What Are We, Eric Lee?
I have some thoughts about these two posts from Eric Lee.
Can Ecological Economics Provide a Plan of Actions to Change the Direction of Our Overshoot Culture?
[PS: The only reason I have to string words together is as clickbait to lure readers to click on links to stuff that may matter, so feel free to scan and just click on links.] — Eric Lee
Yes, those few interested in living in the WMU (watershed management unit) should go to primary sources and think about things for themselves. There are many ways to see an elephant, experience a predicament, and multiple pathways through the jungle.
I might get an “F” for not completely subscribing (parroting exactly) to a particular way of seeing and describing things. Oh well. I get it, but I just don’t get it in the absolutely correct way maybe.
What makes Homo sapiens (Homo hubris, Homo Storyteller, Homo tool maker, Homo warrior, Homo consumer, Homo meme-maker, etc.) different from other mammals?
Homo sapiens emerged with the ability to walk upright on two legs (bipedalism), freeing our hands with opposable thumbs to perform intricate tasks across vast distances while precisely manipulating objects and developing complex tools. Many more features of our anatomy helped us move toward more complex cultures over our three hundred thousand years, give or take, of existence. For many reasons, nutrition and whatnot, our large, complex brain enabled “advanced” cognitive abilities, including abstract thought, language (philosophy, logic, reason, math, physics, etc. included), and self-awareness, contributing to our unique, I’m guessing, consciousness. (What is consciousness? Oh dear! What tools would I need to figure that out? I’m spinning! Words, words, they are only words.) Our “intelligence” drove the creation and utilization of tools and technology, from simple hand axes, bows, and arrows, and forged swords to sophisticated machines powered by fossil fuels, computers, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the Large Hadron Collider to help us learn about and manipulate our environment and each other. Homo creator (however you want to characterize us) are cultural animals with art, music, religion, and social norms transmitted and developed across generations, accumulating knowledge that contributes to our adaptability to the point where overshoot destroys our life support system, and our species disappears. Extinction is the rule, not the exception. Homo self-destruct has its end in sight. “Progress” leads to oblivion — homo I-have-become-death-the-destroyer-of-species.
Some folks know what’s best for Homo true-believer and prattle on about it. Still, none of them know how to take power away from Homo accelerationist, Homo conqueror, so we can slow down and smell the Watershed Management Unit based on the wisdom of Mother. Homo agency doesn’t know what’s suitable for it. So the wisdom of the ages sits in museums in the digital catalogs of databases, waiting to be fondled by fanciful brains that dare to imagine how things could be different. Why would Fern want to delve into knowledge bases when she’s simply trying to earn an extra three hundred dollars a month to help finance her niece’s education?
Meanwhile, look around you and ponder what seems to matter to ordinary people who may or may not have the Homo agency gene and memetic cultural background suitable for leading a revolutionary revolution.
Homo true-believer doesn’t think we have to slow down; he/she/it/them/us knows all they need is more of this or that, a fair share, of manipulated Nature, and all will be well forever and ever. Amen. Plus, remember that Homo tech-bro is making a perpetual motion machine, micro-fusion energy plants people will soon carry around in their genius phones, and breadbox-sized replicators that make Poppa John blush.
Ted Trainer lived The Simpler Way for decades, thinking things through while listening to Mother and Great Nature, and The Simpler Way didn’t catch on. (Will it catch on after The Great Die Off? I can’t believe it.) And think about the trauma Guy McPherson went through and is still going through when he realized folks weren’t going to follow him to the watershed or even read stuff from The Aldo Leopold Foundation.
“Trauma is not just about the event itself, but the individual’s response to it.” — Gabor Mate.
“Minor” events can be traumatic if they overwhelm an individual’s coping mechanisms and leave them feeling helpless, powerless, hopeless, and disconnected. (Homo HPHD) Trauma can stem from the absence of necessary experiences, such as secure attachment, love, and acceptance or quiet time in the watershed management unit listening to Nature. “Why, oh why, didn’t they all want to live in Earth Houses?”
We are living in The Age of Shock and Awe, where accidents, natural disasters, and war assault our senses and minds 24/7/365, leading to long-lasting psychological and emotional difficulties. Does knowing what ails us help? (Homo virtue)
Societal structures and systems of oppression create ongoing trauma for individuals, communities, and Great Nature that have profound and lasting impacts on mental and physical health — Homo omnicidal heat-engine.
(Homo deaf-dumb-blind)
Who will invest two hundred million dollars in The Simpler Way or Nature Whispering when our economics and evolved belief systems have nothing to do with habitability, steady states, regression to the mean, homeostasis, or living in a small, intentional community of watershed minders?
(Homo naive, Homo childish, Homo inexperienced)
Stop believing. Believe me. It’s as simple as that — let’s rally around! White self-made robe from Mother’s renewable materials, bare feet, sit under the tree, breathe, listen, observe quietly, and you will know what to do with 500 good books. You will make the right choices. You access the wisdom of Nature.
Look around you, swipe the screen, and change the channel; what do people believe?
Does education and consciousness-raising matter? Where’s the mass movement? Where are the revolutionary revolutionaries? Who will sacrifice their lives to slow down the bullet train with no brakes accelerating toward a solid granite wall the size of the Himalayan mountain range? If enough of us stand before the train, will it slow down? Now that’s a mighty trolly problem.
So yes, look at all the stories about what we do and discover what kind of animals we are. I hope and pray that we learn to live radically differently than we are now. But it’s hard to believe we will, so take a licking and keep on clicking:
