Yes! The Otto et al paper! D'oh, how could I have forgotten that? I have held onto that one as a very important paper, but it fell out of mind recently. Thanks for the reminder Alex.
I am fairly new to Gen Dread and Iam appreciative of the content as I navigate my own collapase aware journey and deal with the grief I feel for Gaia as well as my grandchildren. I must say I was excited seeing the headline of this post. Who doesn't want some good news? Sadly, when I got to the end of the post I was left with the question "Is this the good news? How?" I have a hard time comparing Gaia's tipping points with cultural tipping points. I fear we as a planetary civilization have already pushed through too many environmental tipping points to have much faith that cultural tipping points will end up making a difference as we speed towards extinction of our species and other life forms. I retain the hope that there may be a 0.5% change that my prediction is incorrect. I do think that cultural changes may delay the inevitable, but only delay it.
I understand your concern and often put this concern forth myself in my conversations with my husband. After all, thoughts can't battle physics!! That said, we, as humans, are made to endure endings. The world has indeed ended many times before in many different ways for various groups. "Though many of the challenges of our times are unique, the path through for us, personally and collectively, will always rely on our measureless capacity for creativity, wisdom, and connection to a reality larger than ourselves." - I try to not forget this (taken from the description of James Hollis' most recent book). We have to exercise our ability to keep those attributes alive. Self-certain collapse narratives, I'm afraid, don't do it (for me at least). I've spent a lot of time in the collapse-aware world and am very familiar with the views that are shared there. May I ask, what is feeding your collapse awareness right now? Any particular groups or bands of thought? We have a responsibility, to your grandkids, to the future, to remain imaginative, and understand that the unbearable uncertainty we are being forced to live through do to humans having royally screwed up, will make many people land on certain-sounding narratives to satisfy their mind's need to get out of that uncomfortable place of uncertainty. It is more tolerable to land on something that sounds very certain of itself, even if it spells extinction, than to practice the arts of being in the moment and engaging with the reality that is available- which is that we are vulnerable, that we have always been, that we are not in control, and that we do not know what will happen in any certain detail. Besides, what does this predicted collapse look like? I’m reminded of a line from humanitarian designer Vinay Gupta: “collapse just means living in the same conditions as the people who grow your coffee.”
There are practices to help us embrace uncertainty, like meditation and mindfulness. Somatic work. Community work. Relationship building. Grief work. There is so much we can do. Listening to a bunch of men on the internet talk about certain collapse in fine detail (not assuming you do this, but I certainly have for a time), is not the most imaginative and creative way of living in these times. We need to nourish at least a sliver of hope that our actions can amount to some form of good outcomes. Preventing any harm, saving whatever we can, always gets my vote. Social tipping points are absolutely required in order to do this most effectively.
Here are a couple of pieces that might be of interest:
Britt, thank you for your thoughtful response to my comments. To answer your question about what is feeding my collapse awareness, it is fed by my experience as a wildlife manager for 35+ years and seeing declining populations and degradation of habitat on National Wildlife Refuges and surrounding lands in the U.S.. I have been retired for about 15 years and reflecting back on the progress or lack of progress during my career and post retirement is disheartening. Fast forward to Greta Thunberg's appearance on the world stage followed by the pandemic pause allowing time for reflection and engagement with others online ( Michael Dowd, Dean Walker, Pachamama Alliance, Good Grief Network,) and reading the books have helped form my current state of mind. I have reached a certain level of acceptance by working through grief and trying to be more deliberate in connecting with those that I love, particularily grandchildren. It is my hope that, in my remaining days, I may help them navigate their life's journey that my generation has made more difficult for them. I do realize that my baseline is not the same as their baseline when it comes to understanding their generation's predicament. I do hold out hope that they will seek creative ways to navigate life on an increasingly hostile environment (compared to the world I grew up in).
I appreciate the perspective you offered with the quote by Vinay Gupta concerning living conditions that currently exist for others on our planet. It is easy for me to forget how my white colonial priveldge frames my view. Thanks for the reminder!
Thanks Bill. You certainly have a lifetime of experience to back up your feelings! I appreciate learning more about them. I think what we're in for will look very weird and challenging and dangerous from today's standards, but it isn't just a wall of blackness. Your grandkids are lucky to have your focus and love. Glad you like the Gupta quote. It has given me much perspective!
Thanks for this. A team of researchers I was involved with wrote about social tipping points to address climate change, which speaks to something very similar. https://theconversation.com/how-social-tipping-points-could-limit-global-warming-130309
Yes! The Otto et al paper! D'oh, how could I have forgotten that? I have held onto that one as a very important paper, but it fell out of mind recently. Thanks for the reminder Alex.
