Admittedly, I'm sort of on board with this outlook. It's the first time I've seen it published so blatantly in the mainstream media though. An excerpt:
On the day we meet, the Daily Mail has launched a campaign to rid Britain of plastic shopping bags. The initiative sits comfortably within the current canon of eco ideas, next to ethical consumption, carbon offsetting, recycling and so on - all of which are premised on the calculation that individual lifestyle adjustments can still save the planet. This is, Lovelock says, a deluded fantasy. Most of the things we have been told to do might make us feel better, but they won't make any difference. Global warming has passed the tipping point, and catastrophe is unstoppable.
"It's just too late for it," he says. "Perhaps if we'd gone along routes like that in 1967, it might have helped. But we don't have time. All these standard green things, like sustainable development, I think these are just words that mean nothing. I get an awful lot of people coming to me saying you can't say that, because it gives us nothing to do. I say on the contrary, it gives us an immense amount to do. Just not the kinds of things you want to do."
The chasm between this viewpoint and people who still aren't convinced that climate change is that big a problem or that it's caused by humanity seems just too great. Deep down, a lot of people I know seem to agree with Lovelock. It seems it's already too late. It makes it a little difficult to move on or even be bothered by living "sustainably."
Some notable examples of this kind of mindset can be found on Paul Kingsnorth's blog and recently in a feeler post on Worldchanging "How are you preparing to survive?", reportedly driven by an inquiry from a very mainstream journalist.
Lovelock says he finds comfort in the idea that this situation will lead to a sort of natural selection for those members of humanity who know how to live sustainably. I'm not convinced that it won't actually be a selection of the most ruthless. Who else will survive if it comes down to nasty resource wars? Let's hope Lovelock is correct.
My feelings about the future are definitely having an impact on the decisions I make. For
example, I'm not as willing to commit to long-term plans as I otherwise might be. I often think I took the wrong route in college, but I wouldn't go back at this point. What types of jobs would be the first to be eliminated in a economically contracted world? I'm pretty sure a lot of relatively frivolous research and education gigs would be near the top of the list, along with anyone who survives from the sale of useless items or services that are mere conveniences to save consumers from having to do something tedious or difficult themselves.I honestly don't want to dwell too much on the subject or try to predict what the future in a resource-constricted, climate-shifted world would be like. Some things are just too bleak to consider beyond the surface, at least not outside the confines of one's own mind.
For now, I tell my loved ones not to worry so much about flying. I try to enjoy myself within the confines of my finances and my persistent eco-values. I marvel at the miracle of life and feel pained by how many have turned their back on it, finding it a nuisance or terror, rather than something irreplaceable and delicate in its balance and diversity.
On a more down to earth note, I recently moved back to Blogger from a WordPress platform. I was too lazy to include the pictures that went with each post as I moved them over, so I'll post the older pictures randomly as I make new entries in the blog. In case you're wondering why all the pictures don't seem to match... Sphere: Related Content
