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Naming Our Condition So That We Can Speak to It--Together

Why is so much going wrong everywhere at once?

The answer is simple, though its implications for us are anything but.

We humans are facing what has been variously described as collapse, bottleneck overshoot, catastrophe, the long emergency, and Nature’s revenge because we are breaking Life’s paramount rule:

We are living beyond Earth’s means.

The converging economic, environmental, social and political crises we are facing are the direct and indirect consequences of living, producing and consuming in ways the planet cannot much longer sustain. And though we still address them as if they were, these crises are not separate and distinct. On the contrary, they are reinforcing, amplifying and complicating each other and converging in a way that is precipitating a syndrome, a mega-crisis for which we modern humans have no precedent. One of the reasons those of us in the organizations, institutions and movements that are tackling one or more of our present crises have failed to create a critical mass of support is that we have not given this syndrome a name around which all of us can rally, an umbrella under which we can bring all our efforts like that red Travelers insurance umbrella under which, in theory, all your insurance needs can be met. And just as Travelers promises to reduce your ignorance of what to do and fear of impoverishment after a disaster (though whether Travelers or any of the federal or private insurers can continue to do that much longer is problematic), giving a name to this package of crises can be the beginning of the end of ignorance—and fear—of it.

What’s In A Name?

What’s in a name is precisely the capacity to share what cannot be widely or effectively shared without one. We need an evocative, even provocative name for our present mega-crisis so that it gets at least the same level of attention, widespread recognition, support and devotion we give top athletes, pop singers and movie stars.

Living beyond Earth’s means has confronted us with a perfect storm of crises. While perfect storms pass away as quickly as they form, this one isn’t going anywhere soon. And since it affects the whole Earth, there’s no way to go around it the way seamen can navigate around a perfect storm.

We have most definitely arrived at or, as Bill McKibben suggests in his aptly misspelled new book, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet (which he and I and others will be speaking about at the Brave New Planet: Imagining Ecological Communities in Claremont CA, Oct 27-29) we may have just passed the tipping point in the evolution of this crisis after which nothing will be the same. The tippers are anticipated to be the end of cheap oil, an uncongenial climate, a fragile global economy and/or the apocalyptic convergence of all three. But, though McKibben and others believe we’ve shot past the tipping point already, there is not yet widespread agreement that we have. Most people cling to the belief, or the hope, that if there is to be a tipping point, it’s still up in front of us somewhere moving away from, not toward, us.

“Collapse” is the most commonly used term for what’s wrong in the world. It’s meant to name what comes after the tipping point: the decline and fall of modern industrial civilization. But as I write, collapse is still a prediction; it’s not (quite) a present reality. It properly names what will come, and possibly quite soon, if we do not effectively and immediately face up to the real potential for worldwide system failure.

But “collapse” does not help us understand the nature or cause of the potential failure. And “collapse,” like “tipping point,” suggests a sudden breakdown, whereas we may linger just in front of total breakdown for a while longer yet, as  social critic and best-selling author James Howard Kunstler proposes in The Long Emergency. And events may unfold so haphazardly and in what will seem such slow motion, each event distracting us from the others, that we will continue to overlook the real potential for collapse.

In fact, we have been able to use “collapse” to describe the demise of earlier socio-economic systems and civilizations only long after it was clear they had collapsed. It took the Roman Empire several centuries to complete the process we now call its “fall.” Decline was an

on-again-off-again affair involving many of the same kinds of challenges we face now except that it took place regionally rather than globally. Historical documents suggest that few Romans saw it coming. “Collapse” is useful to us now primarily as a warning of what’s to come if we fail to deal with the challenges already confronting us.

It seems to me that “critical mass” better suggests the full significance and weight of the collection of crises we are already experiencing. And unlike the other possible names for it, “critical mass” can serve a double purpose: It can be used to name not only the crisis but also its cure. Getting through this crisis in a way that doesn’t make the Dark Ages look good will require that critical masses of us get our minds around the nature and cause of this mega-crisis and then deal with that cause.

