Today’s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CXX
Relocalise And Decommission Our Dangerous Complexities
Today’s Contemplation is a ‘very brief’ comment I left on the most recent Andrew Nikiforuk article posted at The Tyee online media site. Andrew is a contributing editor to the site and is one of the few voices on it that challenges the narrative surrounding ‘renewable’ energy. The article in question is well worth the read.
Non-renewable, renewable energy-harvesting technologies (aka ‘renewables’) for everyone, even at significantly reduced electrical energy needs, is still an impossible dream, and one that guarantees further overloading of planetary sinks, biodiversity loss, and fossil fuel extraction and burning — especially at the scale many (most?) are suggesting — placing us even further into ecological overshoot (our fundamental predicament).
I have little doubt it will continue to be pursued, however, since the ruling caste of society profits greatly from it — and this is one of the primary reasons the story that it is not only possible but must be attempted (increasingly via legislation) is so widely marketed. The dominant story-telling apes amongst us depend greatly upon the narrative that not only do humans stand above and beyond nature, but that all ‘problems’ can be solved via our ingenuity, especially our technological prowess. Just ignore the environmental consequences over there and the fact that they own all the industrial processes needed to create these wonders and the financial institutions necessary to fund this dream of ‘renewables for all’.
What we need to be discussing is a low- to no-tech future (with ‘low’ being based upon non-electrical processes) for biomass-based technologies and how we might significantly reduce our human population before Nature does it for us.
Chief amongst our focuses should be relocalisation of all the most important ‘survival’ processes of food production, potable water procurement, and regional shelter needs. On a wider scale, we need to be considering how to decommission all those dangerous complexities we’ve constructed (e.g., nuclear power plants and their radioactive waste products; chemical production facilities and their toxic components; biosafety labs and their dangerous pathogens) before the resources, especially energy, to do so is so scarce these facilities can no longer be safely managed.
To be frank, ‘managed’ degrowth is probably off the table for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the momentum of our current trajectory and a ruling caste of society that will not let go of their pursuit of the perpetual growth chalice that ensures their revenue streams (and, thus, privileged positions atop a complex society’s inherent power and wealth structures).
A discussion that includes the magical thinking of ‘renewables for all’ is one that must be avoided for that way only leads to further ecological destruction — and a guarantee that the very basis of all life on this planet is destroyed beyond repair.
If you’ve made it to the end of this contemplation and have got something out of my writing, please consider ordering the trilogy of my ‘fictional’ novel series, Olduvai (PDF files; only $9.99 Canadian), via my website — the ‘profits’ of which help me to keep my internet presence alive and first book available in print (and is available via various online retailers). Encouraging others to read my work is also much appreciated.