How can Social Threefolding address climate change, biodiversity loss, and overall global environmental destruction in the timeline necessary to avoid the destruction of the biosphere?
Hey Tad - I guess the question for me is: Do you imagine that environmental destruction can be addressed without also addressing the social systems that lead to it? Is it possible to cord it off and deal with it separately?
For example: The earth can only give so much at any given time; if we force it to give more now, then it will have less to give later - it will take longer for it to recoup (if it's able to recoup at all). The major social question is: How will we divide the earth's limited resources? And also: Will we decide to live within the earth's limits or will we force it to produce more (depleting the topsoils, poisoning the rivers and oceans, etc. etc)? At this moment in time, some are taking the lion's share of the resources and leaving others with nothing. And we're also not living within the earth's limits, which means we're stealing resources from future generations. So my question is: Is it possible to continue living like this, and also successfully address environmental destruction?
I would say it's not. I would say we need to look at the distribution of resources. Who has access to land and capital more generally? Are the laws that give them such access, just? It has everything to do with their wealth, with their economic power and its influence on politics. And it has everything to do with our political systems more generally. Do we have a voice in them, or do we leave governing to the "professionals"? And it has has everything to do with how people understand this whole situation. It has to do with what they've learned in schools, and whether they feel they have time to understand things and participate in social life in a meaningful way. And it really has everything to do with ideas, with art and spirituality. It is the stories we tell that are the most important, that will move us to actually make change. If we don't understand the situation and what will heal it, we can't tell a different story, a true story that has the power to inspire the kind of social transformative social action that our time requires. All these things are tied together. I don't personally think that any of them will be solved in isolation. I think we need to work as quickly and diligently as we can to understand the bigger picture and to tell its story.
Thanks for the question. Would love to hear your further thoughts on it. Hope all's well!
How can Social Threefolding address climate change, biodiversity loss, and overall global environmental destruction in the timeline necessary to avoid the destruction of the biosphere?
Hey Tad - I guess the question for me is: Do you imagine that environmental destruction can be addressed without also addressing the social systems that lead to it? Is it possible to cord it off and deal with it separately?
For example: The earth can only give so much at any given time; if we force it to give more now, then it will have less to give later - it will take longer for it to recoup (if it's able to recoup at all). The major social question is: How will we divide the earth's limited resources? And also: Will we decide to live within the earth's limits or will we force it to produce more (depleting the topsoils, poisoning the rivers and oceans, etc. etc)? At this moment in time, some are taking the lion's share of the resources and leaving others with nothing. And we're also not living within the earth's limits, which means we're stealing resources from future generations. So my question is: Is it possible to continue living like this, and also successfully address environmental destruction?
I would say it's not. I would say we need to look at the distribution of resources. Who has access to land and capital more generally? Are the laws that give them such access, just? It has everything to do with their wealth, with their economic power and its influence on politics. And it has everything to do with our political systems more generally. Do we have a voice in them, or do we leave governing to the "professionals"? And it has has everything to do with how people understand this whole situation. It has to do with what they've learned in schools, and whether they feel they have time to understand things and participate in social life in a meaningful way. And it really has everything to do with ideas, with art and spirituality. It is the stories we tell that are the most important, that will move us to actually make change. If we don't understand the situation and what will heal it, we can't tell a different story, a true story that has the power to inspire the kind of social transformative social action that our time requires. All these things are tied together. I don't personally think that any of them will be solved in isolation. I think we need to work as quickly and diligently as we can to understand the bigger picture and to tell its story.
Thanks for the question. Would love to hear your further thoughts on it. Hope all's well!