Great, glad it is a helpful paper. Thanks for this newsletter. I'm new to it, and look forward to learning more.
I am fairly new to Gen Dread and Iam appreciative of the content as I navigate my own collapase aware journey and deal with the grief I feel for Gaia as well as my grandchildren. I must say I was excited seeing the headline of this post. Who doesn't want some good news? Sadly, when I got to the end of the post I was left with the question "Is this the good news? How?" I have a hard time comparing Gaia's tipping points with cultural tipping points. I fear we as a planetary civilization have already pushed through too many environmental tipping points to have much faith that cultural tipping points will end up making a difference as we speed towards extinction of our species and other life forms. I retain the hope that there may be a 0.5% change that my prediction is incorrect. I do think that cultural changes may delay the inevitable, but only delay it.
Hi Bill,
I understand your concern and often put this concern forth myself in my conversations with my husband. After all, thoughts can't battle physics!! That said, we, as humans, are made to endure endings. The world has indeed ended many times before in many different ways for various groups. "Though many of the challenges of our times are unique, the path through for us, personally and collectively, will always rely on our measureless capacity for creativity, wisdom, and connection to a reality larger than ourselves." - I try to not forget this (taken from the description of James Hollis' most recent book). We have to exercise our ability to keep those attributes alive. Self-certain collapse narratives, I'm afraid, don't do it (for me at least). I've spent a lot of time in the collapse-aware world and am very familiar with the views that are shared there. May I ask, what is feeding your collapse awareness right now? Any particular groups or bands of thought? We have a responsibility, to your grandkids, to the future, to remain imaginative, and understand that the unbearable uncertainty we are being forced to live through do to humans having royally screwed up, will make many people land on certain-sounding narratives to satisfy their mind's need to get out of that uncomfortable place of uncertainty. It is more tolerable to land on something that sounds very certain of itself, even if it spells extinction, than to practice the arts of being in the moment and engaging with the reality that is available- which is that we are vulnerable, that we have always been, that we are not in control, and that we do not know what will happen in any certain detail. Besides, what does this predicted collapse look like? I’m reminded of a line from humanitarian designer Vinay Gupta: “collapse just means living in the same conditions as the people who grow your coffee.”
There are practices to help us embrace uncertainty, like meditation and mindfulness. Somatic work. Community work. Relationship building. Grief work. There is so much we can do. Listening to a bunch of men on the internet talk about certain collapse in fine detail (not assuming you do this, but I certainly have for a time), is not the most imaginative and creative way of living in these times. We need to nourish at least a sliver of hope that our actions can amount to some form of good outcomes. Preventing any harm, saving whatever we can, always gets my vote. Social tipping points are absolutely required in order to do this most effectively.
Here are a couple of pieces that might be of interest:
https://gendread.substack.com/p/a-therapists-tips-for-dealing-with
https://gendread.substack.com/p/a-therapists-tips-on-how-to-shift
Thank you for reading, and sharing your thoughts!
*due to humans having royally screwed
Britt, thank you for your thoughtful response to my comments. To answer your question about what is feeding my collapse awareness, it is fed by my experience as a wildlife manager for 35+ years and seeing declining populations and degradation of habitat on National Wildlife Refuges and surrounding lands in the U.S.. I have been retired for about 15 years and reflecting back on the progress or lack of progress during my career and post retirement is disheartening. Fast forward to Greta Thunberg's appearance on the world stage followed by the pandemic pause allowing time for reflection and engagement with others online ( Michael Dowd, Dean Walker, Pachamama Alliance, Good Grief Network,) and reading the books have helped form my current state of mind. I have reached a certain level of acceptance by working through grief and trying to be more deliberate in connecting with those that I love, particularily grandchildren. It is my hope that, in my remaining days, I may help them navigate their life's journey that my generation has made more difficult for them. I do realize that my baseline is not the same as their baseline when it comes to understanding their generation's predicament. I do hold out hope that they will seek creative ways to navigate life on an increasingly hostile environment (compared to the world I grew up in).
I appreciate the perspective you offered with the quote by Vinay Gupta concerning living conditions that currently exist for others on our planet. It is easy for me to forget how my white colonial priveldge frames my view. Thanks for the reminder!
Thanks Bill. You certainly have a lifetime of experience to back up your feelings! I appreciate learning more about them. I think what we're in for will look very weird and challenging and dangerous from today's standards, but it isn't just a wall of blackness. Your grandkids are lucky to have your focus and love. Glad you like the Gupta quote. It has given me much perspective!