The term “critical mass” in itself has no positive or negative connotation. Originally used by nuclear physicists to name the amount of fissionable material required to trigger and sustain a chain reaction, it is now used more generally to identify a point in time or in a process when enough of something has been literally amassed that a spontaneous transformation occurs. After critical mass is reached, something new emerges or is created, or a new state of being is achieved.

The something new that follows on the heels of reaching critical mass may by our reckoning be good. We may deem it an improvement over what went before, like when a critical mass of neurons and synapses, wrinkles and folds and gray matter was slowly added to primate and hominid brains, resulting in the more complex, sophisticated human brain. Members of the activist cyclists’ group Critical Mass deem it good when enough of them gather in a city’s streets to stop traffic, making their point about the dark side of our dependence on fossil-fueled transportation and hopefully helping to inspire a widespread transformation to post-carbon (non-fossil fuel) forms of transportation, like cycling.

On the other hand, what comes after critical mass may be something that is by our reckoning disastrous and regrettable, as when disease amasses in the human body to the point that it takes over and then take’s the human’s life, or plague amasses in so many humans’ bodies that it takes the lives of whole communities. Or when the amount of fissionable mater-ial gathered is sufficient to set off a chain reaction in a nu-clear weapon.

If it is not dealt with soon and effectively, this critical mass of crises we are facing now will be of the latter sort. It will be so disastrous and regrettable from the human perspective that in these pages I will distinguish it from the positive and lesser kinds of critical mass with capital letters in order for us to be constantly reminded how urgent it is that we understand and deal with it.

So, here’s a second answer to the question “Why is so much going wrong everywhere at once?”

We have reached global Critical Mass.

If this name were to go viral—and that’s something Transitioners can make happen—we could begin to gather a critical mass of us, whichever specific crisis-of-the-moment we’re working on, that knows we’re all in it together. Now that could be a flash mob up to the task of taking on Washington, McKibben’s brilliant Keystone pipeline protest to the 10th power. Re-empowerment and relocalization on speed.

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Comment by Christopher Thompson on September 20, 2011 at 6:41pm

Name: "Industrial Hangover"

Function: The Industrial Revolution

Substance: Petroleum Distillates   

Dysfunction: Cheap fossil energy based structural dynamic coupled with the impossible idea of perpetual growth

Political (last call) Tipping point: 1970's (Carter vs. Reagan)

Commercial Ethics: Reaganomics 

Morals: Greed

Awards: Inedible devalued currency, Highest Historical Debt

I can keep going if you want... :)

 

Comment by Auntiegrav on September 18, 2011 at 9:20am
Our condition is net consumption (we consume more than we contribute to the future). It also could be called "future consumption" as opposed to "future usefulness".
Comment by Auntiegrav on September 18, 2011 at 9:17am
The bottom line of the problem is that humans take more than they give.
Only deluded humanists (almost everyone) think that humans are "God's gift to the world" and that we are valuable to the planet by simply existing.
First, we must lose hope that our intentions will change, and then we see how humans actually behave on the planet. Some are worse than others, but the general concept of the human being (prefers to live inside the model in their imagination than in the real world of sense and response) is one which is disconnected from reality and will make up any excuse to avoid response-ability and moderation of behaviors. Only through failure and then rebirth do we develop new systems. It isn't the bust in the boom and bust cycle that is the problem: it is the boom. The coming crisis is not going to be 'fixed' in any way. It will continue to grow and humanity will pay a high price for our hubris. IF anyone survives, and IF they know what happened, they MIGHT create methods of moderation (religion, culture, laws) that work for a little while to slow down growth. Meanwhile, there are no 'green' jobs, there is no 'magic bullet', and the opposite of consumption is not frugality: it is generosity.
Someone mentions "bio-mimicry" but no specific details or understanding of what we should mimic.
I submit that what we have to understand is the concept of Net Usefulness: any species survives only if it is useful to its (and its environment's) future more than it consumes resources, enough so to make up for random disastrous events. What are people FOR? There is one thing humans could be good for (that other animals don't already do), and that is to protect the planet from space and to work to stabilize ecosystems that are randomly damaged or out of balance. Other than that, we have spent an AWFUL amount of resources that we will never pay back: just so we can drive to the mall to buy new clothes to drive to the mall.
Comment by Bill Kuykendall on September 18, 2011 at 2:22am
I think the idea of "Naming Our Condition" is crucial to achieving a critical mass of consensus toward an appropriate trajectory for our future. I also "get" the double entendre implied in the name "Critical Mass" (a critical mass of problems requiring a critical mass to solve), but I doubt enough ordinary people will identify with that choice to accomplish your goals. Frankly, it just doesn't "Name Our Condition" explicitly enough to catch the attention of people who have been programmed to buy (or vote for) the brand image with the best slogan.

