not want to lose. It seems that all the devices that were sought by our ancestors and by us have to do with that feeling. When this is transferred to the merchandise, to the objects, to the external things, it materializes in what the technique has developed, in the whole apparatus that has been superimposed on the body of Mother Earth.’
We want to be citizens, not consumers. When we are citizens we feel empowered and capable of creating change. We act and hold ourselves and each other accountable. This is a big topic for us as it will take all of us. And we will have a separate book club about this topic – more info here.
What’s the point of sustainability managers? One of the discussion points we concluded with was the popularity of hiring sustainability managers. Krenak questions these roles in his book as it is a way to outsource responisibility rather than taking collective action.
Join the next book club: Working–class environmentalism by Karen Bell
Join us for our 35th bookclub, where we discuss Working-class environmentalism and our chosen topic (Just) Transition for letter T in the Alphabet of Climate Solutions.
About the book:
Social dialogue is the key. With social dialogue, government, business, trade unions and civil society groups can collaborate in the national, industry and community planning and policies that are necessary for a just transition to zero emissions.
Social dialogue will bring the policy coherence we need to ensure that climate action also means job creation and community renewal. It allows us to bring together industrial strategy, innovation, deployment of clean technologies and investment in green infrastructure, along with the measures we need to smooth out the transition: Social protection, skills training, redeployment , labor market policies and community development and renewal.
At its heart just transition requires us to leave no one behind.
Join us for the discussion on the 28th of February at 7PM (GMT) – all tickets are donation based.
Thank you for reading this month’s newsletter! And a special thank you to Stacey our first paid subscriber! You can now support our work by getting a paid Substack subscription.
If you want to join us for one of our upcoming events, make sure you follow us on Eventbrite or Meet Up. If you have any questions please add a comment to this post or send us an email to hello@andthefuture.com
Lisa & Tash ✨