Our ecological situation is far more all-encompassing than the arbitrary boundaries around our different domains of knowledge would have us believe.
It's not like this problem is confined only to that set of knowledge we call "ecology," "environmentalism," or "science."
Each of these three domains are themselves intimately inter-twined, and cannot be fully separated. Under ecology, we find biology, physics, and chemistry. As we do under environmentalism and science too. And the inter-connectedness goes beyond these three domains to every other domain of knowledge out there.
The sheer breadth of this situation should knock us for six!
It has do to with human motivations and psychology. With our innate evolved reward and punishment pathways. And with our collectively self-organising around natural energy flows.
It has to do with our out-sourcing sense-making to the market, and letting economic incentive determine what the best course of action might look like. Seeing only those options whose profit margins are net-positive on the horizon of all possible courses of action.
It has to do with our values, what we cherish, and how we behave in pursuit of those things. How we're willing to inadvertently liquidate the planet as we recklessly pursue what feels good in the moment.
To name but a few!
It's All About Scale!
The scale of our ecological situation, and number of behemoth issues subsumed by this over-arching denominator, would make the gods tremble upon confronting it for the first time!
Climate change, biodiversity loss, irreversible industrial pollution. These are all massive issues that significantly contribute to our ecological situation. And were you to only ever hear the mainstream stories on such issues, you'd think they are separate and to be dealt with in isolation from one another.
It's no wonder so many of us are buckling under the weight of such consequential issues, semingly unrelated yet coming at us from every front, each of which threatens our very existence on this planet. It's no wonder so many people feel crushed into paralysis at the overwhelming bombardment of seemingly intractable, existential problems.
Narrative Issues
But that narrative is absurd. For one thing, such a narrative warrants skepticism since it appears one of its functions is to render the individual mute through overwhelm. By firing an endless stream of seemingly unrelated global issues their way, the individual is subtly forced into a state of helplessness. "What power have I to do anything about this!?"
We'd all be much better off, much more mentally stable, were we to instead frame these issues correctly. And see them for what they actually are.
Frame It Right
These issues are all symptoms of underlying generator functions.
Take, for example, the pollution issue. Which is iteself connected to the biodiversity loss issue as pollution casues habitat degradation which leads to biodiversity loss:
- For the most part, polluters don't intend to pollute. There is no reason for their desiring to undermine the ecological substrate upon which we depend. But the incentives that drive people towards actions and behaviours tend to neglect certain costs associated with said actions and behaviours. In neglecting those costs, those actions and behaviours become profitable. And the "invisble" costs come to be known as "negative externalities." Were we to internalise those invisible costs into the incentive calculation, making them visible, such actions and behaviours would no longer be pursued, as the costs to do so would outweigh the benefits.
Negative externalities are one of the underlying generator functions bringing about a slew of downstream symptoms that are themselves significantly contributing to the inadvertent liquidation of our beautiful planet.
Coming To Grips With This
So we've got some big, existential issues to frame right, such that we can begin thinking correctly about how to adequately address them.
We want to avoid the familiar pitfalls such as attending ineffective protests at which we can bleat sanctimony at whole cities and make each other feel good about how morally superior we are to the mere mortals we share this earth with.
Or opting to completely ignore our ecological situation in response to the overwhelm experienced after a lifetime of being incessantly bombarded from every angle by the terrible, world-ending problems humanity has created for itself.
The road is straight and narrow. And it requires every last ounce of strength (mental and physical!) to remain on track.
But that's what this is all about. What else are you doing with your life? You might as well comit to this behemoth task, of giving every last bit of yourself to addressing such problems. At least then, you can die in peace! You can die in the knowledge that, despite having not solved the problems you set out to solve, you gave it your all.
And that's all that can be asked of you.
