Beyond the Anthropocene

Writing of the politics and economics of the Anthropocene I got bogged down. I printed out many articles that outlined all the woes that now that confront us and all the obstructions that stand in the way of effective change. Shuffling through the pages, shifting through the word mazes, gleaning bits of information here and there, my eyes glazed over. I got to the point where couldn’t read another in depth analysis of why we can’t change, of how futile it is to take on the fossil fuel industry and neo liberal governments. I could not bring myself to read yet another account of how people have been exploited, thrown off their land, persecuted and even killed by greedy capitalists with no moral code whatsoever. I could not read every word in an article I found on the terrible health consequences of living on land polluted by miners. It was all overwhelming and I found the hope I had managed to find, learn and make in my earlier posts diminishing. In the end only one sentence leapt out at me;-

“The social and ecological contradictions inherent to authoritarian neoliberal capitalism are serving to create the conditions for the emergence of a more radical transformative politics.”
_{https://www/tandfonline./com/doi/full/10.1080/10455752.2023.2242653}

There is a tough and radical hope underpinning that statement. It is hard to believe that we will all just lie down and give up at this point. While some people are deeply entrenched in this system and refuse to reflect on the reality of the Anthropocene, many are seeking to find pathways that will take us forward to more holistic ways of being.

The Jungian writer, David Tacey, wrote that nature “is not only outside us but also within, and ultimately, what we do to nature we do also to ourselves… In killing off the spiritual essence of the Earth, we end up killing ourselves, for this essence nourishes our own biological and spiritual life.”

This idea could be extended to include the idea that in healing nature we heal ourselves and that in loving the world, we nourish our own biological and spiritual life.

Our deep grief over species extinction and environmental destruction could be seen as a measure our deep love the Earth. We are tied to this planet through ancestral connections that go back so far in time we can barely comprehend just how long it is that humans have walked this Earth. For millennia people have faced unimaginable hardships, environmental catastrophes, economic and political oppression and persecution yet somehow the human race has gone on. The will to live and the ability to adapt have ensured our survival.

Now we face the fact that our species could become extinct because of our own selfish, greedy and thoughtless actions. In this moment we face what is perhaps the most profound challenge that has ever faced humanity. Do we continue on with our self serving, self indulgent behaviours or do we rise to challenge and learn how to behave in life enhancing ways?

The anthropologist, Deborah Bird Rose wrote:-

“_{Visions of the holistic Earth, combined with the rapidly increasing understanding of how badly she is being damaged, forces us to confront difficult questions. How do we, as individuals, assert our right to take responsible care of the systems with which we interact and on which we are dependent? What wisdom have we inherited, what systems and knowledge do we bequeath to the future?}”

There is no way we can know what will happen a hundred or a thousand years from now. The only place where we can act is in the present but the way we choose to act can influence the future. Words have power, art can change the way people see the world, love can make hope.

The Australian novelist and environmental activist Tim Winton sees hope not as a feeling but as action. He says:-

If it doesn’t feel hopeful, you don’t pretend to be hoping for something, you have to strive to create conditions where hope is possible and then likely. I guess it’s just a sense of agency – in the most basic terms that life is not what happens to you, it’s what you make happen,”