Our condition is the inevitable result of a systemic belief in infinite growth on a planet with finite resources.

If your current name doesn't catch on, you might want to try something like, "Surviving Humanity's Infinite Growth Addiction."
Comment by Steven Earl Salmony on September 17, 2011 at 8:42pm
We are making an effort to share an understanding of what is happening to the climate and why such damaging things are occurring in our planetary home on our watch. Sadly, despite the necessity for consensual validation of whatsoever is real, many too many leaders and experts on whom human family relies for adequate knowledge are engaged in a catastrophic failure to communicate. Woefully inadequate communication was in evidence in other time-spaces throughout human history. No question about that. After all, we can recall the days when the "Tower of Babel" was under construction. Now that I think about that ancient colossus, we are in the process of 'building out' on the surface of Earth an artificially designed, certainly manmade, soon to become patently unsustainable "ECONOMIC COLOSSUS" called the global political economy.

Is that not so?
Comment by mary rose on September 17, 2011 at 5:40pm
i shared this on Facebook where i am known to begin long and interesting/educational discussions on critical issues and get numerous other members of Facebook involved. Am very much involved in creating Critical Mass as the mission of Future Dawning Enterprises is, among other things, to unite major movements so we are speaking with one voice.  Currently am on a mission to integrate Green Party members with Transition in Action Social Network and vice versa.
Comment by Ellen LaConte on September 1, 2011 at 12:04pm
If you'd like a copy of my book, just send an email with your UK address to elaconte@gmail.com
Comment by Jeff Mowatt on September 1, 2011 at 11:29am
Please do that with my approval Ellen, on the group you've just joined I've added a tribute to Terry
Comment by Ellen LaConte on September 1, 2011 at 10:51am
Very excited, Jeff, about P-CED's work. Have joined group and asked to befriend you. Would like to send you a comp copy of Life Rules. II think you and your network might find it a good support and explanatory tool. It's in perfect synch with your work. I'd also like to post the Manifesto in my next newsletter, Starting Point., with your permission It has over 350 subscribers now.
Comment by Ellen LaConte on September 1, 2011 at 9:11am
You are right, of course, David. Living beyond Earth's means is a consequence of economic globalization -- a symptom of the global capitalist industrial economy having gone viral, having on human and natural communities effects similar to those HIV has on the body. Undermining the capacity of human communities to recognize the threat to their well-being, maintain skills of self-reliance, self-provisioning and self-determination and the capacity of natural communities to protect, defend and heal themselves. Had economics not globalized, we would not be living so far out of the only context that matters, the context of the largest, most high-functioning and complex economic system on the planet -- no not the global human economy as we've been taught and indoctrinated to believe -- but the biosphere, Gaia, Life itself. And as I further suggest in Life Rules -- www.transitioninaction.com/group/life-rules-the-book -- the only context in which we can effectively heal, as you suggest, is also Life itself, the behaviors, relationships and organizational patterns of other-than-human living systems. If we want to, or recognize we need to, live within Earth's means as well as our own we need to create lifeways that mimic Life's ways. Deep green authentically conserve-ative, radical biomimicry.

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